Yesterday's adventure was going to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim Museum and driving back along the very twisty road between Bilbao and San Sebastian.
Getting into Balboa and finding the right route to the museum wasn't quite as easy as Rick Steeves or the Michelin map indicated but eventually we spotted the very distinctive building designed by Frank Gehry. and it is amazing.
Just walking around the,museum is amazing.
It is definitely the focal point of the once very industrial city. Apparently they were thinking of where in Europe to locate this museum and up on a hill they was an abandoned factory and it seemed a perfect location.
As we were figuring out where the entrance was, there was,suddenly a fog misting us with cooling water.
This is actually a type of "statue".
When you do enter the museum, you are given an audio guide that is very useful. You are not supposed to take pictures but people do...
You entry into an atrium and you are given much information about architect, Gehry's vision. This is a building without straight lines. The exterior is mainly titanium, limestone blocks, and glass. The museum itself is three floors, all leading off the atrium,accessible by stairs or elevators.
Above is a view from the second floor.
I began my exploration with a very interesting installation.
On this side the words are written in the Basque language and on the other side, English and Spanish.
We had all agreed to wander on our own then meet in two hours. When I found out there was an exhibit of work by David Hockney. I was thrilled and headed there next. He was born in Yorkshire, but has been based for many years in Los Angeles. This exhibit showed mainly his early work in Yorkshire and his very recent work there and later in the Western United States. We also got to see how he was using the iPad program, Brushes!
This is painting!
This is how he works sketching on his iPad now.
Below is a model of a set design
Here is his sketchbook.
This made me think of the one that I am planning to do of this trip when I return. It was good to get some inspiration.
Above is a permanent installation that is huge and you can walk though,
Richard Serra's Matter of Time.
We absolutely loved the Museum, but of course we had to see Jeff Koon's Puppy. It was supposed to be a temporary installation but the people of Bilbao wanted to make it permanent so it is. And yes, those are flowers.
One amusing thing was seeing a photography exhibit highlighting "The Vancouver School", Jeff Wall etc.
A personal thrill is they have free wifi in Bilbao so that I could actually sit at an outdoor cafe and access the Internet, which beats standing in a parking garage.
The museum has influenced the city architecturally as well and I couldn't help but think of Tacoma and how Chihuli's Glass Museum changed that city.
Our convenient parking lot was in a mall so thought I would bring you a bit of Spanish window dressing.
Time to leave so we decided on a scenic route along the coast, but since I may get this posted stay tuned for the next blog entry. Well I didn't so I am working on this as we drive to Pamplona.
After leaving Bilbao, we drove though Guernica, a centre of Basque culture, that Franco, Spain's dictator, cheerfully allowed Hitler,to bomb in 1937, so he could try out his bombing strategies. Three hours of continual bombing on a market day flattened the town and killed hundreds or possibly thousands. Since then it has been rebuilt and become a symbol of peace.
We drove down to the coast to Lekeito, a popular resort town filled with high rise condos. We drove along the coast to Deva where we turned back onto the main highway. Many things amazed us. Cars crammed together on the edge of the roads. We guessed people took steep paths down to the ocean. The roads were incredibly twisty and rather narrow. There was one particularly scary moment with a bicyclist ahead of us when we met a car coming around a blind curve. I just shut my eyes in the back seat. Good thing Irene, the driver, has nerves of steel
The scenery was magnificent though and we finally found a safe place to park.
The road became a bit less curvy and the towns were busy tourist spots but quite gorgeous.
But we were not unhappy to return to the highway for the rest of the drive "home". Sue notes that a knowledge of Euskara is an asset when traveling in the Basque region, as sometimes road directions can be in Spanish one minute and Euskara the next!
Location:San Sebastian
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