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September 23, 2006
Bilbao
A Rich City
My first impression of Bilbao is that this is a rich, modern and expensive city. The wealth of Bilbao can be seen from its well maintained roads, boulevard, public parks, brand new public transport sytems and other public facilities. It feels similar to Aix-en-Provence. I love wandering around the city yesterday, especially the area around Bilbao Fine Arts museum. The weather was perfect and there were lots of people on the road (it was Friday night), the city is green and the people are friendly. I love this city, it's not too big but not too small (population around 350,000), compact, economically active, and has superb public facilities.
Bilbao is also home for the excellent Fine Arts Museum and of course the renown Bilbao Guggenheim. The Guggenheim is marvel too look at, but alas 2 out of 3 floors are currently closed for the new exhibition. That sucks. Only the first floor is currently open for public viewing. I believe that the building itself is more of an attraction than the collection. Indeed the audioguide goes on to explain a lot about the building. The building is a modern architecture masterpiece, it's amazing to see the lines and the curve in the building. No surface line of the building is straight, the audioguide says.
Bilbao Fine Arts Museum has suprisingly superb collection. Usually preferring modern arts than classic arts, I was a bit surprised when I enjoyed walking through the excellently organised galleries. The galleries are sorted chronologically so visitors can see how art had evolved from the 12th centuries to today. Also maybe after being bombarded by a lot of museums in the past 3 months, I'm beginning to appreciate more of classical arts. Basque's artists are well represented here.
The Hostel
Like Burgos, Bilbao is in a sore need for an independent hostel, although an independent hostel will be up against the mammoth Bilbao Aterpetxea. People said that Bilbao's sole hostel looks like a hospital, smells like a hospital, feels like a hospital. It's true. However it is clean and functional and the bed sheets are very clean and comfy. The staffs are not overly friendly (except the kitchen staff), but I guess that's expected when you have to deal with hundreds of guests everyday. You are just a customer to them. Another characteristic usually associated with this kind of establishment is that it is not very social. A bit of an issue if you are an independent traveller. There are common rooms, but if someone told me that those room are waiting room for relatives in a hospital I'd tend to believe it.
Planet Ticket to London Booked
Booked my ticket from Vitoria (the capital of the Basque Country) to Stanstead next Sunday 1st October. This give a finality about the end date of this travel. I have been toying with the idea of travelling for another month or two, but in the end decided to stick with the original plan to be in London by October so I won't be too close to year end for the job hunting reasons.
Posted by vhadiant at September 23, 2006 07:01 PM
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