Bilbao and the Guggenheim Museum Spain

Travelled:30km
Visited: Bilbao, Guggenheim Museum
Stay: Bilbao-free parking outside closed aire, no services, bus every 15mn into town GPS N43°15.572' W2°57.806'

Another wet start to the day. Fortunately it was no longer raining by the time we drove to the aire and we caught the bus. We were unsure what route it was taking and how close we would get to the Guggenheim Museum. The driver said 'finally', so we stayed on the bus until it got to a stop where we were the only ones left on it and the cleaners got on! The bus driver took us to the next stop and pointed to the number 11 bus we should take next. (We could have walked 30mn to the museum from here). Anyway it turned out we mistakenly got off the bus too early at the City Hall, and it did allow us the chance to walk along the river.

 The museum is the star attraction here. It was built in 1997 by the Canadian architect Frank Gehry. It is an amazing looking building with many titanium (60 tonnes) cladded curved facades inspired by the shape of fish, ships and flowers. 

There are 2 huge sculptures outside: Mama, a spider and Puppy, a beautiful 12m high floral dog. 

The a exhibits were quite different. We liked walking through the huge maze of steel sculptures bent and designed in a way that it created a dizzying sensation. The outdoor reflective steel sculptures were fun with their reflections of the surroundings. 

There was also some modern art in several forms and Yoko Ono's very unique exhibits. 

Feeling a bit overwhelmed we headed out into the city and it didn't take us long to find a bar or two to partake in our new found love of pintos with a nice cold beer.

 Now refreshed we strolled around the streets of the old quarter. We went into Europe's largest covered market 

and admired the architecture of many of the buildings such as the Theatre. 

Then after a coffee we headed back up the hill to Bluey. A popular lookout and parklands with the locals. It is also part of St.James Way to Santiago de Compostela.