Weekend In Bilbao, Spain

I was afforded the awesome opportunity via work to travel to Bilbao Spain a few weeks ago. Honestly I hadn't even heard of Bilbao until the company I work for made an investment there quite recently. The work trip was to go visit our 3rd party accountants that we use to establish a proper working relationship. Yes this could have been done via video conference or just a simple conference call, but I can honestly say that the importance of a face to face meet and greet is truly invaluable. So I will skip all the boring work stuff; I flew into Bilbao on Thursday night, along with two of my co-workers where we had dinner with three of the girls that work for this 3rd party firm we use. We ended up having a great traditional Basque dinner and enjoyed some amazing Spanish wine.
Bilbao is northern Spain and is located in the Basque region. The people in the Basque region, although part of the country of Spain, consider themselves a country apart and even have their own language, which I learned it not as frequently spoken as it used to be. The primary tourist attraction in Bilbao is the Guggenheim Museum, which opened in 1997 built by American Architect Frank Gehtry.




This museum, which you can obviously tell is quite modern, displays various works of modern art including Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and Kandinsky.




Outside of the museum is another piece of "modern art", which is a large topiary puppy.



The weather there that weekend was beautiful, sunny and warm, which made the city itself all that more breathtaking! There is a funicular train that goes up the side of the Aranxtrada Mountain and provides beautiful panoramic views of the city. If you are ever in Bilbao, this is a must do....completely worth it!

One of the girls I met Thursday evening, that works in the 3rd party firm my company uses, offered to take me out Friday night and show me a night on the town in true Bilbao fashione. So in true Spanish style the evening started quite late. I met up with my friend and 3 of her friends around 11pm that night and headed to the old part of Bilbao for pinxtos and La Calle Mochas. Pinxtos are the equivalent of tapas, or to put in more American terms, appetizers and La Calle Mochas are apparently a favorite drink of many Bilbao residents, which consists of red wine mixed with Coca Cola. Yes at first this doesn't sound all that good, but I promise you it was. In fact it was all I drank that evening. We ended up going to several bars that evening (or actually early morning) and even made it to a disco tech. That Friday evening's festivities lasted until 5 am that morning and that is actually considered a pretty early close to a night out.
Needless to say my Saturday didn't begin until about 1 pm :) where I embarked on my exploration of the city visiting several beautiful parks, touring the sights of the old city and just soaking up the wonderful Spanish culture. The weather that weekend was perfect with sunshine, not a cloud in the sky and best of all it was warm!!!




Bilbao is a beautiful city and probably one I would not have ever decided to visit on my own, and I so grateful for the opportunity I had to explore such a beautiful vivacious city!!