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  • Day 2

    Day 2 - Around Bilbao

    June 10, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Very busy day today, we started off with a walk to the funicular railway which took us up on to a viewpoint of the city. Then had a coffee with the locals, although every one else was on wine despite it being 11am!
    Next we went on over the Guggenheim museum. Incredible building but crap exhibitions bar some brightly coloured cherry sculptures (see cool photos!)

    On our way there we got caught up with a political movement which we found out later on the BBC was actually a demonstration for Basque independence and their right to maintain liberties from Madrid’s rule and government. All across the basque region demonstrators held hands to form a 250km line to show solidarity. It was quite inspiring to see such unity for ones homeland. It’s not something I could ever see happening in the UK!

    Kent then insisted on his afternoon nap, so we headed back to the hotel for un poco siesta!

    The evening was fun with a Spanish version of caleh dancing in the square near our hotel and a truely unbasque evening meal. All of today’s demonstrators were out in their masses and by 8pm it felt like most of the town was drunk! It felt like we had turned up for the end of a great big party!

    A big thing for the people of the basque region is Pintxos (pronounced either pintos or pinchos, I am none the wiser to knowing which is the correct way to say it so you can pick whichever you like!) Pintoxs are inherently part of the Basque social culture. They are little appetisers to have with a drink of wine or small beer before lunch and dinner. The main thing with pintxos is that you NEVER have more than one or two in any bar. When you have had your 1-2, you move on to another bar for some more.

    So, what did we do? In our desperation to find food Kent persuaded me that a bar doing a pintxos meal deal (12 pintxos plus a bottle of wine for €32) was a great idea. #livelikealocal.... maybe we can try again tomorrow.
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