Portsmouth to Portugal 14: 27 September
I’ll be honest: I was mostly interested in Bilbao for the pre-credit sequence in The World Is Not Enough, which sees Pierce Brosnan abseiling out of an office window and running across the Puente de la Salve bridge. But it turned out to be lovely in its own right.
We got on a tram, which chugged us through the heart of the city to the Guggenheim Museum. I'm glad I bothered to queue for Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room, a magical space filled with coloured lights where we were allowed mere minutes to gaze. I also had a minor spiritual experience in Richard Serra's The Matter of Time when I thought I'd come to a dead end and was sad about it, only for a hidden chamber to open up before me.
Howard wasn't wowed by the building or the artwork; I loved both. But we agreed Puppy was great.
(Let's face it, I would have loved a giant floral dog sculpture even if it hadn’t featured in a Bond film.)
After the museum, a sudden downpour sent us into the park cafe for lunch. I took some Bond location photos, then we caught the funicular (yay!) up to a viewing spot over the town designed for Instagram selfies. I did some souvenir shopping for Puppy tat, and we had more pintxos in the beautiful old market halls before finishing up at a motorcycle-themed bar, the Stop and Go, for a gin and tonic the size of a goldfish bowl (something I only accept in Spain where they have a liberal attitude towards measures).
Miles: felt like loads on foot
We got on a tram, which chugged us through the heart of the city to the Guggenheim Museum. I'm glad I bothered to queue for Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room, a magical space filled with coloured lights where we were allowed mere minutes to gaze. I also had a minor spiritual experience in Richard Serra's The Matter of Time when I thought I'd come to a dead end and was sad about it, only for a hidden chamber to open up before me.
Howard wasn't wowed by the building or the artwork; I loved both. But we agreed Puppy was great.
(Let's face it, I would have loved a giant floral dog sculpture even if it hadn’t featured in a Bond film.)
After the museum, a sudden downpour sent us into the park cafe for lunch. I took some Bond location photos, then we caught the funicular (yay!) up to a viewing spot over the town designed for Instagram selfies. I did some souvenir shopping for Puppy tat, and we had more pintxos in the beautiful old market halls before finishing up at a motorcycle-themed bar, the Stop and Go, for a gin and tonic the size of a goldfish bowl (something I only accept in Spain where they have a liberal attitude towards measures).
Miles: felt like loads on foot
