beautiful Bilbao 

With Bilbao only 30 minutes from our home base in Orduna, it was the first of our day trips that we planned.  Despite the overcast skies and drizzle, our enthousiasm for this cool city were not dampened (puns intended). We planned a pretty aggressive day trying to fit in art, culture, cuisine and greenspace play into our time in Bilbao.  

We split our visit up into two main sections, the first centered on the Guggenheim Museum, the Nervion River walk and some nearby green spaces including the Parque Dona Casilda which was named after Casilda Iturrizar, a major benefactor of Bilbao.  The second centered on the Old Town with its Plaza Nueva and the Ribera Market.  

The Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, opened to the public in 1997 is clearly the visual centerpiece of this thriving city.  Located right on the Nervion River it gleams in the sunlight (even on largely overcast days).  Inside the museum is fun too, although I must admit that my appreciation for modern and pop art is not as honed as it could be and I often find that the outside of a museum is more interesting than the inside.  But were able to enjoy some of the exhibits - the kids especially enjoyed playing around in the Robert Serra sculpture maze - amidst the not terribly crowded museum halls.

Right outside of the musuem there is a playground that kept our kids busy for about an hour or so.  There is a small food pavillon where we got small sandwiches and some drinks to fuel our walk along the river to the Dona Casilda Park.  After the park we found a mall for a little window shopping - Austen's favorite hobby!

For Part 2 of our day we got back in our car and drove to the Old Quarter via the Grand Via de Don Diego Lopez de Haro, a broad boulevard (50 meters wide) that boasts some of the most expensive real estate in Spain housing some of Bilbao's most important shops and businesses.  We strolled around the Old Quarter, making our way to the Plaza Nuevo where we found an outdoor restaruant to eat.

A lot of Spain has a "Menu de Dia" that offers a fixed three course meal sometimes accompanied by a glass of wine or beer.  The restaurants on the Plaza are pretty pricey, but we were hungry and decided to splurge. The food was decent, but we agreed not worth the price tag.  Sadly, by the time we got to the Ribera Market, it was closed for the day.  We also, were too tired to head up on the funicular to the top of Mount Artxanda to see the views of the city.  We figured, given the on and off drizzle and overcast skies, we probably weren't missing much.  

At the end of the day we made one final drive to the Bizkaia (aka Vizakaya) Bridge which is a "hanging" or "ferry bridge" designed by a protege of Gustav Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame).  You can see the resemblance. It was the first shuttle or ferry bridge in the world that was built with a steel framework and it is, not cooincidentally, the last remaining shuttle bridge in the world. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006. 

You can either go across as a pedestrian or in a vehicle.  You pay for a ticket from a kiosk and then the ferry "floats" you across the Nervion River suspended by a cable tracking system from above.  We did cross the river in our car, but sadly we were too late to take the elevator up to the top of the bridge tower.  Next time!

While we didn't get through our entire itineary, sometimes you have to go with what the kids are enjoying or the amount of walking they (and grandma) can take, all in all it was a full and satisfying day in Bilbao.