Bilbao
There was a quaint small town vibe to Bilbao and yet it wasn’t a small town at all. We arrived at around noon but were both tired from the early train ride and the lack of a proper breakfast. Finding our way to the hostel was a challenge as well. The Bilbao-ians were all very nice. They tried to help us find our way through this spread out city and left us a very good first impression of this town. However, they all speak Basque (Vasque) and we couldn’t understand them at all. It came to a point where it was kind of frustrating because they know how to speak Spanish but refuse to. Once we got to the hostel we ate our baguette and cheese that we bought in Madrid and took a well needed siesta. When we were rejuvenated we began our way through Bilbao.
The architecture of the metro system is seriously amazing. Its probably one of the nicer, and well designed metro systems: underground tunnels and escalators and all. It was a piece of art. From our understanding the architects of the city have tried to design its other structures with a similar aesthetic flare as the Guggenheim, so as to match. We walked to the Guggenheim Museum built by Frank Gehry which was inspired by carp (Ya you read that right…a carp, as in the fish, as in the weird relationship Mr. Gehry had with carp which extended to even swimming with them in his own bathtub….odd but the result of this freaky relationship was a beautiful piece of architecture). It was a structure quite different than anything else I’ve seen before. There was also a giant spider structure next to the river and a modern rendition of the golden gate bridge that allowed you to cross over to the other side of the river. We continued to walk around the town, taking pictures of beautiful buildings gardens, and plazas.
For dinner, we decided to go to Old Town for Tapas with a hostel mate. We took the metro which was only a couple of stops away. We were pretty lucky that it didn’t rain during the day, but it did rain at night. We first went to a tapas bar called Santa Maria Bar and then one called Irrinitza. The tapas at the second place were way better. I had the salted cod (which they are known for) and it was pretty delicious. Michelle and I split an apple pie; you can never go wrong w/ dessert! We went around to the other bars for a little while longer and then called it quits around 130am. It was kind of awkward getting into our hostel room. The hallways were dark, and there was a couple making out in a corner on the way to the room. Also, we couldn’t see anything in the room so we had to turn on the lights which woke up the 3 other people that were sleeping. We felt so bad! We took our sweet time getting up the next day, ate breakfast, and then checked out and made our way to the bus station. Bilbao was a nice town with a lot of potential but unless you have an extensive amount of time in Spain or happen to be in the area, I wouldn’t stress too much about fitting Bilbao into the itinerary. Now we’re off to San Sebastian where we hope the weather is beautiful so I can get a much needed tan!
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