Spain > The Bilbao Guggenheim Museum

It is already nine o’clock when I wake up. I slept very well. I leave the hotel and go for breakfast in the Casco Viejo district. At a cozy little restaurant, I order coffee, orange juice, and a toasted sandwich. Afterwards, I follow the river in the direction of the Guggenheim Museum. The sky is bright blue, a beautiful contrast with the city. I pass the town hall from 1829 and walk past the modern pedestrian bridge. Although the signs here point towards the Guggenheim Museum, I decide to keep walking a bit further. I hope to get a better view of the museum from the Puente de la Salve bridge. This turns out to be a good choice. At the bridge, I can take an elevator up inside one of the pillars. From the bridge, standing beneath the Arcs Rouges, I have a stunning view of the modern Guggenheim Museum on the opposite bank.

Spain - View of the remarkable design of the Guggenheim Museum

What an extraordinary building. The thousands of titanium plates gleam in the sun. In front of the museum, I spot the five-meter-high Maman spider, a piece of art by the artist Louise Bourgeois. Via the footbridge, I walk around the museum. The building itself is a work of art. Right at the entrance stands a ten-meter-tall puppy dog, covered in flowers. Inside, the building is just as impressive. The spacious atrium gives it something futuristic. In the large, elongated gallery, I walk through the artwork The Matter of Time. Huge steel plates are bent into circular forms. The curves disorient my sense of direction as I walk between them. The temporary collection of Jacques Braque speaks to me less.

Spain - The tenmeterhigh puppy guards the entrance of the Guggenheim museum

I don’t know the painter, and his paintings are unfamiliar to me. I quickly move past the collection. The exhibition on the third floor won’t open until next week. I don’t really mind. I finish my visit to the museum with a funny video of nine musicians on nine different screens performing a musical piece together. Impressive timing. Back outside, I continue following the river further west. At the maritime museum, there is a culinary market. I order wine and a platter of tapas and bread. Delicious. Passing the new stadium of Athletic Bilbao, I arrive at the Parque de Doña Casilda Iturrizar. I round off the afternoon with a beer on a terrace. I am surprised that the common beers here are almost exclusively Heineken and Amstel. Local, really? In the late afternoon, I wander back to the old district and to my hotel. In the evening, I have a fish dish in one of the little streets around my hotel.