guggen

dave wrote:

our trip to Bilbao, which is in the spanish Pais Vasco region, was centered around seeing the new guggenheim in Bilbao and getting a close up view of of a pedestrian bridge by santiago calatrava, a well known spanish architect, engineer. although often referred to as industrial and dirty, we found Bilbao to be attractive, lively, and to possess a tremendous amount of character. the many bars-tapas joints-restaurants which lined the streets below our hotel were teeming with life. pauline and i took advantage of their proximity by indulging in tapas and many of the local specialties (basque sidra, white wine) Pais Vasco is said to be the culinary capital of spain and although we never went for a full course sit-down meal, we sampled a range of tapas that would easily fall into the gourmet category. the tapas or 'pinxos' way of snacking was a style of eating i immediately loved. essentially, the bar-pub will present plates of prepared hot and cold snacks on the bar top and also sometimes offer a menu of to-order items. to participate, one simply steps up to the bar, with the throngs of other spaniards, and asks for un plato (not una plata...i learned the hard way) and then grabs the tapas they want. drinks ..beer, wine, etc are served up by the bartenders. when finished, you simply list off everything you've eaten and pay. this style of eating is a big part of the spanish culture and a nice social experience as people generally meet for tapas, or interact with others when standing at the bar. its great for budget travel as well.

our visit to the guggenheim was a great time and a fascinating look at one of the more significant structures of recent history. there was the museum itself: approaching and viewing it it from many different vantage points, its amazing captivating materials, its mind bendng sculptural forms, and its placement along a river adjacent to a major bridge. and then there was the interior and the exhibits..which generally were a bit of a let down (with exception of richard serra's amazing, massive sculptures) the interior was filled with twisting, winding walls, head spinning geoemtrical intersections and many many expansive gallery spaces.

down the river from the museum was santiago calatrava's outstanding pedestrian bridge. a pleasure to walk across, to admire, and full of poetic detail. the overall impression of the bridge is of dramatic complexity but at closer inspection all of its details and forms seemed incredibly pure, simple and purposeful.

our visit to the Pais Vasco also continued our streak of invariably visiting countries and or regions during times of political activity. although we were aware of continuing basque separatist agression in spain, our timing to visit bilbao coincided with the offical beginning of election campaigning. at exactly 12 a.m. the night we arrived the campaigning began. this meant that speeches, party gatherings, marches, and political activity became even more active during our visit. with an already tense political landscape in the region the heightened activity provided a backdrop of concern during our time in the pais vasco.

from bilbao we made our way to san sebastian, a popular (and rightfully so) beach resort and a logical stop as we made our way towards france. in san sebastian we continued to fatten up on tapas and other wonderful spanish dulces. i furthered my simple but effective knowledge of basic spanish phrases, and we spent our last few days enjoying all things spanish. we were treated with one day of sun and took a nice walk on the crescent shaped beach and waterfront streets which surround the incredibly historic bay of biscay. i also dragged pauline to see more architecture. this time it was the acclaimed kuursal cultural center by the architect rafeal moneo. perched on the bay its composed of two buildings which are both skewed geometrically creating a characteristic stance for the twin structures. at night, the entire facade is lit up from the interior creating a brilliant, floating, yellow structure. during our remaining time in san sebastian we took care of errands and attempted to skillfully use up all of our pesetas in preparation for our trip to france. of course we found more money buried in my pockets later in paris. the next mornig we were on our way across the border to hendaye, france -the jumping off point for french rail travel.