March 10, 2020
The sun will come out...today!
Thankfully, the weather greatly improved allowing us to explore the surrounding areas. But first, breakfast (no one wants a hangry Heather). Walking the incredibly far distance of next door, we sat down at Sua San. Ryan had a tasty egg, bacon, and ham pintxo, while I had...yet again...for the millionth time, tortilla. Don't get me wrong, I love me some eggs and potatoes. But due to Spanish diets (especially Basque), tortillas are one of the very few items I can eat and readily find.
Following breakfast, we took the Bilbao metro from Moyua station to Portugalete on the coast. Portugalete is famous for the Vizcaya Bridge, the only industrial UNESCO heritage site. The bridge spans the Bilbao estuary connecting Potrugalete to Getxo. Unlike most bridges, this one has a suspended gondola that carries both people and cars across.
From the metro station we walked down to the bridge where we rode across to the Getxo side in order to walk across the upper scaffolding.
Captions for photos in slideshow below:
1. Gondola
2. Looking inland toward Bilbao (Portugalete on right)
3. Looking towards the Bay of Biscay (Getxo on right)
4. Getxo
On the Getxo side of the estuary, we walked along the Evaristo Churruca Kaia, taking in the views before heading back to Bilbao.
Always down for a loop, we decided to take the metro back but along the other side of the estuary. By the time we got back, we only had a few hours left to see the Guggenheim. Hands down, this is Bilbao's largest attraction and it is definitely a sight worth seeing (if you like art). While visitors are allowed to photograph the outside of the building and the surrounding statues, photos are not allowed inside. I guess you will just have to go to Bilbao to see it for yourself.
The Guggenheim interior is just as impressive and expansive as it's exterior. One featured artist that Ryan and I both enjoyed was Olafur Eliasson. Eliasson's art focused on the environment and of course the impact that we as a species have had on it. One room included his glacier melt photograph series (1999/2019) with a fan suspended from the ceiling spinning out of control. Another area used dramatic lighting (pitch black to eerily yellow) along with water to further demonstrate the human impact on nature.
Following the Guggenheim, we made our way to the funicular de Artxanda and rode it to the top of the hill and overlooked Bilbao as the sun was setting.
Map of our journey that day
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