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Bilbao Travel Blogs

Background: Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries ultimately yielded command of the seas to England. Subsequent failure to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions caused the country to fall behind Britain, France, and Germany in economic and political power. Spain remained neutral in World Wars I and II, but suffered through a devastating civil war (1936-39). In the second half of the 20th century, Spain has played a catch-up role in the western international community; it joined the EU in 1986. Continuing challenges include Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) terrorism and further reductions in unemployment.

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By Dylan 1991
October 23rd 2009

Eurotrip Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao

I have managed to hitchhike my way too mundaka to check out the wave action..saw some pretty good footage from wednesday..apparently all the pros are in town go check it out..this trip has turned out like the movie Eurotrip..i was robbed i have no money and im hitchhiking my way around the joint, sleeping in my tent. so much fun!!!!im pretty sure the lads van was worse than joes! maxed out at fify k´s an hour!!!!!! ps mum i cant get a hold of visa, can you ring them and tell them, another day to get to france.. [View Full Entry]

By buddymedbery
October 4th 2009

Saturday, October 3, 2009 - Santiago de Compostela to Bilbao Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao

Coastline of Galicia

A somewhat longer driving day. Leaving Santiago de Compostela, we initially headed inland for some time, then turned northward toward the coast again, hitting the coastline at Ribadeo. From there to Bilbao, it was mostly driving along an interstate-type highway, albeit not yet complete, to Bilbao. Along the way we stopped frequently to see views of the rugged coastline of Galicia, Asturia, and Cantabria, before entering Basque Country. A brief note on languages in Spain. There are a number. Galician is closer to Portuguese thanto Spanish, and in fact is considered by many to be a Portugu [View Full Entry]

Spider sculpture at Bilbao Museum Bilbao

By KHALEH NAZ
October 2nd 2009

SPAIN-BILBAO-09-1002 Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao

Photo 2

Today was the ride through the Basque Country and the Pyrenees... Flew to Barcelona yesterday evening, had a good feed of Paella and went to bed.... Arrived in Bilbao today around 1:45 pm...The train ride was quite pleasant, and the scenery was from green and lush, to barren and dry, from red earth to white earth, to the mountainous terrain of the Basque region and to Bilbao...Found the hotel, rested a little and then headed to the Guggenheim Museum, in the center of the city and along the banks of Ria De Bilbao (River)...Bilbao is a very nice city with great [View Full Entry]

By majik
September 5th 2009

Mundaka Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao

Guggenheim

It took an hour to drive down the coast to Mundaka. Checked in to our hotel, which was four kilometres out of Mundaka towards Gernika. Drove into down town Mundaka and found it extremely busy being a hot summers Sunday. The streets are very narrow and the countryside green and lush. We had some tapas at the local hotel and watched the teenagers dive off the rock platforms into the small port. We decided to go for a swim around at the local beach. Indi and Jarah had a great time jumping off the rocks. No surf, as we had [View Full Entry]

By timandsue
August 6th 2009

The Crossing Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao

The Departure

Portsmouth to Bilbao (Tim and Sue) Bit of a bumpy start - our ferry departure was slightly delayed due to 'unseasonal weather'. The drive down to Portsmouth was an absolute shocker so no surprises that the ferry didn't turn up to dock until quite late. Here's hoping that this isn't going to continue on the crossing. It was bit of 'rough crossing' in various senses of the word. Generally OK (we went P&O) but I think if we did it again we'd maybe go Brittany Ferries instead. Even though we were in the bow the whole of the ship vibrated. Some [View Full Entry]

"Subtle" and "non-descript" watches for the trip

By GPJMurphy
July 29th 2009

Last day Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao

The Guggenheim Building

Wednesday 29th July - Bilbao, The Picos, Santander The Guggenheim is an amazing building but I had to agree with the consensus that debated whether its content was worthy of its surroundings. That's partly because I don't really get gargantuan ultra modern sculptures, those more refined would probably disagree. As a basic sort of chap. for me art is about pictures on canvas, or other media and for that I generally do prefer modern art. So the top floor of the Guggenheim held most interest but even that was dwarfed by the architectural genius of the building itself. As amazing [View Full Entry]

By Carly and Jez
July 28th 2009

Bilbao and its Guggenheim Museum Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao

Guggenheim

Day 455 (10/7/09) Back to the Bus station again this time bound for Bilbao. We headed straight for the Guggenheim museum, described as one of the worlds most impressive buildings. Past the random artistic monument which the Spanish love. We started with the tour of Chinese artist Cai Guo Qiang's ' I want to believe' exhibition. It was an awesome display of art using everything from cars, fireworks and doves. This political artist was also involved in China spectacular Olympic opening ceramony. We wandered through the other sections; traditional art, film, past Franz Marc's 'Yellow cow&rdqu [View Full Entry]

By GPJMurphy
July 28th 2009

San Seb and a short journey to Bilbao Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao

San Seb 1

Tuesday 28th July - San Sebastian - Bilbao After mucho milos (I'm picking up this Spanish lark already) the last couple of days, I had always planned today to be an easy, lazy day, but that was no excuse for taking the autoroute the 100km or so short hop to Bilbao. I studied the map afterwards (yes I know somewhat arse about face) and noticed the coastal road. Sure enough it even warranted a mention in Lonely planet. Wally. Still I have to say that it was by far the most scenic and interesting autoroute I have ever been on. The [View Full Entry]

By selfman
July 26th 2009

WWOOF en Diego's Granja (Vizkaya, Spain) Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao

diego_y_wwoof-ers

2 week's wwoof..... [View Full Entry]

By Travellin J
May 30th 2009

Bilbao Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao

Just a short hour or so bus trip from San Sebastian we were there in no time. Found our little pension tucked away and our host speaks NO ENGLISH at all! As we made our way through the instructions given we were off wondering yet again to look around the city. We were based in the outskirts of town but it was still just a short walk to get anywhere. First on our agenda was the Guggenheim Museum. This building is a piece of modern art in itself built by Frank Gehry in 1997. As you get closer to it you [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao