The North Coast of Spain

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In the US we have the East Coast and the West Coast but Spain has an East Coast, West Coast and a North Coast. The North Coast is where we spent four days exploring as we headed west.

Our first stop on the coast was the city of Bilbao, known in the local dialect as Bilbo, just like The Hobbit. The challenges started as we entered the city. John said it felt like driving into Boston the day after getting his drivers permit. There were no signs pointing to where we wanted to go so I was navigating using the map in the guidebook. It was accurate but drawn for pedestrians so did not indicate the one-way streets nor the pedestrian malls. At least five times we would approach a street only to find we could not turn the direction we wanted. Other times we could turn but missed it by being in the wrong lane or took the wrong turn. We spent a very stressful hour driving through the city avoiding running red lights and hitting pedestrians. When we finally got close to our hotel we quickly parked in the nearest parking garage and breathed a sigh of relief.

Our primary reason for going to Bilbao was to visit the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts so we spent the afternoon at the Museum of Fine Arts. It houses a collection of paintings that ranged from the Middle Ages to modern times. I found the Middle Ages dull, the Dutch painters interesting and the modern “art” baffling. The piece of modern art that I remember most is a square piece of sheet metal about 3x3 feet. That was it. There was no painting, no carving, no pretty edges, just a piece of sheet metal hanging on the wall. This is art?

We spent the next morning at the Guggenheim whose mission is modern art. Even before going inside we encountered two interesting sculptures: a giant spider called “Maman” and a 43 foot tall flower covered puppy called “Puppy”. We spent the next 45 minutes listening to descriptions of the building which was the best part of our visit. The building was designed by an architect named Frank Gehry who also designed the Experience Music Project in Seattle. It has vast spaces for the exhibitions, lots of glass and no straight lines.

After the building tour we saw a few pieces from the permanent collection. The most challenging piece we saw was a canvas painted entirely black except for one small corner that was white. Without the audio guide to tell us it was about the Spanish Civil War, it would have been just a black canvas with a white corner.

That afternoon we drove to Santillana. We were there to visit a museum that definitely had “non-modern” art: the Altamira Museum. In the late 19th century some one discovered cave paintings dating back 15000 years. The colors were so vibrant that scientists assumed they were fakes but in 1902 they were verified as authentic. Since then they built this museum which contains a replica of the cave so people can view the paintings without damaging the originals. The paintings are of animals, mostly buffalo, and are in various shades of red (ochre) and black (charcoal). I thought this art was better art than what we saw at the Guggenheim that morning.

The next day we drove to the town of Comillas to visit Capricho de Gaudi. Those who read our Barcelona blog will recognize the name Antoni Gaudi, a renowned architect in Barcelona. This house was one of his few works outside Catalonia and was designed by Gaudi when he was still young (thirty something). It lacks the spirals and curves he later became known for but does contain the decorative elements like sunflower ceramic tiles that are recognizable as Gaudi. It was a small house with living quarters about the size of our home but it also had the same amount of space again for the servants.

Our last stop on the north coast of Spain was Ribadeo. We went to the tourist office and asked the lady about where to wash clothes using the word lavanderia which we thought meant Laundromat. She gave us a funny look but told us where to go. We went back to the room to get all of our clothes then set out for the Laundromat. We found the place she directed us to but it was a Wal-Mart like store. We realized that she thought we wanted to buy a washing machine, also called a lavanderia. Laughing, we headed back to the TI. There I explained that I had not been clear and I asked again. She started to give me directions then paused to ask what kind of clothes I wanted to buy. I laughed again and pantomimed washing clothes and she realized what I really wanted and gave me directions.

That evening was Ribadeo’s big Carnival celebration. Carnival is the big party held before the austerity of Lent sets in; in New Orleans they call it Mardi Gras. It was raining hard but that did not slow the celebrations, it just meant everyone carried umbrellas. We had asked the nice lady at the TI about the festivities and she said that people dressed up like widows. We thought we had misunderstood but as we walked through town we saw many people dressed in Victorian-era mourning clothes. We got to the site of the festivities just as they were setting off 12 booming fireworks one at a time. We took that as a sign that the events were still on despite the weather.

Starting about 8:30 pm, three bands arrived playing drums and kazoos and dressed as widows. We suspect had the weather been dry they would have been playing real instruments but since it was raining hard they played saxophone shaped kazoos. Next was a fireworks show. Neither of us had ever been so close to a fireworks launching area. The launch pad was only 50 feet away and the fireworks were exploding literally overhead just 100 – 200 feet. The culminating event was the burning of a 20 foot tall effigy of a farmer holding a pitch fork. They had placed large firecrackers inside the effigy so as it burned it would periodically explode as well. (John really liked the explosions.) After the effigy was mostly consumed, the bands started playing and headed into town followed by all of the spectators. So we ended our visit to the north coast of Spain with a bang.

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Photos

Puppy
Forty-three feet tall and covered in flowers.

Maman
The Spider Sculpture outside the Guggenheim.

Cave Art
Recreation of 15,000 year old cave drawing

Capricho de Gaudi
House designed by Antoni Gaudi in Camillas.

Dedicated Band Members
Playing in the pouring rain.

Beth and Gaudi
Outside Capricho de Gaudi

A Collection of Light Poles
Outside the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao was this art installation with at least 30 different light poles.

Comments

[roni]

[e-mail]
I had forgotten the Louise Bourgeous was there! (I did my undergraduate thesis on her and two other American women sculptors) and yes, lavanderia is normally "washing machine", what you wanted to ask for was a place donde unos pueden lavar ropa. (where one can wash clothes) your fireworks photo is amazing! and I would have liked to see Beth with her arm around Gaudi, pointing out something for him...;) your trip has been amazing! I've been enjoying it so much!

[Betty Blakney]

Enjoying
Dear Beth and John, Even though we haven't commented for a while we are greatly enjoying your blogs. Love, Betty