Basque-ing in Bilbao!!

---

Geo: 43.257, -2.92344

For once, the ship was right in its forecast of the weather. Roisin had a terrible night last night. You would expect by now that she (we) are used to the sea being a bit choppy!! The pitching and the rolling of the vessel is not the issue. It is the angle to which the ship is cutting through the water. This creates an uncanny crashing sound that I find difficult even to associate with water smashing in to the hull. Furthermore, the commotion accompanying the movement of the ship sounded like someone has smuggled a lawnmower aboard, and not a flymo either but one of those petrol engine types with the built-in seat!! It sounded like the crew were having races around the passages at two in the morning!!

It was finally time to get up although neither of us had really had much sleep but as this was a destination neither Roisin nor I had ever visited we were determined to make the effort to at least turn up at the Guggenheim art gallery, Bilbao's most famous land mark. The ship docked at a small sleepy seaside town called Getxo (pronounced Gecho, I think!) The ship arrived at 07:00 and was in port until 19:30 so there was no rush to head out. Getxo is about 8 miles from Bilbao. The result of the day was the complimentary shuttle bus from the port to the centre of Bilbao. Normally the cruise company make a charge for shuttle buses so we couldn't understand the change of policy. The only time a shuttle is free is if it is not allowed to walk on the dock estate (health and safety) so a shuttle is provided but that is usually only to the dock gate. Furthermore, it was announced that the shuttle would drop off on Avenida Moyua but now the bus would be dropping us off on Museum Square, much nearer to the Guggenheim and the river walk.

The Crown Princess docked on a pier which was in a very picturesque surrounding. I imagined an industrial backdrop but the pier led in to a large marina. It looked like a pleasant walk into what seemed a very affluent part of town, complete with funicular!! Getxo is also home to at least one golden sandy beach that we could see. The town seemed worth exploring but today we wanted to take advantage of the free 'lift' in to Bilbao. It's amusing to walk around the ship and hear so many people pronounce the city Bilbo as if named after some JRR Tolkien character!!

There was one other ship in port today, the P & O ship Azura, on her way from the UK to the Mediterranean. That means there will be a lot of culturally starved Brits in town today all heading for the Guggenheim with their tongues hanging out at the thought of all that contemporary art waiting to be analysed!! Either that or it's just the effects of the free drinks packages onboard!!

Bilbao is situated on the North coast of Spain on the Bay of Biscay. It is located in the Basque region of Spain. Basque Country is the Spanish equivalent of Cornwall whereby they've been harping on about independence for centuries the only difference is that the Basques have a separatist group known as ETA whereas Cornwall has Jack the Giant Killer and a bunch of Pixies!!

We boarded the shuttle about 11:00 and in 25 minutes we alighted outside the Finance Museum. We took our bearings from a very friendly tourism guide, of which a whole team were waiting on the pavement to greet the shuttle buses and offer free advice and maps. The Guggenheim was less than five minutes from the drop off point.

Neither Roisin or I feel we are culturally savvy enough to appreciate the cubism that the Guggenheim has to offer so we were both happy of forgo the €13 each for the experience and just admire the outside of the building. The Guggenheim Museum opened in 1997 and was hailed as one of the world's most spectacular buildings in the style of Deconstructivism!! (this description is already making me smile!!) Apparently deconstructivism is a movement of postmodern architecture that gives the impression of the fragmentation of the constructed building. (No?? Me neither!!) It is characterised by an absence of harmony, continuity, or symmetry.

Architect to builder: ‘What the bloody hell's that? You had the plans upside-down, Moron!! There's no harmony, continuity or symmetry to the building. The walls aren't even straight!! Nothing we can do about it now. Ah well! Don't say a word. As far as you're concerned that's the way it was meant to be. I don't know! Lets just call it Deconstructivism and say it's all the latest rage!!'

Outside of the Guggenheim stood a giant topiary of a dog. This is the work of Jeff Koons. His ‘piece' is called ‘Puppy' and is based on the outline of a West Highland terrier. This 43ft behemoth was not yet in full bloom so the effects were still not fully realised. Koons created the piece to apparently inspire optimism and to instill, in his own words, ‘confidence and security.' A few days before its inauguration in 1997, the museum was nearly bombed by three ETA Basque separatists posing as gardeners working on the sculpture. In addition to their incognito dress, the men carried flower pots like those on Puppy filled with 12 remote-controlled grenades. Meanwhile a pixie in Cornwall fell off his toadstool!!

It's official. I asked Roisin if she wanted to look around the Guggenheim. Her reply: ‘Nah, it's just full of abstract expressionism arty-farty stuff'.

‘Pollocks?', I asked.

‘Not all of it', she replied. ‘It's just an acquired taste!!'

Behind the Guggenheim, a short walk along the river promenade we came across a larger-than-life embodiment of the number one fear amongst children and adults alike, a giant spider sculpture known as Maman. As we neared, steam blew across from nearby outlet pipes giving the effect of some escaped creature from a nightmare. In the glistening sunshine, the 9 metre sculpture cast a powerful physical and psychological shadow.

The sculpture was created in 1999 by the French artist Louise Bourgeois. It includes a sac containing 26 marble eggs and its abdomen and thorax are made of ribbed bronze. The title is the familiar French word for Mother and I can vouch that the sculpture is the ‘mother' of arachnid sculptures!!!

Having both had a rough night, we were starting to feel the pace so before we took the shuttle back to the ship, we popped in to a local pastry shop for coffee and a wee snackette. Once again we chose the pastel de Nata as our cake of choice although here in Northern Spain it is known as a pastel de Belem which ironically was the district of Lisbon where were had our last taste of this traditional Portuguese eggy custard!!

Bilbao is certainly a compact but interesting city in a picturesque location. Together with the port of Getxo, there is still plenty for us to explore next year when we return on the Sapphire Princess.

---

Comments

[William Atkins]

It's monastery. Pardon my pedantism.

[chris-roisin]

Thanks William. Pressures of a deadline. I can't even plead the UK/US divide!!! (color v colour, harbor v harbour etc...) as this word is spelt the same whichever side of the Atlantic you live!!!

[William Atkins]

There's one of these in Tokyo too, at Roppongi Hills. Very cool.

[William Atkins]

I just couldn't resist teasing you. Thanks for sharing your adventures and especially your humor.