Cafe Liverpool In Bilbao
I stopped here for a coffee by the cathedral, as anybody with a connection to my university city would.
Cafe Liverpool In Bilbao
It’s funny, but how many English cities would be used for the name of a hotel or cafe in Europe? The only common one other than London seems to be Bristol, but that is probably because a Marquis put himself about a bit!
The coffee was good though!
The Bilbao Tram
The Bilbao Tram runs from the older part of the town, along the River Nervión, past the Guggenheim Museum and then on to the bus terminal and the northern parts of the city.
It uses the same Barik card as the Metro, but be warned you can only add money to the card using a credit card at Metro stations. They are also the only place you can buy a card.
I would also stay in a hotel close to the tram, as it is such a convenient way to get around the major sights in the centre of the city.
Although the tram stop is at the Guggenheim, you need to climb up and down a lot of steps to get to the main entrance. Or you can do what I did and go in the disabled entrance by the river!
Bilbao’s Heritage Signs
I would assume that this is a sign, which gives information about Bilbao’s heritage.
I can make a guess at reading Spanish, although the only thing I can read here, is that it is about a convent from the seventeenth century.
But then if Bilbao wants to attract more visitors, it really must improve its maps and information.
I know it’s all very political, but how many foreign visitors to the area, can speak the local language?
Cast Iron Traffic Light Posts
I suppose given Bilbao’s history of iron and steel, these were to be expected.
But they are better than your usual plain ones.
The Guggenheim In The Evening Sun
I took these pictures as the sun was playing with the shapes and textures of the Guggenheim Museum.
In my view you can’t take too many.
but it is that sort of building, even if it is full of rubbish.
The Puppy seems to do a good jib as a guardian.
Along The Nervión River
The Nervión river runs through Bilbao and it was a good place to walk in the sun.
It may have been the time of year, but there were very few cafes along the river.
The Bilbao Metro
The Bilboa Metro is only about twenty years old, so it still has a new feel about it.
Note the name of fosterito in tribute to Norman Foster, who designed a lot of the architecture. Read more about the design of the Metro here.
I can’t understand why I’ve never seen fosteritos on other Metro systems, as they work superbly, as covers for the up and down escalators. They also stand out from a distance and act as locators for the stations.
I liked it except for a couple of small points.
I like to surf down handrails with one hand for safety and this was difficult, as the hand rail supports tended to catch my hand. The DLR is the same in places.
I also had some trouble with buying the Barik card, which is their version of London’s Oyster. I needed cash, as the system didn’t seem to work with any of my cards.
All Metro, tram and bus systems, should be like London’s buses and accept any bank card with a touch ability.
This is one thing that will happen worldwide.
The biggest advantage is that to top up my Barik card, I was constantly using up small change and notes, as I explored the city. With a bank card as a ticket, all you need to do is make sure you’ve credit available.
One piece of trivia for a pub quiz, is that the Bilbao metro map, must be the only non-UK map, with an English town shown as a destination. Look at the map in the pictures and you’ll see a ship labelled Portsmouth.
Exploring Bilbao
Bilbao is an easy city to walk around, although there are virtually no maps, except rudimentary ones at Metro stations.
As you can see the weather was good and I found it helped my health, as it was mild and humid.
Bilbao also seemed to have a lot of clocks, most of which were working and showing the correct time. As Liverpool is the same, is this due to the connection with the sea?
Attention To Detail At The Guggenheim Museum
This picture shows a handrail around a part of the building, where I suspect a few might have bumped their heads.
Attention To Detail At The Guggenheim Museum
The building might be good from an architectural point of view, but I suspect many visitors will complain about some of the walking around the building, with lots of long staircases.
A Fabulous Building! Shame About The Art!
These pictures show the quality of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
Unfortunately, it had a collection of the most indulgent and useless art I’ve ever seen.
Except of course for the marvellous Puppy. But you don’t need to go in to see that.
That was the only art with any colour, except grey and brown.
One whole floor was given over to enormous curved steel structures. They would have been so much better in a public space, rather than hidden in a museum.
But the worst piece, was a slide carousel showing continuous images on the wall. All of the slides were blank. If that’s art, I’m a Chinaman!
I would advise visiting the museum on a fine, sunny Monday, as I did.As then, the museum is closed and you can just enjoy the building, the Puppy and their setting.
The Anonymous Widower 