In Bilbao, residents celebrate their customs with their backs to San Mamés, where Messi and the National Team go on the pitch.

About 20 blocks from the magnificent and modern San Mamés, between the four sides of Plaza Nueva located in the heart of Old Town of Bilbao, Ernesto mixes the rice in the pan under the sun that heats up the city. The scent is enticing. And as Ernesto does, around him are dozens of paella pans fed by stoves stimulates the secretion of the salivary glands.

While Leo Messi and the Argentine National Team is preparing to conduct an open-door training session at the stadium of Athletic Bilbaomany Basques in their worldwho celebrated a very special day for them to take possession of their customs, their music and, of course, their food.

“Zaharrean Berri”can be read everywhere: street parades, handkerchiefs hung around the necks of adults and children, pamphlets. “In the old, the new”, meaning Euskera, the language of the Basque Countries. “This is the motto of this festival, it means we keep the customs even in the new era”, he explains in Clarion Magdalena, a Bilbao resident who volunteered for the event.

“It was fully organized by the residents of Casco Viejo. It was born on its own initiative. The City Council is cooperating but very little. Everything is done through the lungs of the people in the neighborhood. And, even if we don’t deny tourism, it’s a party for us, ”he details.

Ernesto, the man with the paella pan, lowered his spoon a little and opened the dialogue: “Each of the seven streets that begin in the city are celebrated. Each one is painted a different color to identify our ourselves.We have concerts, food, contests and all day. It was formed in 2019, but then came the pandemic so this is the second time we’ve done it. It is organized once a year.

The event lasts a few days. This Sunday will continue and there will be popularity bertsolariswhich ones are you singing bertsos. And what are bertsos? They are the payadores of Bilbao. They make poems, verses (bertsos), improvised. A kind of sabong Basque.

They all seemed indifferent to walking a few blocks they could have a chance to see Messi and the Argentine National Team figures training before the Finalissima with Italy, to be held on June 1 at Wembley.

“Surely San Mamés will be filled with Athletic fans watching Messibut here we are in our world ”, says Ernesto and kindly invites“ little straw ”to fight the temperature that starts to rise after a few gray and rainy days in this city in northern Spain.

The paella bubble pans and the wine and beer glasses run from hand to hand. As Messi prepares to kick some balls on the San Mamés field, Ernesto continues to enjoy “his world” and says goodbye to the kindness of the Basques and their language: “Agur!”

Bilbao. Special envoy.