Last day in Spain: Bilbao.
We arrived in Bilbao in the late morning on a bus from San Sebastian. We left that same night on an over-night bus to Madrid.
Our first, and really our only important stop, in Bilbao was the famous Guggenheim Museum. We actually went to the cafe first because the beautiful bus ride through the Basque countryside left us a bit peckish. We had an amazing slice of quiche that involved spinach and pine nuts.
We then commenced our tour and I have to say that the Guggenheim has the best free audio tour I have ever had. You just dialed in the numbers posted next to the artwork and listen to an explanation of the work and sometimes listen to the artist talk about his or her work - fabulous!
There was also some audio tracks about the amazing building itself.
As you can see it is an amazing place. The second photo also shows one of my favorite pieces: a huge metal spider called "Maman" by Louise Bourgeois. There are a few other Mamans scattered around the globe and I hope that we will see the Ottawa one sometime while we are living here.
This picture is of some sweet nostalgic graffiti. While it is not a part of the museum, I was standing on the patio of the museum when I took this picture.After perusing the museum for hours. We took a stroll along the river, drank some famous Spanish hot chocolate and ate a waffle, and wandered around the old town area. This was a beautiful balcony in the old town:
After our walk we continued to walk around the city seeing some really cool bridges, a nice opera house, and even saw part of mass in a small church (it was Sunday), but we could not find a place to eat and finally ate at a Chinese restaurant near the bus depot. It was pretty yummy and our pineapple chicken dish came served in a hollowed out pineapple, which was pretty awesome.While I liked Bilbao, and its beautiful setting in the green hills, it just didn't wow me like San Sebastian did. However, the museum was worth the trip.
Stay tuned for the next segment: San Sebastian.
3 comments:
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Wow. Looks very cool.
1. Bilbao. Isn't that just fun to say out loud? Bilbao Bilbao.
2. The Guggenheim in Bilbao was spectacular. However, my visit was a bit rushed since our time at the museum (and indeed in Bilbao) was limited to two hours. Two hours is plenty for SFMoMA; not enough for Guggenheim. Says I.
3. Glad you got to stroll around town and check out the Nervión river. My love Unamuno was a Bilbao native, you know. I would have liked to explore his hometown.
4. Love the graffiti.
5. Looking forward to San Sebastián! Or rather, Donostia, as we say in the Euskal Herria. 'Cause I'm Basque, you know.
6. Would you rather I post these as separate comments ?
That building is awesome. My husband is an architect and would love it too.
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