Goodbye to Bilbao

... and on to Àvila

We were walking on a street in front of the Guggenheim Bilbao when a harried mom with a passel of kids passed us.  Suddenly the children spotted the gigantic dog in front of the Guggenheim and shouted in unison, “Poopie, Poopie!”  Jeff Koon’s Puppy sculpture is a hit with both kids and adults.  Poopie is in the doghouse while he gets re-planted with more flowering plants, modestly hidden from view with scaffolding and screens all around.

And if Poopie’s gone it’s time to move on to our next adventure in Àvila.  We’re on the train speeding south with an orange dawn just visible over the mountains to our left, the mountains that kept Basque Country more or less isolated from the rest of Spain. The other day we visited the small town of Orduña and asked a proud local if he was planning to celebrate the National Day of Spain on October 12 (essentially, Columbus Day).  He told us in essence, “It’s really not our thing here in Basque Country.” It was a little like asking a Jewish friend how they plan to spend Christmas.

Poster seen on a wall in Bilbao.

What we’re going to miss: Beautiful five and six story apartments with Spanish Baroque fronts lining either side of the street.  The organic-looking Fosterito subway entrances on wide sidewalks.  Buses, streetcars and subways connecting the city, and fast trains connecting far-flung towns and urban centers, all reasonably priced. Turning a corner and seeing plazas tucked into unexpected places, with children playing and old folks sunning themselves.  Urban playgrounds. Those walk-up bars with windows onto the sidewalk, where you order your pintxos and white wine, stand and talk to neighbors passing by.

Note the walk-up bar to the left of the front door.

Streetcars run on grass, giving the tracks a more humane feeling.

Bilboats on the Nervion. Get it? Get it?

Public lounge chairs. I gotta find a way to move here.

Baroque apartment fronts.

We’ll be changing trains in Valladolid, where we have a 2.5 hour layover.  It’s the city where Columbus died, and where, Wikipedia tells us, there was a debate about the treatment of indigenous peoples of the new world.  We’ll do some exploring and I’ll report back. Then, we’ll catch a train to our final destination at Avila, the Medival walled city.

Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim and nearby bridge, plus Cesar Pelli’s skyscraper, at dusk.