Beautiful Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain

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. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).