Bilbao

After our week of relaxation in Greece, we flew to northern Spain to check it out.  We toyed with lots of different options of places to go for our last week, Sevilla/Granada/Spain's Costa del Sol, but ultimately decided to go to an area we hadn't been before.  I was pretty devastated that I never got to revisit Sevilla during our entire 2 years abroad but...I can come back.  And I will.  So on to northern Spain!

We spent a day/night in Bilbao, 2 days/nights in San Sebastian, and 2 days/nights across the Spanish border in France in a little tiny town called Saint Jean de Luz.

We didn't know a ton about Bilbao when we booked it, but boy are we glad we went.  It's most famously known for THE modern Guggenheim Museum built there in 1997, but it's got a lot more to offer.  Since the museum was built, the city has evidently blown up with other amazing modern architecture and it's now a beautiful, modern, open, clean city!  It kinda reminded me of Barcelona, in that it feels Spanish and French at the same time, and has beautiful buildings and clean streets and BONUS: it's surrounded by lush green mountains that make it look like a little town in the Alps.  And it's in the heart of Basque Country, which is northern Spain/southern France, who have their own culture, language, food, and everything else.  We loved getting to see it.

Maman, by Louise Bourgeois - the famous giant spider sculpture outside the museum.  It's a tribute to her mother (which makes me think her mom wasn't a very nice person if her daughter thinks of a spider) BUT her mom was a weaver!  Who knew.  But also, she evidently wasn't a very nice person.

This is Tall Tree & The Eye by Anish Kapoor - and according to the description on the website, the "illusionistic work continues the artist's examination of complex mathematical and structural principles embodied in sculptural form."  Oh and also, it just looks cool.  For those of you who are fans of Jerryworld, this is the same guy who did the Sky Mirror.

Perhaps my favorite thing about the museum, this is Puppy by Jeff Koons!  It's a WESTIE made of flowers!  Basically it's Murphy in humongous cutie flower format.  And I just like Jeff Koons.  Evidently it was supposed to be a temporary display but the people of Bilbao fell in love with Puppy so they kept it!  As they should.

Tulips by Jeff Koons again.  I like his stuff.  They look like mylar balloons and I dig it.

The pretty inside.

The exhibits in the museum were pretty weird but we did enjoy our time there - except for one exhibit.  Yoko Ono set up shop there and that. bitch. is. weird.  And I hate her anyway for WHAT SHE DID!!  So her exhibit was just...a bunch of random shit - a glass of water on a table. "Air dispensers" which were empty plastic cases inside of a bubble gum candy dispenser.  A glass panel hanging on the wall entitled "A painting to let the evening light in."  A description of her performance art titled Breathe, where she passes around a card that says "Breathe." to the audience three times.  Another performance art description entitled "Clock" where the audience watches a clock for an hour.  And even more performances with various artists where she just yells and screams and writhes on stage like a freak.  I already hated her but now I hate her even more, and I'm LIVID that a respectable place like the Guggenheim has given her validation for her ridiculous choices.  The rest of the weekend Drew proceeded to try to think of his own performance art ideas: "Two people.  Walking.  Holding hands.  Representing the passage of time and the terrorism of life.  And you can't argue with me or say its not true because THIS IS MY TRUTH."  What a nut job.

The one thing I did participate in was a "Wish Tree" that Yoko put up, where you could write your wish and hang it on this tree.  So I did.  But I'm not telling you what my wish was.

And that was the end of our foray into the art world.

Just a pretty square with flowers in the city centre.

And another pretty government building.

And more pretty architecture.

And the huge Catedral de Santiago, adorned with the iconic shell for pilgrims doing the Camino de Santiago!
(That's for you Kara!) 

Northern Spain is known for the "pintxos", which are basically tapas that are laid out on the bar for you to eat at your leisure.  They are SO cheap, and so is the wine, so we ate like kings for a very small price!

Chillin with some beers and cards at a cafe in the old quarter.

Flower shaped ice cream cones!  

More yum food.  This was a tortilla espanola with some sort of creamy cheese, bacon, mushroom, and onion mixture on top.  Must recreate it when I get back.

We had a great time in Bilbao and loved getting to see this gorgeous city, if even for a little while!