Bilbao, Spain
June 2-3See photos below
Fresh off the hiking in the Picos, we had two nights booked in Bilbao as a stopover on our way to France. Our hostel was nothing to write home about, but the city itself was a joy to be immersed in. While it resides in Spain, much of the culture is rooted in Basque origins. This was evident by the Basque language that accompanied Spanish on street signs, highways and on restaurant menus. After we arrived and checked in at the hostel, we locked up our bags and set out to walk the streets and see the sights. It was HOT and didn’t take us long to feel the deathly heat radiating off of the pavement. We tried finding shade where we could as we made our way around. We decided to check out the famous Guggenheim Museum. We weren’t too keen on the entry fee, so we sat on the benches surrounding the building and gawked at the unique architecture, courtesy of Frank Gehry. After some time there, we walked along the river to nowhere in particular. We made our way through the old town, then to a massive indoor market, which was quite underwhelming at the time we visited because most stalls were closed. Next we walked out of the city center to a park. It wasn’t much of a park though, and we couldn’t find a decent place to stretch out and relax. We ended up circling back to the hostel to cool off.
That night, we planned to meet up with some friends we met at a hostel in Mexico a year prior. Funny enough, we were in the same city at the same time. We met near the river and walked into the old town in search of the food that we originally all bonded over; tacos. They were actually a lot better than I was expecting and I went back for a second round. We then made our way back towards the river to a bar for a drink. The promenade below was packed with people hanging out and drinking. We decided to follow suit with a bottle of red wine. Sitting on the ground, we reminisced about our time in Mexico and the coincidence of meeting up again randomly. It was nice to see some familiar faces in a new place. After a nice evening, we said our goodbyes and headed off in opposite directions, unsure if or when we would meet again. Life is a funny thing.
