 |
| The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao |
Day 2 in Bilbao was only a half day. We were supposed to be back at the ship around 1:00 Because of this, we stayed close to the port and toured the city of Bilbao. It is a more industrial city than others we had seen. It was also an interesting mix of historic and modern. There really wasn't an area of old town per se, it was very mixed with old and new. One of the tallest modern buildings in Spain was in Bilbao. We toured through the heart of Bilbao seeing some of the older areas. We also walked through the city market. This was very interesting. I really like going to the markets in international cities. I have been to a couple in Mexico (which is quite the experience), but this was nothing like a Mexican market. This is an enclosed market that is very clean and very organized. Each type of product (fruits, vegetables, seafood, poultry, beef, jars of food and others) have their own stand and sales person. The most interesting spots for me were the seafood, which had different species than anything we have at home, and the organ meats or offal. The offal looked very fresh and clean and delicious, heart, tongue, tripe and other goodies.
 |
| Streets of Bilbao |
 |
| Architecture on the water |
 |
| Mmmm......Yummy |
After the market we walked back toward the bus. We stopped at a church that the tour guide tried to explain and let us enter, but it was closed. There were also burn marks and bullet holes in the door. We kind of assumed that there were areas and times of day that were not safe around the church.
 |
| Standing Under the Big Spider |
We arrived back at the bus and our next stop was the Guggenheim modern art museum. The Guggenheim is a world renowned modern art museum that is in my opinion more well known for the building itself rather than the art inside. This is an impressive site that is made of glass, titanium and limestone. There are very few straight lines in the architecture of the building. We spent quite a bit of time walking around the outside. There are several sculptures outside that were rather different, sorry, modern. There is a very large metal spider in the front and and a 40 foot tall "Puppy" outside the entrance, made out of metal and flowering plants. It looked like a Rose Parade float. As you can tell, modern art is not my cup of tea. We went inside the museum and there were many well known modern artists. We got to see some Warhol paintings, which was interesting. Random paint splotches and large pieces of metal don't scream art to me. My take away is the building is very interesting and cool to see, but the exhibits inside were not for me.
 |
| Our ship - Celebrity Infinity |
After the Guggenheim, we headed back to the ship. We unloaded our stuff and headed to the top deck for drinks and a castaway party. It was a nice afternoon. That evening, Lisa and I and our friend Justin ventured outside of the main dining room and tried one of the signature restaurants, Qsine. On the Celebrity Infinity, they had several signature restaurants and this one sounded the most interesting. When we got there, there were lamps and chairs hanging from the ceiling upside down. The furniture was very eclectic. It felt like walking into an Alice in Wonderland restaurant. The menu was just as eclectic. We could order anything we wanted, and we did. The ordering system was all setup on an iPad app too, which was very cool and different. We got a bottle of wine and order 5-6 entrees. They were all very good and we were stuffed afterwards. The items we liked the most were the Treseviche, Lobster Escargot, Sushi Lollipops and the Lava Crab. The Lava Crab was a ball that looked like a birds nest. I'm still not sure what it was made out of. Inside the birds nest was a cheese-cream sauce with crab meat in it. It was awesome. They brought dessert, which was a wide variety of chocolate items, and we were stuffed. It was very good.
Next up, Vigo, Spain......
