Those of you, who know me, will know why I like Bilbao. For those of you that don’t know me I like Bilbao because of the Guggenheim. The Guggenheim is an art museum run by the Guggenheim family; they also have a museum in New York and Chicago. As well as the art I am also interested in the Architecture of it.
I went to Bilbao for a 2-day trip with my Dad, he had been there before so he knew what it was like but for me it was a totally new experience. The flight there was about two hours, which flew by. I spent most of the time looking out the window. When we arrived it was cold, windy and foggy. It was about 8 o’clock when we arrived, so I was expecting it to be cold. We stayed in a hotel along the river from the Guggenheim. From the hotel to the Guggenheim it was about a 5-minute walk. We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and went for a walk along by the Guggenheim. One of the sculptures in front of the Guggenheim was a giant Black Widow Spider. When we first arrived, the spider looked like it had immerged from the fog. Then I realised that the bridge gave out fog every hour or so.
The Guggenheim itself, I think looked like a galleon, but some people say it looks like a flower. We walked round to the front and saw the giant poppy dog; this was made out of lots of different colors. If you look at either Tomorrow Never Dies or The World Is Not Enough (I can’t remember which.) at the beginning you see the Guggenheim.
We Entered the Guggenheim and found that cameras or video cameras were not allowed so we left ours at reception. My favorite exhibition was the Mobile Exhibition. I can’t remember whom it was done by but the mobiles were weird and wacky, these were hanging mobiles not Mobile Phones. We spent about an hour in there then returned to the Hotel to have a wash. After that we went on a hunt for Lunch through the Old Town, Bilbao is divided into two towns the old town which has all the Historic building. The other half was the modern town with all the Mac Donald’s and Burger Kings.
We searched the old town for about 1 hour, and in the end just bought a roll. At least we had explored the town. If you are a fussy eater then you would do better to eat in the Modern town.
After lunch we went on the funicular railway up to the top of the hill behind Bilbao, the view there was amazing you could see all of Bilbao and even to the sea. There was a park on the top and people were just sitting under trees, I can understand this, as it was so peaceful unlike any park in London.
That night we went to Café and Te, a Spanish restaurant, in this restaurant they did the most delicious Fruit Smoothies. These were totally pure they were squeezed from real fresh fruit, they had every fruit flavor you could imagine: Melon, Pineapple, strawberry and loads more. Both days I had 2 of these, I was addicted to them. They also served a delicious Spaghetti Carbonara, as well as Fresh smooth ice cream. After that we went for a walk along by the Guggenheim, all the lights were reflecting off the Guggenheim it was something you would never see in England.
On the second day we had breakfast in the hotel, I had never eaten so many melons in my life. After that we went for a look around the old town, it was so easy to get lost in all the alleys. Then we took the subway to the seaside town of St Alberto or it was something like that. We went for a walk through the town towards the sea and saw the docks. The beaches were no where as busy as English beaches, after that we got back on the subway, and may I just say the subway was no where near as busy as London ones.
That lunchtime we went to Café and Te and I had a Carbonara. After that we went to another art museum it was rather boring as it was all classical art and I preferred Modern. After that we went back to the hotel and packed as we were leaving that night. We packed and went for an early diner at a Pizzeria, it was really nice, and I just had a plain Margarita. We left for the airport and got our flight. I arrived back at my house at about 12 o’clock. I was dreading school the next day.
The basic flight there and back can be any where between 30-70 pounds which I think is a good price. I don't know much about the prices of accomandation, but I suspect it's between 90-110 pounds but that is only a guess.
To get into the Guggenheim it is free, and the finuclear railway cost about 2 euro's.
I really enjoyed Bilbao my favorite place being the Guggenheim; I also really liked Café and Te. I would not recommend it to small children, as there is not much to do except for walks. The average budget was about 15 pound a day. I give Bilbao 8/10.