A Week in Bilbao

Hey good people!

Well with the holidays here i decided to spend a week in a city called Bilbao! turned out to be a little bit longer than a week but was jam packed with lots of exciting things! I'll do a run down day by day and hope i can remember what happened lol. So let's start at Saturday 24th! Christmas Eve! Well from what i've gathered at school and everywhere, here in Spain, Most Christmas celebrations are done on the 24th ie kids get presents, Christmas dinner is eaten! where as in NZ it's usually the 25th! Anyways i was going to catch a bus on the 23rd but all places had been sold so the 24th it was! i spent just over 12 hours traveling to the other side of the country! to the north, to a region known as basque country! (Pais Vasco in Spanish). The region itself is divided into 3 smaller regions and here they have their own language Euskera, which is completely different to any other language and it's origin is unknown! Anyways the bus trip was long and boring but i have to say i prefer it to flying! at least in a bus you can see you're moving but a plane, you're confined in a small area and really have no proof you're even moving, especially at night! XD Something interesting about spain is the beautiful windmills they have dotted all over the country! every now and then you'll drive past a whole field of them! As for the trip i can now say i've been to Alicante and Valencia and many others! or at least through them hahaha. When i think about spanish landscape (or driving cross country) i can really only compare it to driving through the desert road in new zealand, only for 12 hours. País Vasco is different to Murcia because it sees alot more water and thus is greener, but also colder >.<

 Mediterranean Sea - Just out from Alicante

Windmills (click to enlarge pictures)

Anyways that night when i arrived in Bilbao my friend Dani came to pick me up and we went to his house, aaand i can now say i am an expert (or in my mind lol) at using the Bilbao subway! much nicer than Madrid! XD We spent that night walking around looking for some sort of shop open to sell us some food, but as it was Christmas, everything was closed! But in the end Dan's flatmate gave us some of their dinner which was nice!

On Sunday, we encountered similar problems with evrything being closed so we just walked around the city. We went to Casco Viejo which is like the old part of the city! my friend asked me where abouts in NZ are the old cities and i was like hahahha everything in NZ is new! we have such little history compared to the thousands of years of history here in Spain! We found a kebab shop that was open so had something to eat there!

 Making a Spirit bomb with the Sun! XD

 Not sure of the name, but a place with library, study halls, gym, swimming pool, cinema and more

 Random building lol

 Contrast between old and modern

 Bilbao Train Station

 Bridge that lead into Casco Viejo

 I love how beautiful streets are here in Spain!

Aaaaaaaaaaah my finger! :O

Some sort of church

 Bilbao Ayuntamiento (hope i spelt that right) Town Hall

 Something really strange i've noticed here in Spain is that aaaaaaaaall planes in the sky leave these slip trails behind them! i've never seen it in NZ, maybe it's something to do with the airways in the upper hemisphere here? o.O Whatever it is they make these really beautiful lines in the sky!

 Lots of sculptures and statues everywhere in Spain! even in the middle of nowhere!

 La Ría de Bilbao (no idea why it's feminine but that's what it's called)

 I touched it! it was freezing! XD

Art on the side of an over bridge! was really cool!

Ok moving on to Monday! we took a trip for 20mins on the metro (subway) and arrived to an area called Areeta in Euskera, Arena in Spanish and Sand in English lol Anyways there we saw a funny bridge that transported cars across and walked along the ocean and around the city a little.

Having fun with the panoramic function lol XD

Before we go any further i want to stop and take the time to write about something special! something very unique to Bilbao! and that is the Guggenheim Museum here in Bilbao! a very cool piece of architecture! my friend and i went past it a few times so i'll share some photos!

 Ewwwwwwwww Spider! actually walked under it! it's huge and has dove eggs inside waiting to hatch

Does it look familiar to anyone? it reminds me a lot of the Disney Concert hall in Los Angeles, But maybe you've seen it somewhere else? it was filmed in the James bond movie "The world is never enough" Check it out below! The giant dog in the background is called Poopie!

Ok moving along now to Tuesday! A lot of people (just about everyone i had told i was going to Bilbao) told me i had to go visit the town of San Sebastian which is about an hour bus ride from Bilbao! so my friend and i jumped on a bus and got there about midday! not with any great plans so we walked around the city a lot and slowly made our way to the beach! i have to say it was very beautiful! and def worth the visit! thankfully it was great weather too! (for winter) anyways we decided we would head to the aquarium there! it was very cool! lots of interesting things! Took us double the time to get there cause we walked along this warf thing we thought connected and then right at the end it stopped into deep ocean >.< so we had to backtrack! After the museum we walked around this pennisula thingy which reminded me of mount muanganui, only not quite so big lol and after all that it was almost 4 i think and we were both staaaaaaarving and i was super tired from walking but we walked some more and after realizing what we though was a shopping centre, wasn't we eventually found a good old Maccas! lol

 Fountain where the bus dropped us off! Have to admit it's a lot greener than Murcia XD

 Architecture! everyone here thinks the buildings are boring but i could stop and take a picture of everyone!

 San Sebastian River (apparently some big waves come through and people surfed them the week before)

 Church

 Do you recognize these fellows? Don Quixote and Sancho Panza!

Panoramic shot at the beach! (notice the twin lady? hahaha)

 Janita pose!

 Lol XD

 Beautiful boat yard

 We had a whale of a time! :D

 Jelly fish!

 Tiburon! Shark!

There he is! i found Nemo! he's the one on the right XD

 XD

 Yup! that's the Atlantic Ocean alright! so blessed to have been able to be here! :D

There goes another plane trail! aren't they awesome!

Hehehehe Moving pics are always fun!

Ok moving on to Wednesday! i have to apologize cause this is where the photos stop lol i didn't think i would need to bring my camera charger along so my camera died in San Sebastian! the photos that follow are all from my phone, so not that great! Anyways on Wednesday we walked around the river for a little bit and then went to the movies in the local mall. We got there, bought our tickets and had about 2 hours to spare so we went for another walk and discouvered there was a football match on! (interesting that every city worth visiting has a Cathedral and a Soccer Stadium xD) so we followed the crowds to the stadium and had a nosy around! i can't remember who was playing! i think it was Bilbao vs San Sebastian lol Anyways we went back to the mall and watched Immortals! Afterwards when we went to walk home it was pooring down with rain! >.<

Thursday! We went to the Artxanda Lookout at the top of a mountain in Bilbao! some sort of tram thingy which took us about 700m up the mountain! Boy was i glad we didn't have to walk lol! anyways it was an over cast day but the lookout was really beautiful because we could see the whole city! Anyways while we're looking there some oldish lady walks up and asks if we can take her picture for her and after a bit of chatting we discouvered she talks english! So that was a pleasant surprise! turns out she studied her Phd in Oxford so had to learn english to do that! i think she was a plantologist or something like that (yes i did just make that up) but she was talking about agriculture and fungi etc! Anyways her name was Pilar and was very enthusiastic about the fact i'd come from NZ! She'd made a day trip to Bilbao from Leon just to go to some art exhibition!

 Tram Thingy

 Bilbao City

So apparently a traditional style house from Bilbao - Looks English to me XD

Ok moving on! Friday! We went to the bus station to get my ticket home, and i was suppose to leave the next day but due to the holiday seasons there were no buses until Monday! Truth be told i was a little gutted, was looking forward to going home but it was a good thing i stayed i think! That afternoon we went to KFC for lunch! omgosh! that sure turned my frown upside down! hahaha how i miss it here in Murcia! had to travel 12 hours just to go get some fried chicken! XD was totally worth it! people in NZ! do not take for granted your friend chicken! =P

Ok Saturday! New Year's Eve! i hadn't even realized it was new year's eve then so i was glad i was in Bilbao cause i sure didn't have any plans back in Murcia and didn't really want to spend it alone! so my friend and i went to his Church for a dinner with everyone there! was really cool! enjoyed it alot and stayed up nice and late till about 3:30am! Spanish people really make a big deal out of New years! i know we celebrate it in NZ but not quite to the same extreme as here! lots and lots of fireworks going off all hours of the night! alot of partying and streamers/confetti! On our way walking home there was lots of streamers everywhere and my friend told me by 2moro morning everything will have already been cleaned! and he was right! because the next day when we went out all the streets had been cleaned up! was a bit amazed at that! well done Spain! No photos sorry =(

Sunday, i don't remember too much lol at night we caught up with a friend of my friend called Diamandra! so that was cool! didn't do much! just walked her to her bus stop lol and then went to the mall again for dinner and took some pics while we were there! i think that night we went to bed the earliest we had done all week cause i had to get up early for my bus!

Monday! caught the bus nice and early and spent it traveling back to Murcia! we had a change over in a city called Benidorm! i beautiful beach city kinda like the gold coast! would be nice to visit! anyways i took a cell phone of my friend's back to give to his dad who was waiting for me at the bus station holding a sign saying Chris! lol i felt special! XD and then he drove me home which was cool! cause walking around with a suitcase isn't that fun! Glad to be home now! spending the second half of the holidays relaxing before i go back to school on Monday!