Places to visit 
This is a suggested tour for discovering Portugalete's most interesting monuments and corners. You will need at least two hours to complete the whole route. We trust that the use of this guide will enhance your enjoyment, and we hope you will return home with a pleasant memory of your stay in our Town.
1 - CONVENT OF SANTA CLARA
The itinerary starts at Santa Clara Culture Centre.
Formerly a convent built in 1614, it retains its original structure, which has been adapted to suit the needs of the centre.
It contains offices, a music school, assembly halls, an exhibition hall, meeting rooms, workshops, music library and multi-purpose rooms. It still conserves the original choir and of particular note is the belfry in the Renaissance-Plateresque style.
Then, cross Casilda Iturrizar Street into Atarazanas street to enter the medieval town.
2- PLAZA DE LA RANCHERÍA
This secluded square was once the site of a military barracks, which once decommissioned became used as a refuge or canteen for poor people. In the 20th century it was taken over by the pig market that was previously held in the square Plaza del Cristo.Standing in this corner of the town is a building that dates from medieval times, and it is remarkable for its masonry corners and the modillion placed at an angle beneath the balconies, between the ground floor and the main floor.
Once we have wandered around these streets, we recommend heading for the Square located in the highest part of the town, where we shall continue the tour.
3 - THE MEDIEVAL TOWN
The origin of the town, the Villa de Portugalete, is linked to its siting at the mouth of the Nervión Estuary. The heart of the medieval town consists of the streets Calle de La Fuente or Coscojales, Calle del Medio or Víctor Chavarri and Calle Santa María. The three lie in parallel, joined by narrow alleys and running at right-angles to the coastline.
The old quarter is still home to unique buildings and interesting relics of the past, such as number 22 in Calle del Medio, with a Baroque frontispiece and coat-of-arms.
There is also the entrance to number 17 in the form of a semicircular arch, which was part of a Renaissance palace belonging to the Salazar family.
4 - BASÍLICA DE SANTA MARÍA
We pass through the alley, Cantón de la Iglesia to the basilica, Basílica de Santa María.
The Basilica also houses a museum that exhibits various liturgical silverwork items, the majority being donations made by indianos, those who colonised the Americas, and seafarers, commissioned from Peruvian and Mexican silversmiths in the 17th century, as well as a choir book and clothing.
On our way, we pass number 26 in the street Santa María, where a Renaissance coat-of-arms at an angle identifies the former palace that belonged to the Salazar family in the 16 th century.
5 - DON LOPE GARCÍA DE SALAZAR
The churchyard gardens contain a statue of Vizcaya's first historian, Lope García de Salazar. Born in the family's ancestral home in Muñatones (Muskiz) in 1399, his life was closely linked to the town of Portugalete, where he was the provost until his death in 1476.
As a person, he was a man of immense political, financial and territorial power, who resorted to the use of force to further his own ends.
Married to Doña Juana de Butrón, they had six sons and three daughters. He is also said to have fathered numerous children out of wedlock.
His enmity with his son Juan de Salazar was finally rendered irreconcilable when Don Lope chose to leave his estate in the hands of his son, Lope de Salazar, who years later was to die in battle.
Don Lope spent his twilight years as a captive of his own sons Juan and Pedro, first in the Tower of San Martín in Muñatones (Muskiz), from where he escaped, seeking refuge in the original Church of Santa María (Portugalete). He was subsequently imprisoned by his sons in the Tower de la Sierra (Portugalete), where he was poisoned to death in 1476.
It was during this period of captivity when Don Lope wrote the 25 volumes of his work "Bienandanzas e Fortunas", in which he narrates episodes of his own life interspersed with others from the general history of Vizcaya.