Bilbao o Bilbo es lo mismo : fiesta siempre jajaja

SATURDAY

Bilbao or Bilbo is one of my favorite city in Spain so far: I was there just once in 2008 but I said to myself someday I will come back and thats what I did last march 2012. A friend was coming to a big CouchSurfing event so I decide to join her and discover the city with her and other amazing people I met.

Guggenheim

Journey to Bilbao was pretty long and with a stopover in Munich too. From airport just get an urban bus for €1,30 or if you buy a transport card for only 0,70€ but the card cost 5€ and then u can charge as much as you want and pay less. You have different stops till the bus terminal in new part of the city and I decided to get off nearby Guggenheim Museum where I met my friends and other people.

We just took some pics nearby Guggenheim and I went straight to meet my host Adrian in Casco Viejo, my beloved district in Bilbao where you have most popular tourist spots. Some people decided to go to Kobetamendi, nice mountain nearby where you have a great view of Bilbao. I  just had the time to say hello to Adrian and we went straight to have lunch in Spanish time jajaja from 3pm but I met great people and food was so yummy at Zaka Bar like my dessert fresòn :)) not a big strawberry sadly :(

After we had a jam session at Hika Ateneo and a place where you can play board games too like our never ending monopoly game. If you want to have fun, just go back Casco Viejo where you can eat pintxos and you have some bars with disco music but if you wanna meet local and enjoy a cool place, go to kafe antzokia where we ended up our night.. I was looking for some churros but when its 5am just bocadillos jajaja...

SUNDAY

One of main attractions of Bilbao is Guggenheim Museum so at least once you have to visit the museum and its surrounding like the famous spider or the dog Bilbo. We had a guided tour to discover the museum inside with its exhibitions and its collection like Richard Serra with the famous matter of the Time. I really like the museum and you can have multiple entrance so later we came back to have a second and accurate look at all exhibitions like Brancusi-Serra one.

After the visit it was time to improvise a flash mob in Plaza Nueva before eating a good dish of langostinos a la plancha and still curious to know what to visit here? Please wait cause we went back to Hika Ateneo where we had an international dinner with food from all over the world like Italy, Spain, India, USA, Germany and so on  and I met a lovely French girl Emilie co-hosted by Adrian with my friends Serena and Paola. Food was awesome and we had lovely talks before going to dance salsa till late.. Night is over? Nope as we went back home and Emilie cooked amazing crepes and onion soup that we didn't manage to eat as too late

MONDAY

Last day as Emilie was in Bilbao for the first time we had a city tour but I also have time to go to the shop of one of my favorite Spanish brand :)..As we stayed in Casco Viejo we had everything close to us like Teatro Arriega and all the streets in this area full of shops, bars and more.

The Old Town features many of the oldest buildings in the city, as the St James' Cathedral or the Church of San Antòn. Most of the Old Town is a pedestrian are during the day. Nearby is one of the most important religious temples of Biscay, the Basilica of Begoña , dedicated to the patron saint of the province, Our Lady of Begoña.

Seventeen bridges span the banks of the estuary inside the city limits. Among the most interesting ones are the Zubizuri (Basque for "white bridge"), a pedestrian footbridge designed by Santiago Calatrava opened in 1997, and the Princes of Bridge, also known as "La Salve", a suspension bridge opened in 1972 and redesigned in 2007. You can have nice walk in the new part of the city where the stadium Vicente Calderon is located too and some parks and nice squares and churches are situated. A nice square to visit is also Plaza Nueva where you have many bars and restaurants too.

 After this fast but complete city tour, we had a chance to taste a real Valenciana paella made by our friend Maria.. Best way to finish this short but awesome trip: Bilbao is still one of my favorite Spanish city so I recommend you to have a stop in Bask countries  if you wanna visit the North of Spain..Hasta Luegoooo