Basquing in Bilbao

26-27 October

An early start to my day with a taxi to 8am train to Bilbao from Madrid Chamartin, which I guess would be a bit like Euston is to Kings' Cross if you compared it with Atocha, the rather magnificent mainline station I'd arrived at on Friday. The train was a bit late and the process isn't helped by the fact that you have to scan all your luggage before you get on a train (I can only presume at major stations) in Spain - guess that was probably introduced in the wake of the Madrid train bombing a few years back.

We made up the time though - a bit surprising as at times the train goes quite slowly through the mountainous northern terrain, but the scenery was fantastic in terms of colour contrasts - quite a different landscape of plains and mountains compared to Barcelona - Madrid. It's one of the reasons apparently they can't run the high-speed trains through the north just yet, as there are so many tunnels - so that was the reason why I was finding it difficult to plan my rail journey.

Although it was first class, there were no perks (what?!), but the journey was comfortable and I got chatting to the man opposite who was from Halifax originally and an ex-professional footballer whose brother, Frank Worthington was a rather more famous maverick soccer star in the 70s. Dave is now a scout for Leicester City, and gets to live in Barcelona and go all over Spain to watch football matches - I guess a dream job for some.

When we arrived in Bilbao I was greeted by this rather wonderful stained glass window

which was an early alert to the kind of sophisticated architectural style I could expect to see here. There are surprises around many corners - not so many in the Casco Viejo where we're staying (the old town) which is pretty and quaint in a different way, but just in my initial orientation wander I came across a number of wow factor buildings - there's a lot of colour too.

A minor station next to the main Abando

Mercada de la Ribera

Pension Matilde above a bank in old town

Casa Cune school

View along the Ribera

Kioska Arenal - a bandstand

Teatro Arrriaga 

I walked towards the Teatro across one of the many river bridges to get to the hotel, which is in a lovely old building in Calle Jardines, right in the heart of the old town. It's a nice old building, with wooden floors and of course yet again no lift - so I had to bump Nellie up several flights of stairs, and I'm now set on writing a very stern email to booking.com because when they advertise a property, it really should be clear if a lift is available or not. It's not just for a Nellie - anyone with a disability would have a lot of difficulty with some of the stairs in older properties. Rant over.

After I'd recovered and settled in, I went out for some very nice pinxtos for lunch with a glass of crisp white Rioja - and in fact Carol and I returned to the same bar later on for dinner, as she arrived about 8pm. We're quite hooked on pinxtos - it's like a buffet without the crisps and quiche and people being greedy.

As the weather this morning was dreadful (it wouldn't stop raining - Sicily all over again, but thankfully shorter-lived) we decided that the Guggenheim was our best bet, especially as only 10 minutes away on the tram. The building is marvellous - so fabulous that we went back this evening to  view it at night - though with some notable exceptions, we weren't especially impressed with the temporary exhibitions on offer, with the exception of some huge canvases by Alex Katz and an amazing massive moving digital image installation by Shahzia Sikander. There are some super-sized outdoor pieces - I did love Amish Kapoor's shiny silver balls, Jeff Koons' glossy tulips and floral puppy, who guards the front of the museum and has really become its mascot. Richard Serra's masterly and enormous steel structures (The Matter of Time) with their clever concept of optical illusion via flattened elilpses were just marvellous - funny and scary to walk through all at the same time.

Puppy with living pansies

Richard Serra's humungous steel sculptures - where am I?

Oh here I am!

And here's the Guggenheim curved ceiling - not a straight wall in the place

Shiny titanium cladding

Jeff Koons' luvverly bunch of tulips

Limestone and titanium

Puppy!

Inside the Guggenheim

Kapoor's daytime balls

and at night

After a pintxos lunch, we had a good wander round the new and old towns before a little rest at our hotel, and then heading out again on the tram to see the theatre all lit up. It was only open for ticket sales though, so we were denied a look any closer than the lobby.

and across town to the Guggenheim at night.

Fire fountain by Yves Klein

9m tall Maman by Louise Bourgeois, last seen at Tate Modern

The lovely sail-shaped and named Zubi Zuri bridge with the full moon behind it

We then went for a couple of  ridiculously cheap but good glasses of wine before a good dinner. The weather promises to be sunny and warmer tomorrow, so some more outdoor stuff will be on the agenda, including a trip up the funicular to the surrounding hills. It's all fairly compact here - much smaller than I'd imagined - so there's lots to see though maybe not do if you don't want to explore every church or museum in depth. I am at the stage now where my brain can't take too much more cultural referencing, and the proud Basque thing here means that there are lots of differences in spelling, with x and c thrown heavily into the pronunciation mix, so that my struggling Spanish is now almost completely drowning and pointing and miming are becoming an embarrassing necessity.