Second Week
As usual, I made a video of the apartment we’re in for these five weeks. Click on the photo below the link to view it on YouTube.
The view in one of the directions from our rooftop terrace.
Bilbao
On Wednesday of week two, we flew with friends Robert and Nina to Bilbao. These friends live in Barcelona, but we’ve been up to the Basque country more times than they have. We were pleased they accepted our invitation to fly up for a short break to see museums, eat tasty food and walk around exploring. We had a feeling we’d be good travel partners, and that was the case! On the way in from the airport, we saw something unexpected. A big group of identical cars, all with bike racks mounted on top, were cruising toward town. Robert guessed that a stage of La Vuelta, the annual Spanish cycling road race, must be in Bilbao that day! He looked it up and sure enough, he found the starting and ending times which allowed us to catch the beginning, and the end which was unfortunately disturbed by a big protest. Photos and more descriptions follow.
At the end of the video, you saw a bunch of Palestinian flags. A lot of people had come out to protest against the Israelis, what’s going on in Gaza. It was extremely disruptive, and quite disturbing as it got louder and more threatening. The race officials had to re-route the peloton to another street, not where the finish line was. Because of this, no winner of this stage was named. We saw a few cyclists coming in and diverted to the other street, but the viewers of the event were deprived of seeing a winner cross a finish line.
A visit to the Azkuna Zentroa in the Alhondiga
This is a beautiful historic building that takes up a whole city block. It was originally a warehouse for wines and probably other products for distribution. It’s completely reimagined with a building within a building designed by architect Phillipe Starck. The gallery had a wonderful exhibition by a Japanese artist Chiraru Shiota that Robert and Nina had seen before and love her work.
Amazing Bilbao Garbage & Recycling System
After breakfast and on our way to the Guggenheim, we passed by an amazing sight. Trash and recycling receptacles are all over every city. Often we’ve seen small, sleek bins that obviously have large spaces underground for collection. But how do they empty them? Well, check out this video!
A Day at the Guggenheim
Evening in the Casco Viejo
Bob and I have always stayed in this old neighborhood every other time we’ve come here, so we were able to show Robert and Nina around. Had fun going to a few pintxo bars, then walked across the river and through an interesting multi-cultural neighborhood. 3 days is not enough time in Bilbao!
