5th Anniversary in Bilbao

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  Bilbao, Spain
Monday, May 29, 2006

Friday, May 26th - Sunday, May 28, 2006

Bilbao, Spain

Friday (the 26th) being our fifth wedding anniversary, Meredith and I planned a three-day/two-night trip to Bilbao, Spain, the "financial capital" of Pais Vasco (Spanish Basque Country). Famous recently for Frank Gehry's groundbreaking Guggenheim museum (1997), Bilbao is a port town whose major historical industries include fishing and manufacturing. Situated in the far north of Spain just two-three kilometers off the Atlantic Ocean, the city houses around one million people and is contained by large, lush green hills nearly all the way around. Bilbaoans seem to value public space in all forms, as shown by the Casco Viejo's (old town) plazas and pedestrian-only streets, the bicycling/walking paths and playgrounds lining the Ria de Bilbao, and the expansive Parque Etxebarria with its athletic fields and courts

01 Bilbao from Above

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Transportation around the city is easy, quick, and pleasant, as long as you aren't driving - cars are far less important in Bilbao than the metro (subway), trams (light rail), buses, bicycle lanes, paths, and sidewalks. Bicycling around the city and along the river for a good part of day was a joy, as was walking and riding the new tram; we did not get a chance or have a need to ride the metro, although it connects Bilbao proper with suburbs, beaches, and the airport. The main train station (for intercity travel) is conveniently placed just across the river from the old town.

We found great deals on two hotels online, and seeing as we couldn't choose between them, we decided to stay at one in the Casco the first night and to move on to the other, nearer to the Guggenheim, for the second. Hotel one, the Petit Palace, is a beautifully renovated historic building located in the old town only a few steps from the river, the theatre, a public parking deck (pay use, of course), and a tram station. Our room was of a fair size and styled in a very modern fashion with a dark purple ceiling, dark wood paneling accenting white walls, and glass separating the bathroom from the sleeping area - yes, glass (some frosted, some not), so don't plan on sharing a room with someone you don't know well)

02 Casco Viejo Plaza

. Very nice views out of our fourth-story window (which actually opened fully) showed us the pedestrian street below and to the east, the theatre's plaza to the west, and the tram line to the northwest.

We also did some preliminary research to find vegetarian restaurants so that we weren't stuck eating cheese sandwiches, bland salads, and bad pizza for the entire trip. Arriving at the Petit Plaza around lunchtime, which in Spain means two o'clock or so, we checked in, dropped off the bags, and headed off on foot toward Garibolo, a vegetarian restaurant located in a more downtown-style, less charming part of town. Our twenty-five minute wait for a table in the crowded establishment was worthwhile, as we enjoyed some interesting salads, great entrees of paella and a stuffed potato, and dessert. My chocolate/carrot cake with chocolate drizzle was one of the best desserts I have ever tasted, while Meredith's strawberries in yogurt were a fresh way to finish the meal. All of this was part of the fixed-price menu for 10.50 euros each (lunch being the main meal of the day, this was a very good deal).

Not far from Bilbao's fine arts museum, we walked west to whet our artistic appetites for the next day's planned visit to the world-famous Guggenheim. While the Guggenheim trumps the Museo de Bellas Artes in name recognition and architectural flare, the older, more traditional building's collections are impressive (although they rely too heavily on the religious/portrait style)

03 A Beer in the Plaza

. The modern collections were especially interesting, with the "tortoctopus" sculpture winning Meredith's favor. The museum's two older buildings were connected recently by a more modern space that complements the original architecture with some fresh thought. The large playground and ice cream stands of the adjoining park draw little ones and their parents for play, which could consist of anything from kicking a soccer ball to chasing a pigeon.

Walking back toward the hotel by way of the Guggenheim - for our first up-close look - we stopped for a beer and some café in a busy Casco Viejo plaza. After changing clothes and getting a bit of rest, we headed out for dinner, but since the vegetarian restaurants on our list were closed for the evening meal (ten o'clock or later), we chose to try a place called Tapelia that we had found earlier in the day. We shared an excellent plate of vegetable cannelloni, a wonderful pile of vegetables under goat cheese, bread with garlic and tomato spread, and a somewhat bland apple tart. Dinner ended too late to ride the tram back to the hotel, so we walked, stuffed pretty well.

In the morning, we found some potato quiche in the large plaza near our hotel and below which we parked the previous day, then packed our bags and took the tram to the second hotel

04 Bridge by the Guggenheim

. The Hesperia Bilbao, opened in September 2005, is almost directly across the river from the Guggenheim, which is easily accessible via a beautiful white pedestrian bridge shaped like a sail. As part of our Guggenheim package, we received two tickets to the museum as well as use of two bicycles from the hotel.

Dropping off our bags at reception since a non-smoking/one-bed room was not ready yet (smoking and twin beds are very common in Europe), we jumped on the bikes and traveled along the river for a while before parking the bikes at the museum and stopping at a nearby restaurant for an "early" one o'clock lunch. Having passed by a strange place called Saloon Abilene the previous day, we gave into our cravings for the stuffed jalapenos and veggie burger on their menu. This place is not typical of Europe, with loads of old west pictures (Pat Garrett and "Jefe Jose", or Chief Joseph, to name a couple) on the walls and awful 70s/80s ballads piped through the speakers. The food was about what we expected: not too bad, a nice reminiscence of American grille fare.

Now we were ready for the big fish, the already legendary Guggenheim. It's amazing how one building can transform so much of a city. This museum helped turn a stagnant, run-down riverside district into one of the world's great redevelopment successes

05 Guggenheim Front

. Tourists flock to this architectural icon from around the globe, flooding the area with pedestrians and their cameras at all hours of the day and night. The building, despite its beautiful eccentric oddball appearance, fits its surroundings amazingly well. The river-paths, the tramline, and the pedestrian bridges convey people into and out of the area efficiently and fashionably, and playgrounds, benches, and interactive water jets streaming up from the hardscape keep them there.

Gehry's design incorporates three main elements: 1mm-thick titanium panels layered slightly to achieve a fish-scale effect, smooth limestone blocks, and "100% transparent" glass that allow a view through the museum from one side to the other. His inspirations were Bilbao's fishing boats and their gilled yield, which, again, have comprised an important part of the city's economy for centuries. The sun plays brilliantly off of the titanium in different ways depending on time of day and cloud cover, while the limestone and glass ameliorate any "sore-thumb" aspects that (ignorant) people may attribute to the building. While the museum on the whole tends to resemble a sci-fi ocean craft whose sails were placed haphazardly, the shapes of the individual forms are mostly indescribable, but again, Gehry's composition achieves greatness by transcending weirdness.

Inside, the Guggenheim features permanent collections of sculpture, paintings, and other works of mostly modern art

06 Video of Meredith's Favorite Crosswalk Device

. Temporary exhibits during our visit included a survey of Russian art from the past eight centuries and a tribute to Eduardo Chillida, a Basque sculptor who died in 2002. On the permanent side, while Richard Serra's humongous metal sculptures, housed in the museum's largest gallery (3,000+ square meters), are pleasant to look at and walk through, the video interview in which the artist criticizes nearly everything about art and architecture - including Gehry himself - is more interesting. While other standouts include a row of vertical LED message boards broadcasting strange messages (one side in English, Spanish, etc., and the other in Basque), a small room of a fantasy about man launching himself into space, and some excellent paintings, the collections are not as impressive as some modern art museums in the US.

After hours of walking around the Guggenheim, we returned to the hotel and found our room. We then waited around for about two hours while hotel staff tried to find us a room with a bathtub, as was advertised online. Finally, we switched rooms and marched off toward another vegetarian restaurant. Unfortunately, this establishment seems not to exist anymore, so we stopped at a nearby hotel whose staff was happy to find us another restaurant. This turned out to be the same restaurant at which we ate lunch on Friday, so we opted for pizza instead. Spain interprets pizza much better than France

07 Trams, Bike Paths, Sidewalks, Crosswalks, Cars

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The next day, Sunday, we checked out of the hotel and walked a few kilometers to drop off our bags in the car and visit the Basque museum. Appearing small and possibly not very well stocked from the outside, the museum surprised us with both the quality and quantity of its collections. Strangely, the featured temporary exhibit on the ground floor featured King Tut and his tomb, which did not seem to have very much to do with Basque culture or history. While the exhibit was well put-together and of high quality, it, as well as the rest of the museum, only showed information in Spanish and Euskara (Basque). The permanent collection included exhibits on industry (fishing, shepherding, and textiles), culture (food, festivals, etc.), and military (mainly guns and swords). A large open-air courtyard contained by the building on all four sides featured large stone sculpture, wooden artifacts from historic buildings, and what appeared to be old tombs.

Having seen the city's highlights, we loaded into the car and made our way toward the Subway sandwich shop, which, we were delighted to learn the day before, offers Ben & Jerry's ice cream! From the time we got into the car after visiting the Basque museum to the first lick of ice cream, this little endeavor took us well over an hour due to unpredictable roads with forced turns in the wrong direction and a long and slow lunch line at Subway

08 Bicyclists and Pedestrians

. Finally, with Oh My Apple Pie! and Vermonster (an actual flavor of ice cream, not the twenty-scoop sundae you can get in the states) in hand, we were on the road to France. Thanks to some nice weather on the way home, this drive was much prettier than our trip down on Friday. We drove a good bit of one of the stages of this year's Tour de France, through St. Jean Pied de Port and over col d'Osquich, passing through some nice towns along the way.

I would definitely recommend visiting Bilbao by any means possible. This turned out to be one of my favorite cities in the world, and although I'm sure there are lots of things that we weren't able to do while we were there, three days/two nights were plenty to catch the high-points. A bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly city with lots of great cuisine (for vegetarians and non), a great range of accommodations, and one of the most original and beautiful buildings ever made, Bilbao is quite a place - just don't try to drive around inside it.

As always, comments or questions are welcome via email.

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