05/08/2011: Brussels - Bilbao

After celebrating Gunter’s 85th birthday with the family in Brussels, we took the flight at 21:00 to Bilbao. We arrived in Bilbao at the modern airport at 23:00.

How did our motorhome get to the parking space close to the airport of Bilbao: Volker had already driven the motorhome from Loulé to Cáceres (411 km) on August 1 and then to Bilbao (630 km) on the next day while Julia took off on August 2 from Faro to Brussels. Volker joined Julia in Brussels on August 3, 2011. We spent the night at the parking space in front of the motor caravan area at Montes Cobetas (a perfect equipped space with electricity and water at each space!: N 43º15’34” - W 2º57’49”

06/08/2011: Bilbao: 40 km

The first thing we did this morning was to drive to the nearest Carrefour Supermarket where we started the day having breakfast at a café. After filling our refrigerator we took the “Bilbus” to the city centre at 14:00. We then walked around and landed at the Plaza Miguel de Unamuno where we sat and had “pintxos” (tapas) with beer and sider at the Bar Bacaicoa - very good!). Then we found another nice Plaza (Plaza Nueva) and had another couple of pintxos at the “Zuga” bar. After that we did some shopping at Gran Via Don Diego Lopez de Haro. The day had started sunny and hot (33ºC) but during the afternoon the sky changed to become very dark and the temperature dropped to 22ºC! So we took a taxi back to our motor caravan area (10€) (N 43º15’34” - W 2º57’49”)

07/08/2011: Bilbao - Larraitz (Parque Nacional de Aralar): 111 km

Our programme for today is visiting the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. We are lucky that in August the Museum is also open on Sunday (entrance fee: 13€). We drove down to the parking lot at the river and then we drove with our bicycles to the Museum. We first admired the building (inaugurated in 1997) from the outside then from the inside. After the visit we had a drink with pintxos at the snack-bar on the square in front of the Museum. At about 16:00 we continued our way to Larraitz (Parque Nacional Aralar) and enjoyed a BBQ at the parking lot a few meters down the main street and for the night we settled at the picknick area with fantastic views on the surrounding landscape. (N 43º2,114” - W 2º5.802”)

View from our motorhome upon Bilbao

Enjoying a beer with pintxos at the Plaza Miguel de Unarnuno on our first day in Bilbao

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Richard Serra: The Matter of Time

“Flower cat” in front
of the Museum

Visiting the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao was really an amazing experience! There is the architecture and the incredible piece of arts some of which are, of course, very strange (at least to us) but many are really awsome.

No, this picture was not taken in the Alps!

Sunset as seen from our motorhome
in Larraitz

Larraitz in the Parque Nacional de Aralar:

Parque Nacional de Aralar: Walk from Lizarrusti to Lake Laredo