Bilbao, Spain

The next morning we arrived to a deserted Bilbao. Apparently no one is awake at 8 am on a Saturday. We left the station and began walking towards the university (which looked fairly close on maps). In fact, it took us about 30 min to get near it, whereupon we received a call from Jenny Benbow, who told us that she actually lives near the train station, and not on campus. Thus, we walked right back to where we started, met her at the train station, and went back to her place. Jenny is a good friend of Whitney’s (they are in the same sorority), and is really friendly. I knew before the trip, but not that well. We dropped off our gear and then walked around the city a bit before meeting up with some of her friends who were also studying abroad in Bilbao. We all rode the metro over to a fishing village 20 minutes outside the city, which was having a cheese festival that day. The booths were giving out free samples of delicious (mostly goat) cheese and we all bought some. We then ate an authentic Spanish meal at a local café (I had goat cheese balls surrounded by a breaded layer). Afterwards, we walked down to the beach and enjoyed a beautiful view of the Atlantic. We walked around on the sand for a while and then rode the metro back to Bilbao. There, we walked around the old part of the city and then hiked up a hill overlooking it. The view from there was quite nice. By then it was getting rather dark, so we walked back to Jenny’s place and hung out in her room.

The next morning, we went walking around the river that cuts through the town. We followed it towards the Guggenheim museum, which is a rather interesting building. We went up and saw the giant “Pupi” (a massive two story dog covered in flowers). Then we went and ate tappas at a local tapas bar (Spanish cheese on top of bread – as one can see, the Spanish live off of cheese). We then met up with Kelly, one of the friends from the day before, and rode the metro out to the ocean, but on the opposite side of the bay from the fishing village that we visited the day before. It is also an interesting place, and we walked up a hill to see an old little church and tower overlooking the city. We then rode this hanging ferry thing across the river (I have a picture of it) and rode the metro back to the old part of the city, where we attended church with Jenny and another friend of hers. The service was in Spanish, so I understood about half of what was being said. After that, we walked back to where Jenny lived, and ate dinner at a nice Asian fusion restaurant (their bread was some of the best that I have ever eaten). Then we went back to her place and hung out for the rest of the night.

Thus concluded our stay in Bilbao. The city is rather interesting, but I feel that it was enjoyable mostly because Jenny was there to show us around, and we were able to visit with her and her friends. There really is not all that much to do or see, other than little things like what we did (which the average tourist would not know about). I found it interesting that about half of the men, and maybe ¼ of the women, have mullets, which is a sign of support for Basque independence.