THE BOTXERA ORDER RETURNS TO AITAREN BOULEVARD
Félix Parte returns the Botxera Order to its original home
Aitaren Boulevard: The Txirene home begins to beat again
The botxero spirit has returned to the kilometre zero of festive bilbainidad. On 15 July 2025, the Botxera Order of Farolín and Zarambolas reestablished its headquarters in the historic Café Boulevard -today the Aitaren Boulevard restaurant- thanks to the determination of the new management led by the Bilbao hotel and catering businessman Félix Parte. With a gesture charged with emotion and responsibility, Aitaren reinstalled a commemorative plaque that certifies the reunion between the Order and the place where it was founded in 1999.
The return of the Botxera Order home
Once again, the names of Farolín and Zarambolas were heard under the modernist vault of the Boulevard. After almost two decades of itinerancy caused by the closure of the old café in 2006, the members of the Order celebrated their return with a txistu that made the Arenal vibrate. ‘For those of us who have belonged or belong to the Order, it is a satisfaction to transmit Bilbao’s own identity’, said Marino Montero, a veteran voice of the Chancellery.
Traces of a festive lineage
The history of Bilbao is inseparable from the Carnival of 1984, the year in which the characters Farolín and Zarambolas were created as a duality of the personality of Bilbao. Since then, each carnival year designates a Farolín and a Zarambolas who embody humour, satire and local pride. In 1999, the Orden Botxera was set up to preserve this collective memory inside the Café Boulevard, erecting a column with plaques containing all the names.
Essential chronology
| Year | Main milestone | |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Reactivation of the Bilbao Carnival and creation of Farolin and Zarambolas. | |
| 1999 | Founding of the Botxera Order at the Café Boulevard | |
| 2005 | Placing of the first commemorative plaque and column | |
| 2006 | Closure of the Café Boulevard and temporary relocation of the Order | |
| 2025 | Reinstallation of the plaque and official return to the now Aitaren Boulevard |
Commitment of the new management
Félix Parte-along with his son Aitor-has accumulated more than forty years of experience in the Biscayan hotel and catering industry, managing a dozen projects that dignify local gastronomy. With Aitaren they have taken on the task of ‘returning part of the essence to a historic place in Bilbao’, in the words of its operations manager, Jesús Abundio. The plaque is just the first step: ‘The next step will be to offer a digital tour via QR to bring the history of Bilbao closer to every visitor’.
The opening ceremony
It was past 11:30 am when a veteran txistulari, Mikel Bilbao, played the melody that opened the ceremony. In attendance were former Farolines and Zarambolas such as La Otxoa and the actress Nati Ortiz de Zárate, as well as representatives of the hotel and catering trade, commerce and culture of Bilbao. After unveiling the plaque, Abundio thanked ‘the trust of the property’-that is, the Parte family-and quoted Unamuno to underline the duty of keeping the memory of the Villa alive.
Board details and digital future
The new bronze plaque reproduces the original inscription from 1999:
The iconic ‘Orden Botxera de Farolín y Zarambolas’ was formed in this historic hostel on the eve of the 1999 Carnival.
Its location on one of the central pillars is intended to remind diners that the Boulevard beats under Aitaren’s contemporary renovation. A QR code, planned for the autumn, will link to an audiovisual archive with testimonials, photographs and a complete list of Farolines and Zarambolas.
Txiren voices: testimonies of a reunion
Marino Montero: ‘Coming back here shows that the Order is not only memory: it is the present and the future of Bilbao’.
Jesús Abundio: ‘People should not just see a nice place, but a historical place, part of Bilbao’s culture’.
Félix Parte (statement picked up by Europa Press on the internal networks of the event): ‘Aitaren was born to serve the best beef, yes, but also to honour the roots of our town’.
Significance for Bilbao
The return of the Order reinforces the symbiosis between Aitaren and the festive identity of the Biscayan capital. The restaurant recovers its role as a popular agora, where Carnival masks, spontaneous irrintzis and Txirene irony once again coexist with charcoal-grilled chops and beef burgers. For the public, the plaque is not a mere ornament: it consolidates a 40-year history of popular creativity that has survived closures, removals and renovations.
Visit Aitaren: tradition on a slow fire
Today, to enter Aitaren Boulevard is to walk through a multifaceted Bilbao:
Espacio Amaren: temple of matured beef, with grills open to the diner.
Hambueysería: a tribute to the evolved pintxo, the iconic hallmark of the Parte family.
Botxero Corner: presidential table overlooking the plaque, reserved for cultural events and themed dinners of the Order.
The plaque that has just been anchored marks a turning point in the relationship between Aitaren Boulevard and the memory of carnival. Under the baton of Félix Parte and his team, Aitaren assumes the responsibility of guarding a tradition that combines humour, satire and passion for Bilbao. Every service, every toast and every applause to the sound of the txistu will rekindle, from now on, the botxera flame that made this place a non-transferable symbol of the Villa.
Bilbao recovers its pulse; Aitaren, its heart.
On egin, txirenes!
