Today we decided to devote to Bilbao and what a good idea as it really is a big city with lots to see. The first challenge of the day (and it was me driving this time!) was to actually get onto the main motorway. Easier said than done as the roundabout exit was closed due to roadworks and the diversion sign took us in a complete circle back to the original roundabout. We did this literally three times before we decided to wait for more cars and lorries and follow them. It was clear that hardly anyone could work it out apart from the driver of a large lorry who had clearly done it before, we all followed him and it was like he was leading us to freedom or rather the toll booths at the slip to the motorway!
After our circling we headed west, unlike yesterday raking the fast motorways to get to the outskirts of Bilbao. After a SatNav hiccup and slight rerouting it was actually fairly easy getting into the old town and the car park that I had identified yesterday was easy to find and had plenty of parking spaces. After the long drive we started with a coffee and 3-4-2 custard tarts and then we wandered the old town. Bilbao is actually a very nice city, I found a water fountain built over a hundred years ago specifically for dogs to drink. We walked and walked and then headed for the funicular above the city where we had out first view of the Guggenheim museum which I really wanted to see. It was around now that I started a sneezing fit which lasted most of the rest of the day as hay fever kicked right in. We walked and walked until we got to the Guggenheim and equally as important, Jeff Koons ‘Puppy’ which I had to wait some time to photograph without anyone in front of it.
The Guggenheim truly is an amazing piece of architecture and we paid for entrance to see the building but I will be honest, I was not at all impressed by the art contained within it. We were going to have a coffee in the cafe there but there was somewhat of an attitude so we took our business elsewhere! We really were flagging by this point and so found a nearby tram stop and managed to work out the line and direction we needed to get back fairly close to where we had parked.
We were tired and so needed another strong coffee and sugar boost before we started the long drive back. I drove this time and were seemed to be so many tolls to keep stopping at on route (but no Dalmatians like Logroño!).
