Bilbao

On our only day in Bilbao, we woke up early to take photos of the Guggenheim and beat the crowds. I had always wanted to visit this museum and see Frank Gehry’s masterpiece. We walked along the river up to the museum and enjoyed the art and sculpture around the museum. We crossed the river to get even better shots:

As we over did it and still had time, we sat for breakfast in the park next to the Guggenheim and ordered coffees, juice, and breakfast sandwiches. This was fun as we got to see one of the fog sculptures activate.



After breakfast, we entered the museum which had a cool design and allowed you to view the architecture outside:

We first went to the room where they had monumental Richard Serra sculptures. I had recently seen some of his work at Dia Beacon in New York. I didn’t originally realize you couldn’t take photos, so here’s a few before I heard on the audio guide you couldn’t:

We went to all the galleries, viewed the Jenny Holzer exhibit, and the permanent collection which included a Basquiat, Cy Twombly, and Rauschenberg. Here we’re in front of a Jeff Koons:

Then we made our way to Jeff Koons’ “Puppy” which is similar to the one that was erected in Rockefeller Center a few years ago - here are a few photos including one of us trying to pet it:

We then hopped into a cab and headed to the old town. Here’s a photo of Saint Anton bridge which is right next to the Mercado de la Ribero:

At the market, we divided up and bought different pinxtos and shared them all together for lunch:

In Bilbao, you can actually walk around with drinks, so we took ours to go and walked on the original 7 streets in old town and over to the Cathedral of Santiago:

We then headed to Plaza Nueva or Berria for some coffee. Everything has two names as the use of the Basque language is very strong and prevalent. The plaza was hopping as folks chowed down on pinxtos. A photo of the plaza below:

We then walked through the city - we probably would have visited more churches if it wasn’t for the midday closures due to the siesta. Here’s a photo of the train station:

And the town hall:



At one point, we sat on a bench and snacked on some olives as we overheard a concert in the park that was across the river. We also managed to see a few pilgrims who were walking the Camino. Mary Ann said they must have just started as they look new!

We then walked back across the Nervion river on the Zubizuri bridge:

Then we got more drinks and walked passed the Guggenheim and back to our hotel where we rested. SunTransfers picked us up and took us to the airport. We had some dumplings and salad as we waited for our flight. Our flight was about an hour, but we were delayed about 30 minutes. SunTransfers picked us up again and dropped us off at Tryp Madrid Chamartin which is a Melia hotel. I had picked this hotel as it’s across the street from the train station - I had originally planned a half day in Segovia to see the aqueduct. Due to the train schedule options being out of sync, full, or expensive, we are planning to enjoy Madrid for our last day in Spain!