Casco Viejo

This guide to Casco Viejo, Bilbao's medieval old town of seven streets founded around 1300, centers on a single day, August 26, 1983, when days of rain pushed the Nervion river into these streets. You'll hear the flood's toll across the region and meet shopkeepers who lived through it as children, one recalling family stores buried in mud overnight. Look for the small metal plaques bolted above some doorways as you walk.