Trams and buses criss cross the city taking you wherever you could wish to travel.
There's a large marina, sports beach and open sandy beaches at one end with a classic city centre, the Guggenheim, football stadium and opera house in the centre.
The mixes of house designs is interesting too. Some have that Tudor, half timbered look whilst others more like Swiss fairy castles. We are of course, talking about the 'posh' end of town where euros drip through of the windows.
We had a drive from our berth to the Guggenheim which took us the 7 miles along the river front.
Their system of taxes (you pay tax to the principality who uses 90% of it for development in the area, sending 10% to Madrid, the capital of Spain) lends itself to things getting done.
They have construction sites on the old steel works which will not only create social housing (which I promise look very upmarket), rental and to buy properties but also the shops, schools, doctors and other ancillary services needed in a new area. Again, we in the UK could learn from this.
The Guggenheim was fabulous and I could spend many a happy day travelling around the installations and art exhibits. Not to everyone's taste, it covers the last 150 years of art.
Yep, not for everyone but there's a fascinating commentary which runs alongside (app on phone you can download)
There are two famous installations outside; the puppy (some 40 feet tall) and the spider (of equal dimensions)
Love that spider! Very realistic in an abstract way. Made of steel it harps back to the industry which predates the site.
.....and then
Yep, Bilbao scores on my 'to return to' chart.
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