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Bilbao—Guggenheim Museum and Old Town

The grey skies promised rain today, but we were still giddy thinking about the start of our new adventure. This morning we would be renting a car and beginning a five-day journey that would wind through the northern coastal mountains of Spain and then veer south to reach Barcelona on the Mediterranean Sea.

Our destination today was the beautiful city of Bilbao. The drive would be short, about 1 ¼ hours.

We picked up our tiny car from the San Sebastian airport, about 10 minutes from our hotel.

I have to admit that we got a bit lost leaving the airport, turning right when we should have turned left, and then not reading the signs fast enough at the roundabouts (traffic circles). The end result was that we got a “grand tour” of Hondarribia before we finally made our getaway.

We didn’t mind. Hondarribia was a lovely town.

This side of the fortress walls had flags hanging down, which we hadn’t seen when exploring on foot yesterday.

There was a pretty fountain in the middle of this roundabout:

(Hmmm . . . could be that I didn’t read the roundabout signs fast enough because I was too busy taking pictures.)

Out of town, we followed some back roads for a while and then popped out onto the main highway heading east.

The hillsides were lush and cloaked in green:

Residential buildings:

Entering Bilbao:

We found Bilbao to be a fascinating blend of the old and new.

This combination was reflected in the architecture. Here is an example of the “old”:

And the “new”:

Bilbao supposedly was once a gritty industrial town, but all we saw were clean streets and beautiful architecture. Some people attribute Bilbao’s purported transformation to the wave of artistic and intellectual energy brought by the Guggenheim Museum, which was completed in 1997. The museum continues to draw people to Bilbao from all over the world.

We were staying in an apartment, conveniently located in the heart of the commercial district.

Our apartment had two bedrooms, a kitchen, and (most important) a washing machine—pure luxury, I say!

After we started a load of laundry, we headed for the local supermarket to purchase lunch fixings—fresh bread, Spanish ham, cheese, fruit and other treats.

Walking back to the apartment, Sebastian and Ben were hand in hand:

I couldn’t stop gawking at the buildings.

After a refreshing lunch, we took a walk to the Guggenheim Museum, which was the main reason why we had decided to visit Bilbao.

Here are Sebastian and Genevieve (and a stylishly dressed woman), with the titanium curves of the museum peeking through the buildings at the far end of the street.

More beautiful architecture:

This brick wall screamed "personality", with its colorful diagonal stripes:

Even the newly paved road was getting an artistic imprint:

There it was—the Guggenheim!

Out front was the flower sculpture “Puppy” by pop artist Jeff Koons:

A back view:

The flowers on “Puppy” were cheerful:

And they were also providing nectar for local honeybees:

Many people think that the greatest artwork at the Guggenheim is the museum structure itself. It was designed by Frank Gehry, who used titanium, glass and limestone to create a curving, free-flowing architectural sculpture.

The vast artistic spaces inside were just as impressive. Unfortunately, photos are prohibited in the gallery spaces. Other than this photo of Genevieve in the lobby (which generated a loud reprimand from a worker), I don’t have any photos of the interior, with its soaring beams and curves and organic spaces that made our jaws drop.

The bottom floor of the museum contained permanent exhibits. We all loved Richard Serra’s humongous sheets of steel that were shaped into swirls, wavy lines, and circles that you could enter into and explore. We felt small in comparison to the massive rust-covered walls that rose on both sides as we moved through each shape. The exhibit was definitely a sensory experience. Genevieve and Sebastian even discovered that the different shapes of steel corridors created various types of echoes.

Serra’s artwork was called “A Matter of Time”. Here is a photo that I found on the Internet:

(above photo credit: www.toolsandwood.com)

Sebastian’s favorite artwork was the neon “Installation for Bilbao” by artist Jenny Holzer. The work consisted of nine skinny floor-to-ceiling columns that had neon words running up each one. The columns were placed so that you could walk past them into a large pocket of space that (to us) suggested an open jail cell. The words on the column were in Basque, Spanish and English, in red and blue colors that reflected off of the walls and floor.

Here are two photos from the Internet:

(above photo credit: www.flickr.com/photos/saragoldsmith)

(above photo credit:  www.flickr.com/photos/95614423@N00)

In the upper galleries were temporary exhibits, and we thoroughly enjoyed the variety presented by artist Anish Kapoor. In addition to his monotone pieces that explored how color changes based upon underlying shapes, he had some tall mirrored pieces that elicited lots of giggles from Genevieve and Sebastian as they viewed their squashed, stretched, or upside-down reflections.

Here is a photo (from the Internet) showing Kapoor’s mirrored artworks:

(above photo credit: www.guggenheim-bilbao.es)

While we were inside the museum, rain had started. Here are Ben and Genevieve on an outdoor patio, with wet surfaces all around:

We had stepped outside to view a huge bouquet of metal flowers, called "Tulips," by artist Jeff Koons.

Also outside was another of Anish Kapoor’s pieces, called “Tall Tree and the Eye”:

(These outdoor photos were taken by us.)

Behind the museum was La Salve Bridge, which had been built in 1972; artist Daniel Buren had spiffied the bridge up with a red arch in 2007 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Guggenheim.

Another view of the museum’s stone and titanium exterior:

We had forgotten to pack our umbrellas, but we didn't mind getting wet on our way back to the apartment:

I was still enchanted with the city’s variety of architecture:

The rain had stopped by dinner time, so we decided to walk to the Old Town area (about 25 minutes). Here are Genevieve, Ben and Sebastian on the Grand Avenue of Don Diego López de Haro:

The Nervión River separates Old Town from the more modern section of Bilbao.

We crossed over the Puente (bridge) del Arenal:

To our left was the 15th century Baroque style church, San Nicolas de Bari:

The Old Town area is called “Casco Viejo”. The streets were narrow and many were lined with 5 or 6 story buildings on both sides.

Down one street, we could see the Bilbao cathedral, located on Plaza Santiago:

Zig-zagging our way through the streets, we found a fantastic local tapas bar and restaurant, called Saibagain, on Barrena street:

It was a boisterous place, full of local people who had stopped for a quick bite and/or drink on the way home from work. Many huge ham legs (complete with toes) were hanging over the bar. We seemed to be the only “tourists” there, but we were given a warm and friendly welcome. We ordered a selection of tapas, including bread, sardines, scrambled eggs with mushrooms and shrimp, fried eggs with ham and chips, anchovies, and mixed salad. Everything was delicious!

Here is Sebastian with an anchovy:

After dinner, we walked along the river, admiring the buildings on the other side:

Genevieve, with the Puente del Arenal in the background:

Close-up of the train station across the river:

Next to the bridge was the Arriaga Theater:

Between the theater and river, a tall climbing wall was being installed:

Genevieve had her heart set on some gelato tonight. After crossing the bridge, the first gelato shop we reached had already closed its doors. We knew there was another shop about half a mile away, but we didn’t know what time it stopped serving customers. She and I set out with a brisk jog. Hurray! The lights were still on over the gelato case when we rounded the corner.

Genevieve, with her cup of happiness:

We strolled leisurely back to our apartment, savoring the last moments of this grand day. We hadn’t expected the city of Bilbao to charm us so completely, but it had. We were smitten.

<< Day 5: Hondarribia—Fast Train to Spain | Day 7: Santillana del Mar—Cave Paintings and Quaint Town >>

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