July 20: enroute to Canada

Goodbye Bilbao

July 19 — Bilbao

Our last full day in Bilbao .... very early tomorrow morning we will bid a fond farewell to this lovely Basque city, and start our series of flights back home to Canada!  We have enjoyed our stay and taken in many great sights; we used our last day to explore just a couple of additional places in the city.

First off, we took a ride up the funicular and viewed Bilbao spread out far below us.  It was easy to pick out many landmarks, neighbourhoods, and buildings that we had visited.  Jim fondly recalled having spent father’s day in the park there in 2015 with Teal and Tori, and Emma and Nooks.

Down again at city level, we walked over the pedestrian bridge and onwards to the Azkuna Zentroa — the contemporary art, culture and leisure centre that Jim and I had been at, briefly, last night.  The building is a repurposed old municipal wine exchange market; we wandered through the pillared open spaces, two library levels (being well used by citizens, as we observed), and took in an interesting art exhibit.  The facility also holds a swimming pool, fitness centre, media labs, cafes, shop, and movie cinemas.

For our picnic lunch, we settled down in a small park featuring a pretty fountain with lions spitting water.  Behind us sat a matador!

The rest of the afternoon will be taken up by siesta, pre-flight check-ins, and packing.

And so our adventure draws to a close!  Thanks, Jim and Betty, for a wonderful and memorable trip together!  Safe travels home!

July 18: Portugalete—Getxo

My sore throat cleared up and with no sweats, chills, or shakes, I had to rule out dengue fever. The Zika virus is stealthy but a long shot, so I am back on the beat.

This morning we caught the metro (subway) to the neighbouring coastal village of Portugalete.  Founded in the 1300s, Portugalete was originally a commercial competitor of Bilbao.  Today it is part of Bilbao’s greater metropolitan area and a 20 minute metro ride from Old Town.  Across the River Nervion from Portugalete is the sister city of Getxo.  In the old days the wealthy lived in Getxo and the workers lived in Portugalete. To be frank, neither of these cities are, themselves, worth a visit. However, the bridge that connects the two is a UNESCO World Heritage site and our ultimate destination.

The Vizcaya Bridge is the world’s oldest transporter bridge, an iron framed structure with an aerial gondola transfer system.  The bridge structure is very tall to permit ships to sail under it. The gondola is suspended from a trolley on the frame by steel cables and holds up to six cars and close to a hundred people.   The trolley rolls along the rails on the frame and ferries the gondola from one bank to the other.  Each trip takes about 90 seconds and costs 50 cents.  If you are more adventurous, you can take an elevator to the top of the frame and walk across the bridge 50 metres above the river.  The bridge was designed by Alberto Palacio, a student of Eiffel, and built in 1893.

When we arrived in Portugalete, the Vizcaya Bridge dominated the skyline and photobombed all of our pictures.  After a cafe con leche for Laurel and cafe solos for Betty and I, we bought tickets and rode the gondola across the river to Getxo. Once on the other side, Laurel and I decided we would trying walking on top of the frame. The elevator was broken in Getxo so we had to go back to Portugalete to take the elevator to the top.  The view was stunning and the walk was exhilarating but not scary.  

Getxo was full of beautiful mansions that line the estuary and coastline.  After a walk along the beach, we caught a metro train back to Bilbao for lunch and siesta.

Slowly our routines are being transformed by something called “Spanish Creep”. Morning, lunch, supper and bedtime have all slid 

towards a later, more typical Spanish timetable. This explains why at 5:00 (a perfectly acceptable Canadian supper time) we had finished shopping and were out searching the Albia district for the venerated Cafe Iruna to have an afternoon cup of coffee/glass of wine.  When we found it, we were not disappointed.  Cafe Iruna was built in 1903 in an ornate style that reminded us of Turkey or Morocco. By the time we got back home and sat down to eat, it was after 8:00 p.m. (a perfectly acceptable Spanish supper time).

I had retired to write up this blog when Laurel suggested that we all go out to an aquatic dance performance that was premiering in a half an hour.  Betty passed on this activity, so Laurel and I rushed off to catch the show.  Laurel is a navigator—she is, in fact, the Magellan* of this outfit—but in a hurry and without a star chart, even Magellan* would have sailed off the edge of the earth!  That is to say, the route to the venue was circuitous and interesting (gritty).  Up, up, up steep winding streets, we ended up in a neighbourhood that seemed to be populated only by agitated young men who crowded the sidewalks and spilled onto the street. Three police vans and a dozen cops with 
weapons on display were not reassuring and increased our anxiety. If not for the grandma toddling along with a bag of cucumbers 
ahead of us on the sidewalk, I would have grabbed Laurel and sprinted out of there.

When we arrived at the performance venue, the lineup was long and winding and it looked doubtful that we would get in.  There were two scheduled free performances of tonight’s show:  A dragon under the seabed,  but we were not able to get a ticket so we wandered around the venue, which alone was worth the trip.  Azkuna Zentroa is a multipurpose venue in an artsy neighbourhood teeming with life at 10:00 in the evening.  The aquatic dance performance was in a glass bottomed swimming pool high above the heads of the audience.   While walking around the the venue, we found a gap in the curtain 
with a partial view of the performance. Described as “a sound and visual fable reflecting on the relation between an individual and a collective based on the choreography, original sound track and lighting ... A dragon under the seabed inverts the public’s spatial vision to literally place it under water.” Watching it certainly inverted our heads and all I could see were two swimmers in neon bathing suits rolling and writhing while ominous music pulsated.  We watched until our necks got sore, then checked out the 43 unique pillars 
supporting the venue before walking home via a Elkano*—sanctioned
 route.

*Magellan is not the best navigator to invoke here as he was killed in a battle on the way home and his 1st mate, Juan Sebastian  Elcano (a local Basque boy from Getaria) actually got the crew safely back to Spain)! 

July 17: Bilbao

Today was my turn to write the blog, but since we had two art museums scheduled, I tapped out and Betty agreed to cover the day.  Thanks Sis!

How I got talked into swapping days with Jim I’ll never know! A long morning walk and trips to two completely different museums in one day! Brothers!

Today would mark the second cloudy day since our holiday began on June 19th. Although the weather made our walk very comfortable, the lighting made it difficult to capture the real beauty of the scenery and in particular the Guggenheim Museum. 

We left our accommodation this morning looking for the Camino trail. We had followed the trail leading into the city yesterday and today we were looking for the trail leading out of the city. We never did spot any Camino markers in spite of having crossed the river three times. We did however, see one Perigrino early this morning heading out of town and another on our return trip home heading into town. So....we were close.

We weren’t on the trail more than five minutes when Laurel wondered aloud if we should stop for coffee because she had only had one cup before we left. We didn’t. An hour later as we were snapping photos of one of today’s sculptures, Laurel dubbed it ‘Two Coffee Cups’ - one standing up and one on its side. Shortly after she got her second cup.

Our walk along the river was beautiful this morning but was completely overshadowed by the Guggenheim Museum. Overall, in my opinion, there were two extraordinary artists on exhibit today—Frank Gerry and Ricard Serra. 

The museum itself is a real work of art! Gerry’s use of space, light, shape and materials is so unusual that quite literally I could not get centered the whole time I was inside. I felt dizzy and although I knew the floor was flat, because everything else was a mixture of curved lines and straight beams or columns  my brain would not believe my feet were grounded. Laurel had the same sensation so I would assume that his use of space affects many others the same way. In the past I have experienced weak knees when I looked at a masterpiece but I have not had a piece of art affect me in the same way that Gerry’s museum did. Gerry says “ There’s a range of creativity possible and I think it behooves us to explore that envelop and push at it.” Well done Mr. Gerry, you’ve done just that!

Serra’s mazes also affected my sense of physical stability. He uses space in such unusual ways that my brain could not make sense of the environment thus once again, making me dizzy as I walked through one of his massive mazes. Serra warns the viewer that this could happen and also suggest that some of his pieces will also affect one’s sense of time.

Jenny Holzer used printed text, actual redacted documents, statements she believes to be truisms and human bones to inform, incite(?) the viewer into action to address 

grievous acts and/or conditions in the world. Her art did not beautify the world in 

anyway unless you consider  that inciting the viewer to action will in the future make 

the world more beautiful. One of her truism was “ Bodies lie in the bright grass and 

some are murdered and some are picnicking.” So few words-such depth of meaning. I am sorry that I do not have any photos of her installations but the museum has a no photo policy on actual pieces.

By this time I was totally uncentered and unhinged and began to wonder if I am up to two galleries in one day! The rest of the exhibits at the Guggenheim were interesting and some very beautiful however it is the three mentioned above that had the greatest impact on me.

Time for lunch and home for a siesta.  No siesta for me because I have switched days with Jim so I must work on the blog before the next gallery erases everything from my thoughts and installs new ones.

Bilbao’s Fine Arts Museum did not disappoint us. As Laurel mentioned yesterday we started this visit yesterday but the permanent collection was closed to the public on Tuesdays. This museum has organized their permanent collection under alphabetized themes. This made for a very interesting mix of mediums, artists, time periods and styles to be exhibited side by side. I have already written far too much for one day but will post a few of my favourites. I must admit that none of the exhibits (letters) pushed me to think in different ways but many made me smile and I could certainly appreciate the workmanship behind the piece of art.

July 16 — Bilbao

Jim and I are very fortunate to have previously spent a few days in picturesque Bilbao (in 2015, with Teal & Tori and Emma & Nooks), and we feel very lucky for this opportunity to visit the city again, this time with Betty as our willing travel companion!  As we stroll along the Nervion riverside to the famous Guggenheim Art Museum, buy fresh veggies in the Mercado de la Ribera (Market), siesta in our pleasant apartment in the “Casco Viejo” (Old Town), and try out tasty pintxos (tapas), it brings back fond memories of our trip here with the ‘kids.’  And there is so much MORE to explore, which we are hoping to see with Betty during the next few days (the Museo de Bellas Artes, the Bizkaia Bridge, Getxo, to name a few).

Of course, while we are here, we three have to hike along the portion of the Camino del Norte that passes through Bilbao, so that was our first activity for this morning .... up a million stone steps from the old town to the Basilica de Begona, and then wending our way back down to the riverside and the market (where we tried out a pintxo of deep-fried bacon —makes a great hiking snack— and bought fresh cucumbers from a stall).  

After siesta, our tour of the Museo de Bellas Artes did not go quite as we expected — after paying for our entry and enjoying the two temporary installations on early Basque photography and works of the Spanish painter Zuloaga, we were dismayed to learn that we could not view the museum’s permanent galleries, as they are closed on Tuesdays — and today is, indeed, Tuesday!  What?!  Why didn’t the ticket saleslady inform us of this when we paid to get in?!  Well, at least the galleries are open tomorrow and actually have free admission from 6:00 - 8:00 pm!  So, we shall return!

July 15: Bilbao

It was with mixed feelings that we bid our goodbyes to Getaria early this morning. We had certainly fallen in love with everything about this small fishing village: the Camino Norde trails leading to and from the village, the availability of fresh fish, the sounds and sights of families having fun, and of course the smell and the sound of the waves carried to us by the sea breeze as we fell asleep every night.

Our early departure gave us the freedom to visit the ‘Real’ Dragonstone before we  dropped the car off at the Bilbao airport. For those of you who are not Game of Throne enthusiasts, our destination, Gaztelugatxe, is one of the key filming locations for this television series. Gaztelugatxe is an islet on the coast of Biscay in Basque Country, Spain. It is connected to the mainland by a very steep man-made bridge. On top of the island stands a hermitage (named Gaztelugatxeko Doniene in Basque, San Juan de Gaztelugatxe in Spanish) dedicated to John the Baptist, that dates from the 10th century, although discoveries indicate that the date might be the 9th century. Hikers reaching the top are instructed to make a wish and ring the bell three times. By the time I had reached the top, with much internal dialogue to the tune of “you can do this—don’t look down” and Laurel’s gentle encouragement, my head was empty of any great or important wish for mankind! Simply wishing to be back down safely was all I could whisper as I rang the bell. It was my trusty brother that made that wish come true as he allowed me to hang onto the back of his shirt all the way down. Although the return hike was under 4 km it took us 2 hours to complete it. It was a steep downhill from the car, steep uphill to the church and repeat. It was a good workout.

With the car safely returned to the airport and of course a cafe solo, we taxied our way to the old city center of Bilbao where Laurel had booked our next Air B&B. It is once again a perfect location for hiking parts of the Camino Norde and the sightseeing we want to do over the next 5 days. After dropping our bags off we headed out to eat lunch and tour a bit as our accommodation would not be ready until 4:30.

Bilbao is full of picturesque streets with many small restaurants and we chose to eat our first meal right on our street having many to choose from in a 2 block radius. After lunch we stumbled upon a museum that was free to seniors and although I may be the only one who qualifies, the ticket seller let all three of us in for nothing. The museum was amazing! It had on display many of the giant puppets that we had seen three summers ago as we passed through Spanish towns celebrating some one fiesta after another. It also housed many different historical artifacts and displays depicting Basque culture. Laurel, who is rarely seen without a map In her hand and certainly never without one in her purse, was really In her glory when we entered the final display on the 4th floor. The room was a giant topographical map of this Basque province. 

By the time we returned to the ground floor it was time for siesta so we retraced our steps back to our new home.