Contemporary art and pintxos

Trip Start Dec 06, 2005
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Trip End Jun 17, 2006


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Monday, April 17, 2006

After a ridiculously long run of transport beginning with a god-awful 3am wakeup, we arrived in Bilbao, Spain. But the locals do not consider themselves part of Spain, they are from the Basque Country - a region in south-west France and north Spain where they speak their own language, have their own traditions, food, sport and customs, and were considered a separate country until just after WWII when the US, France and the UK all sided with the Fascist leader "Generalissimo" Franco (in order to form an alliance against the "scourge" of communism) leading to the terrorist group ETA being formed. All really fascinating stuff.

Cam and I headed out for a walk, and after passing traditionally-costumed Basque musicians, a gothic cathedral with Easter Sunday crowds, and exploring the medieval old town of slender streets, we found ourselves at the river Nervión. Walked along this for a while and found the very weird looking Guggenheim Museum - which cost $100m to build in the mid to late 90s, and looks like something from Mars - a structure of 0.5mm thick titanium plates, sandstone and glass. Really unique building. Not being the biggest lovers of contemporary art, we were initially hesitant to enter the museum, but thought "we´ll only be here once" and were almost blown away by the stuff inside. Huge steel and iron sculptures weighing hundreds of tonnes, bizarre LED light towers, exhibitions of Russian and local Basque artwork, and plenty of permanent exhibitions of weird and wonderful creations. The entry fee also included a hilarious audio tour, where an old English guy rabbited on about how the building removed traditional boundaries and provided a soothing space for the artwork to reside in.

Siesta-ed for a few hours and had some spicy lamb kebabs and other tapas (which, here in Basque country, are called pintxos) and beers, watched a traditional Sunday night football match at a local pub, and were disappointed to miss out on a performance by some band called "Bloody Sweet" - what a name!

Only stayed in Bilbao for a day and a night, and it was very nice, but when you only have a couple of weeks in a country, it´s hard to chill for a few days without thinking you´re wasting precious time.
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