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| In front of the massive flower cat at the entrance to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao |
Other than the Bahamas, our first true international travel was to Spain. Beth had just graduated high school and I was a student at the University of Florida. Steve Osthoff, who taught Spanish at Mulberry High School and his wife Pam organized a summer study trip to Salmanaca, Spain. Both of us, as well as Beth’s sister Cindy and a few other friends from Mulberry were fortunate enough to be a part of the adventure. We’ll be eternally grateful for their willingness to undertake such a responsibility!
Maybe it was because that summer trip opened our eyes to a much bigger world, full of wonderful Spanish food, wine, hospitality and interesting things to see and do, that we’ve always loved visiting Spain.
A few final pictures as we sailed away from Lisbon:
The first stop on this eleven day cruise was in Spain. Even more exciting for us it was in Northern Spain in an area we had never visited. The Norwegian Star docked in Gexto, a coastal city of around 75,000 located on the Bay of Bizkaia. A few miles up the Bilbao River is the much larger city of Bilbao (pop. 375,000). We arrived early enough to give us the opportunity to visit both Gexto and Bilbao before our 7:00 PM departure.
Our plan was to visit Bilbao first and finish up the day back in Gexto. This meant we’d be back closer to the ship near departure time, avoiding any unforeseen issues. Thankfully there were none and we loved visiting this Basque region of Spain.
Getting from Gexto to Bilbao was easy and inexpensive. The ship provided a complimentary shuttle to a metro station in Gexto (Algorta Station). The metro was clean, user friendly and for around $4US within 20 minutes we were in the Bilbao city center (Moyua Station).
Bilbao was very impressive with a mix of old and new architecture as well as a number of parks, plazas and a riverfront promenade. Nestled along the river is one of the five Guggenheim Art Museums (the others are in New York, Venice, Abu Dabi, and Berlin). The museum is closed on Mondays, but the building is a work of art itself and we didn’t feel shortchanged by not being able to go inside.
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| You don’t have to go in the Guggenheim to enjoy the artwork! |
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| Guggenheim has a spider problem! |
After strolling around the perimeter of the museum, it was a 15-20 minute walk along the riverfront to the “old city”. The walk took us past City Hall, San Nicolas Church, Santiago Cathedral and Arriaga Theatre, as well as along the narrow cobblestone streets of the old city.
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| Bilbao City Hall |
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| Artists Theatre |
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| Amazing food everywhere! |
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| The plaza in Bilbao’s Old City |
We then returned to Gexto, again by way of the metro (Zazpikaleak Casco Veijo Station). From the Algiers Station it was a short walk down to Gexto’s Old Fishing Port area where we enjoyed tapas at one of several waterfront bars and restaurants.
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| We enjoyed a few tapas at this beachside bar and restaurant. One of the biggest challenges is finding a table at many of these places. The Spaniards enjoy lingering….there’s a lesson to be learned there! |
The walk back to the ship was along the beachfront promenade. We had plenty of time to soak up the sun and think about our day, grateful that we were able to spend another day in this magnificent country!
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| Gexto’s beach & promenade from the old fishing port back to the ship. |
