Bilbao!

This past weekend I went with Kelsey, Kayla and Matt (one of the guys in our group) to the city Bilbao. It was about a 10 hour bus ride away and was a very nice city.

The White leaning/not straight bridge that is near the Guggenheim museum. 

We left Cáceres Friday the 28th of October and spent Friday night in Valladolid and went out walking around and got to see the house of the famous spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. Our hotel room was ridiculously big. We had a family suite and it had the main door and then 2 rooms with their own locking doors on either side of a small walk space through the first door. It was awesome! We definitely could have fit at least 8-10 people in this suite comfortably. lol.    

House of Miguel de Cervantes

View from our hotel room in Vallodolid. Didn't get any shots of the hotel rooms themselves.

I found a new pair of awesome boots while in Valladolid and they were super cheap!!  We left the hotel at about 10am the next morning because our bus left for Bilbao at 11am and we did not want to miss it. Once we got to the bus stop we went to the cafe and got some breakfast and took it to go so we could eat on the way to Bilbao. When we got to Bilbao the first thing we did was go to find our hostel. it was quite a ways away and we ended up walking through a street called San Francisco and it was apparently the "bad" street in Bilbao. we were glad we had walked through it during the daytime and not nighttime. 

The door to our Hostel which was on the 4th floor with no elevators. Good thing that we are young and able!

Our hostel was a good half hour walk from the bus station and by the time we got to it we were so glad to be able to sit down and relax for a few minutes. The hostel we stayed in this time had no Internet and was on the 4th floor of an apartment complex and had no elevator. It was good exercise to walk up and down but it definitely got a bit tiring after a while. The lady who showed up our room was very nice and helped us with some names of food places that she recommended and such. Our room had a newer TV in it and I think that was to make up for the no Internet aspect. lol.  it wasn’t too bad all together. I felt like we were in a hotel because they made our beds every day while we were out and about.

This is one way they sell books here in Spain. Kayla and I saw something similar to this while we were in Madrid at the beginning of the semester.

Just a very gorgeous building in Spain. There are so many old building here it is hard to believe just how old the country is until you really see the buildings!

Just a pretty Picture of Kayla, Kelsey and I on a bridge near our Hostel the first night while we just walked around a little bit here and there.

The first day we were there we just walked around and went to a grocery store where we got some wine and food to eat for the night because we were hungry and it was only about 5pm and most restaurants were not serving dinner yet because it was too early. We did get hungry around 11pm and so we went out to see if we could find somewhere to eat that wasn’t too expensive. We found a small place and sat down and the waitress told us we had to decide quickly because the kitchen was closing.  After about 15 minutes of trying to figure out how the menu worked and not being able to do what we wanted we just each ordered something different from the menu on the ala cart selection. I got duck leg with potatoes and it was sooooo yummy!!!  Definitely worth the money for me. It was by far the best meat I have had so far in Spain. We got charged for using silverware which we weren’t happy about but we dealt with it and then went back to the hostel to just hang out and we played card games and drank wine.

A dance called El Rine (not sure how it is actually spelled.. tried to google it and came up with nothing... lol) but it seemed to be a local thing that happened often outside the Cathedral of Santiago.

Matt and I decided to jump in and try to dance as well because it looked fun and we definitely tried and we had a few people show us how as we struggled a little to pick up the exact moves but it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me and I loved it!

The music for the dancing was all live and it sounded as though it was something that was playing from a recording and was great music to dance too!

We caught the TV show Ninja Warrior on TV and decided to watch it and it was awesome. Ninja warrior is a show where all these Asian people compete through these obstacle courses and they only have about 70 seconds for it. There are a lot of wipe outs and just plain stupidity misses. It is the funniest show ever. Lol.  we went to bed around 2am and slept pretty well. At least I did.

didn't grab one of the orange things in time was out of the game. Kinda like musical chairs.

A day picture of the view from the bridge near our hostel. Bilbao was a for sure very beautiful city and I wouldn't mind going back again. Not much to do really but it was a pretty and calm city that was just nice to relax in.

Sunday we decided to go visit the museums and we went to the Guggenheim museum. I recognized the name but never really knew anything about it. It was pretty interesting I have to admit. We got a student discount and a little radio thingy that we could listen to all the information about the different exhibits by punching in the number at the exhibit. It was pretty cool.  We probably spent about 2.5 hours there alone and then we went to subway afterwards. It was pretty nice and although not as good as the subway back home in Iowa it was still something close to it.  We also went to the cathedral of San Santiago and looked through it and it was very pretty on the inside.  

The back side of the Guggenheim Museum.

Me in front of it looking all pretty like ;)

The big puppy statue made out of plants mostly flowers.

Big creepy spider statue supposed to represent the artists mother...

Some weird architecture artwork thingy that Matt and I got a picture with.

The 4 of us with the Guggenheim in the background.

The puppy again. see that small person in the red shirt there? that is me not realizing i was in the way of the picture.

Front of the Guggenheim. it was very shiny and pretty.

This is a picture of the four of us on the bridge that isn't straight.

The front of the Cathedral of Santiago. (also known as St. James)

Monday we went to the street Gran Via and shopped. It was pretty great although definitely tiring and I have a huge blister on my little toe which hurt like no other. I got a new shirt that is reallllyyy soft and some new leggings and I got a pair of tennis shoes and some work out clothes to start running in. it wasn’t too bad. Monday was also Halloween and I am sad that I missed it from back home. It is my favorite holiday and I’ll be glad to be home for it next year.  That night we also watched the movie Jason on TV in Spanish. It showed pretty much everything just as they do in Europe for the most part.

Playing games and getting awesome pictures.. lol

and I've no idea about this one...

or this one.. haha   but we were definitely having a great time!

We did a little of our own karaoke.. to glee music that Kayla had on her computer. it was great. I believe that this picture was a picture of me attempting to sing bass.... haha I was totally failing.

Matt and Kelsey Cheering in the background and apparently me in deep success mode or something.. idk but this is an awesomely timed pic because I'm quite sure i didn't pose like that for any pics haha

Cathedral of Santiago

Cathedral of Santiago prettiness..

Cathedral of Santiago again.

We found a giant baby head statue while shopping.. and Couldn't resist taking pictures of and with it haha it was interesting..

Just a cute little woman/girl statue that we found. there were 4 of them and so we each got a picture by a different one.

Tuesday we left Bilbao at 10am and this time it was a straight shot bus ride all the way back to Cáceres. But at least the bus was mostly empty the majority of the time and we were all able to have our own seats and stretch out and sleep a bit if we wanted.

Bilbao wasn’t the most interesting city ever and I’m not sure I would have chosen to go their if I had been on my own but I am very glad that we went and who went. It was a great trip with great company and I wouldn’t take it back for anything.

Until next time!!  J

Love Christine.