Around the World in 119 Days...and then some!: Day 90: Bilbao/San Sebastian, Spain

We left our quiet town of Santillana del Mar to head to San Sebastian but we had one important stop along the way - the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. The museum was built by Frank Gehry in 1997 and has become a famous landmark and icon for the area. Even with all the build up, we were not disappointed and I have put my sighting of it on my list of favorite
buildings around the world (along with the Sydney Opera House).

This is what the interior large atrium area looks like:

This is the Louise Bourgeois spider sculpture "Maman" that is outside the museum near the river.

This is a Jeff Koons scuplture called "Tulips" that is also outside the museum, on a terrace you can walk out on so you can see the river and the outside of the building, etc.

In the largest exhibition space inside the museum, there is an extensive Richard Serra exhibit of some of his enormous steel structures. Sien is standing in front listening to the audioguides we all got.

This is another Jeff Koons piece called "Puppy", which is obviously outside the museum, that is covered in all different kinds of flowers. It was supposed to be a temporary installation when the museum opened, but locals and others lobbied to have it stay.

After we finished exploring the museum, we walked across the bridge and got a good view of the building from the other side of the river. We all thought it was extremely impressive. It is covered in titanium "scales" that make it shimmer and give it a sort of bronze-ish color.

After our successful Bilbao stop, we got back in the car and drove another hour to San Sebastian, which is a seaside resort town in the Basque Country (Pais Vasco). Our hotel is on the beach and we have a tiny balcony that overlooks the bay, the promenade, and of course the water.

Here is the view from our balcony looking to the left:

Here is the view from our balcony looking to the right:

And this is a view of the hotel from the beach. Our room is the one with the open balcony door on the 3rd floor all the way to the right.

We walked around the Old Quarter before dinner and decided we love the town - beautiful stone buildings, fountains, plazas and the typical small winding streets.

Here is the town hall ("ayuntamiento"), complete with small fountain:

One of the main streets in the Old Quarter with a view of the two big churches at either end.

The cathedral is currently being restored but I managed to get a picture of the facade that cut out almost all of the cranes and construction:

Here's Sien in the main plaza - La Plaza de la Constitucion - which has numbered balconies dating from the time the plaza was used as a bullring.

On our walk back to the hotel after dinner, we stopped at various points along the promenade to try and get some good night photos. There is a mountain on each end of the cove, and everything is beautifully lit up at night.