I'ts Springtime and we are going out on a stroll at the heart of Bilbao. I'ts a changing, uneasy Spring. I'ts March. The sun is up there, so bright, lighting up the city. It has been doing that all morning. But suddenly, the afternoon becomes dark and windy, with clouds in the sky above the river and a grey, blueish light over that giant metal sculpture called Guggenheim Museum.We start walking at the cross between Dr. Areilza's Avenue and Licenciado Poza Street. We walk towards the Gran Via or Main Street and we reach the Park. We turn right and walk along the border of the Park untill we reach Teofilo Guiard Square and, leaving the Fine Arts Museum (Museo de Bellas Artes) at our left, we enter Colón de Larreategui Street. At San José Plaza (Saint Joseph Square) we turn to the left and we move along Iparraguire Street towards the Guggenheim Museum. When we get there, we go into the building through the main entrance and we cross to the rear one through the shops (the first one is a book shop). Once on the other side, we turn lef again and go though the playgrounds and gardens to Abandoibarra Avenue. At our back we leave the Guggenheim Museum. In front of us are now the Deusto University Library and the
Auditorium of the Basque Country University (UPV). If we continue our stroll between them we reach plaza Euskadi, and from there we can easily go back into the Park and the Gran Via.
Everybody knows that Frank Gehry is the arquitect who designed the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum, but, of course, when an old industrial city tries to rebuild itself local authorities cannot avoid the temptation of collecting important international signatures. The Library of the Deusto University is Rafael Moneo's work. But my favorite of the two, and probably mi favorite building in the new Bilbao surrounding Abandoibarra, is Alvaro Siza's work for the Basque Country University. So clean, so pure and beautiful... There's nothing like it in this new Bilbao which is becoming perhaps too showy.
Here we go. You can both roll down or click on the first image to open the slide show
Back to the park
