Mini cruise and Bilbao

We set off from Portsmouth to Bilbao on Brittany Ferries ‘Cap Finisterre’, leaving on Sunday evening at 2230 and arriving Tuesday morning at 0800. Check-in and boarding was seamless and the bears were well impressed with cabin 7029!

On Monday morning we had a short stopover in Roscoff for a change of crew. While we didn’t have the opportunity to get off we did have some entertainment watching tenders being loaded on and exploring the ship. Once we set sail again there were some photo opportunities of the coast.

The information on board did mention that the journey towards Brest and through the Iroise Sea included a number of lighthouses. And we were not disappointed.

The were six lighthouses around the Île d’Ouessant alone, the most westerly point in France, including Créac’h Lighthouse which is one of the most powerful lighthouse beams in the world. We naturally braved the sea breezes to take some photographs but what a surprise we got when we noticed some more out the window and moved to the port side…. the boat had turned around. There was consternation among some of the passengers however, we soon discovered that the Captain and pilot were involved in a navigational exercise that would see us change direction a number of times throughout the afternoon.

We also found time to enjoy a drink or two and play some Monopoly Deal!

After dinner in the restaurant, not the best meal we have ever had, it was time to watch the sunset and head off to bed as we had to be outnof our cabin by 0615!!

We arrived in Bilbao at 0745 local time and had already decided that we would go straight to our hotel and park the car there before heading in to the city. Hotel Artetxe sits up on the hill overlooking Bilbao centre. We had no bother negotiating the traffic as there wasn’t any. We were soon to learn at the hotel that today, 1st May, was Labour Day and therefore a public holiday. The shops were closed however some museums and bars and restaurants were open. It was extremely easy to get a bus from outside the hotel and it wasn’t long before we were in the city.

When we did check in later we were allocated a lovely room with a small balcony overlooking the city.

We visited the old town and walked along the river, however, No trip to Bilbao would be complete without a visit to the Guggenheim, if only to look and wonder at the curves and creases of the building itself, to touch the titanium tiles that cover huge swathes of the building and to see how the glass panels overlap like fish scales.

The museum was designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Henry. It was opened in 1997 and houses modern and contemporary art. During our visit the exhibits included ‘The other side of Henri Michaux’ Michael Snow’s ‘Closed circuit’and Esther Ferrer’s ‘Entertwined spaces’

The Guggenheim Museum

Sightseeing in Bilbao

Wednesday we took a dive up to Santander. The day started grey and drab and just got worse when rain set in around lunch time. That didn’t prevent us visiting the Cento Botin, an art and conference centre of glass and steel with galleries perched out over the water which provided lovely views off the roof tops and along the promenade or the Mercado del Este, a restored market building where the locals go for tapas.

We admired the edifice of the Bank of Santander while we waited for the hop on hop off bus, which didn’t appear, and the ‘Monumento a Los Raqueros’ interesting bronze models of young boys diving in to the water. They are in memory of the poor children who used to dive for coins tossed in to Santander harbour by rich tourists!

We then took a drive out to the lighthouse on Cabo Mayor which now houses an art gallery and exhibition of lighthouse memorabilia.

We then headed back down the coast to Getxo where, despite the increasingly inclement weather, we stopped to look at Vizcaya Bridge, a transporter bridge 45m high, with a span of 160m, which was completed in 1893. It is a UNESCO world heritage centre and regarded as one of the outstanding architectural iron constructions of the industrial revolution.

As we made our way back to our car we called in to some of the many bars that where piled high with pintxos, the Basque country’s take on tapas which was a great way to sample regional specialities.