a day at the beach

gorliz beach, plentzia

you gotta love a city where you can ride the subway to the beach. urban jungle on one end, hop on a train, and you get sand and water on the other end. we picked a warm, sunny day to go to gorliz beach in plentzia, about 30 minutes outside of bilbao. it’s a sleepy town with eerily stumpy trees and very few restaurants. we stopped at the local watering hole for lunch. i had fried rabbit with fries. i always order rabbit when i see it on the menu.

the water was still too cold for swimming but it was hot enough to sunbathe. it was just us and some local elderly folks on the beach.

see the pho-tos on my flickr photostream.

hooray for the beret – national hat of the basque country

the classic basque couple: granny with a wacky dye job & gramps in a beret

all around bilbao and other parts of the basque country, i noticed that the favored hat for basque men is the beret. sometimes they wear it flat on their head like a pancake, sometimes they puff it up like a mushroom cap but it’s always a black beret and only men over 50 wear them.

along with the beret, they have their stock list of go-to accessories: cane, sunglasses and a granny with dyed hair that is a shade of red not seen in nature.

see larger photos with commentary on my flickr photostream.

wow, bilbao – guggenheim museum

the guggenheim museum – one of the architectural stunners in bilbao

after we got our baggage, we hopped in a taxi and headed to the apartment. the nighttime drive along the riverside was beautiful. the cabbie pointed out the palace of congress, the sheraton hotel, and then a few seconds later, the guggenheim museum: three thoroughly modern buildings all in a row. then we passed by a couple of modern, design-y bridges too. aside from paris, i couldn’t remember when i saw this much modern architecture in a european city. then we got to our neighborhood, casco viejo (old town), and it was back to tiny alleys and old-world charm.

the main attraction in bilbao is hands down the guggenheim museum. i know people who’ve traveled to bilbao just to get a gander at the guggenheim — not so much for the art inside but for the design of the building itself. it’s no wonder. the building is impressive and unlike anything i’ve seen before. on our many walks through bilbao, i’d stare at the guggenheim from all different angles. i couldn’t get enough of it. it’s just so interesting to look at. i was almost as equally enamored by the art outside of the guggenheim: puppy by jeff koons and mamán by louise bourgeois, pictured below:

puppy by jeff koons

mamán by louise bourgeois

i don’t know why some people poo-poo the art inside the guggenheim. it had a terrific collection of american art and a special exhibition on surrealism. once you’re inside, you can also see more of frank gehry’s brilliant design.

want more photos of the guggenheim and bilbao? click here.

ez dut ulertzen – bilbao

the next stop in spain was bilbao in the basque country. as soon as we stepped off the plane, this part of spain felt different. all the signs at the airport were in euskara, the language of the basque people. it bears no resemblance to spanish. it has a lot of k’s, x’s and z’s all strung together. here are some basic euskadi phrases:

Kaixo! = Hello

Garagardoa nahi nuke = Can I have a beer?

Eskerrik asko! = Thank you!

Ez dut nahi = I don’t want it

Kaka zaharra! = Crap!

the tapas are called “pintxos” here and the owner of our apartment was named itxaso.

i have more to tell you about bilbao so stay tuned.