We actually came into the airport at Santander (that's the closest airport that our good friend RyanAir services) and then took a bus straight to Bilbao as soon as we got in (but not before grabbing breakfast at what would soon become our favorite food establishment in all of Spain: the pastry shop in the bus station [more on that in a later post]). We had been checking the weather forecast for northern Spain the whole week before, and it didn't look so good for our entire five-day trip; true to the forecast, Santander had a steady drizzle coming down when we flew in. However, when our bus arrived in Bilbao the rain had subsided a bit, as you can see in the pictures above!
In general, the north of Spain is a good deal different than the south. First off, it's known for it's industry rather than agriculture. Second, the climate is substantially colder. Third, the people are also said to be "colder" (interpret that how you like :).
Here's the boat museum that Tori assumed was free because one of the gates was open. After she coaxed Michelle and I to follow her in, we explored for a little bit and then left...by having to hop over a subway-esque entry way. Yeah, definitely not free. Even better, we walk maybe 50 more steps and realize that there's a maritime museum right in front of us. Great; the first thing we do in Bilbao is sneak into an exhibit at the Bilbao Maritime Museum.
All that aside, it was pretty cool!!
I think this shot is one of my favorites from the whole trip. Not exactly sure why.
River, bridge, skyscraper, playground.
Some of our first glimpses of the Guggenheim Museum. The giant dog is a work of art called "Puppy" by the American artist Jeff Koons, but everyone pronounces it "Pupi" :) Also, a random street corner near the museum, and a pastry specific to Bilbao. Here's a description I found online of it:
"Son bollos de leche, rellenos de una característica crema de mantequilla. Se dice que su origen está en los bollos que se elaboraban en el Café Suizo, de Bilbao. A alguien se le ocurrió abrirlos por la mitad y untarlos con crema de mantequilla."
Paraphrase: They're a type of brioche (which is a type of French pastry), filled with a type of butter cream. It's said that their origin is in the buns that were made in Café Suizo, of Bilbao. The idea occurred to someone to split them in half and fill them with a butter cream.
The culinarily-heavy paragraphs were pretty much just for you Ty, so I hoped you enjoyed them :)
And now for the architecture inside the Guggenheim. I absolutely loved it!
More of the interior.
And now the outside...
It came time for us to find our hostel, so we meandered from the Gugg (I feel like that's what the majority of Californian girls would abbreviate it to if they lived in Bilbao) towards the old part of town (Casco Viejo). We crossed over another bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava (like the Puente del Alamillo in Sevilla that I wrote about near the beginning of the semester), but this one is a pedestrian bridge and is highly criticized because the floor is made of glass bricks. It rains all the time up in the north, so rain + glass flooring = unhappy Basque people. When we crossed it, the whole length of the bridge was covered with a rubber mat. I wonder why...
There's our hostel! It was pretty swanky. After we got settled, we met up with a photographer I knew through a mutual friend and her sister and cruised around the city (by foot of course). I don't have any pictures of Adina or her sister, so you're just going to have to pretend that I'm not making that part of the story up. I do, however, have a picture of me with Giuseppe Verdi, just for Dr. Shasberger ("...and you can even here the 'force of destiny' in the tuba. Dallas?").
I couldn't give you an accurate depiction of our time in Bilbao without mentioning Duffin Dagels. First off, please visit this website. Now, you should probably notice something interesting between that website and this picture... well, I guess you can't copyright a color scheme or alliteration. Does anyone even know what a "dagel" is? That donut, by the way, is a Bavarian Creme. It was delectable.
A couple more picture from that evening. We actually met up with a friend of Dámaris's that she knew through GBU (the Christian university organization that put on the Thursday afternoon Bible studies we went to in Sevilla) and a couple of his friends. This guy was awesome: he was fluent in Spanish, Basque, French, Russian, English, and I'm pretty sure he could speak Catalán and Belarusian as well. I'm Belarusian, and I can't even speak it!
Well, the next morning came around and it was time to head out of the beautiful town of Bilbao. Here's a morning view of the city, river, and surrounding hillsides.
Before we left, however, we had to make a trip up the funicular so we could see the whole city. The view was incredible!
Well, it's time for me to head out. Next stop, San Sebastián! Until then, tsa luego!
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