Arty Trip to Bilbao
I’ll let you into a little secret - I’m not a natural traveller. I do travel and thoroughly enjoy the new experiences, but the actual travelling to a destination is often just an anxiety filled white knuckle ride for me. My superpower of choice would, for sure, be the ability to teleport! Maybe I just need to do more of it? I tried to take a leaf out of my husband’s book who loves the travelling from the moment he leaves the house. So, with a positive mindset and an adventurous spirit, off we went to Bilbao where the only agenda was to explore the city and visit the Guggenheim museum. What an absolute treat!
The bus into Bilbao from the airport could not have been easier and at only 4.50euros it was a hell of a lot cheaper than the taxi quote of 50euros! Granted, we had a little walk to find our hotel once off the bus but that was all part of the adventure and it was good to stretch our legs after flying & airport sitting.
It’s a wonderful city with gorgeous architecture, parks and lovely river walks. Bilbao is famous for it’s ‘Pintxos’ (pictured above) which you’'ll find at all times of the day at alomost every bar or café. They are individual savoury delights that people have with a coffee or beer. A tantalising buffet every time you sit down - dangerous for the waistline, but soooo good! The Basque region is also known for it’s artisanal sheep’s milk cheese, ‘Idiazabal’, which I was very excited to try as I’m a big fan of sheep & goats milk cheeses. This was no mild Manchego. The flavour was a bit challenging initially! It is very strong with unusual notes that hit the back of your nose but it’s creamy, rich and pungent! Yes, I think ‘pungent’ is the right word. Did I like it?…. I think so.
Guggenheim day was the absolute highlight for me. It’s just stunning inside and out, and that’s just the building. All those shiny silver tiles on the outside are titanium and inside…. that central atrium is a breathtaking sculpture in itself. Yes, I did lie on the floor to give it my full attention, as it rightly deserves.
The art collection is great with just some of my highlights pictured above. Standing in front of the Cy Twombly - Nine Discourses on Commodus was a very moving experience. I am a fan of his work but this piece in particular go me on the inside - something about the individual framed moments making up a whole felt like a poem to be read or a musical interpretation of emotions with no physical sound. Literally breathtaking.
Cy Twombly - Nine Discourses on Commodus 1963
Eduardo Chillida - How Profound is the Air 1996
The other absolute stand out works for me were the sculptures of Eduardo Chillada. These were carved stone which are a beautiful celebration of the material. The natural textures of the stone contrasted with skilfully carved geometric windows through the alabaster or granite. Not only can you see right through some of them to frame what is on the other side but the additional play of shadows within the work adds another whole layer to the narrative. Exquisite.
Functional public art sculpture on the street.
We only went for 5 days but we found so much art and my husband completely indulged me by coming along to see all the exhibitions. My husband and I met at art college, so he also has a background in art and although not quite as giddy as me to find all the possible art, he is interested and up for chatting through thoughts and ideas over coffee afterwards. His thing is photography and the city offered no end of opportunities for him to take amazing photographs - bridges, architecture, cool graffiti, old doors & shop windows covered in stickers. Bilbao is such an inspiring city with Art that you simply come across as you wander the streets, extraordinary modern architecture as well as historic plazas and the narrow cobbled streets of the old town. It seemed that every time you turned around, there was a new ‘Oh wow!’ moment.
Suffice to say that I loved Bilbao. I’m still processing all that we saw and experienced - writing it up in this blog is part of that processing. To revisit, remember and organise my thoughts around the trip. To think through exactly what it was that moved me in the art that I saw.
This post is a general round up of the trip. I will be posting about some of the other exhibitions we saw there in future posts, as they were impactful and I want to give them the space they deserve.
P.S. : My efforts at positivity around the actual travel were largely quite good (no migraines) -but still I’m a work in progress to achieve a full travellers spirit. Perhaps it’s a good idea to start planning another trip somewhere to build on this personal progress - it’s just a muscle I need to work, right?