Bilbao

On Thursday we took a day trip to Bilbao, the closest “big” city in Spain in relation to Santander. Bilbao is in the Basque country of Spain, a region that wants independence because they speak Basque. a crazy language that has no known relative. It almost looks like Polish and has no relation to Spanish whatsoever. In Bilbao, we got to see the Guggenheim, walk around the city, do some shopping, and eat delicious sandwiches (bocadillos).

The Guggenheim was our first stop after getting off the bus. It is a very cool building, situated right along the river. There’s also a huge dog made out of flowers in front of the entrance and a creepy spider sculpture around the other side. We didn’t go in, however, because it was closing shortly. Instead, we walked down the river toward the old part of town. We walked along the tramline, which was awesome because the tracks are in the middle of a grassy area- so it’s public transportation and green space all at the same time.

The old part of town was really cool, with lots of really skinny cobblestoned streets for only pedestrians. This area was full of shops, so I did some window-shopping while the Germans did some real shopping. The theater of Bilbao was also near this section, which was ironically playing Chicago. I’d love to see that in Spanish…

Lastly, we went to a restaurant, La Taberna, for some amazing bocadillos. I got a concoction of ham, mushrooms, goat cheese-like cheese, and green peppers. The mushrooms and green peppers were sautéed and caramelized together and the bread was warm and toasty. Altogether, it was heaven in a sandwich- the perfect way to end a fun day.