10th October (sunny and warm) 17 km

I am writing this in the comfort of our beautiful hotel Arenal, in Bilbao. Last night after the light had faded we sat outside the common room at the camp and basically called hotels, looking for a room for two nights. After our experience in Paris where they wouldn’t let us put our bikes in our room, we also had to find out if the hotel could keep our bikes somewhere. Then we came upon Merisol.  I explained that we couldn’t speak Spanish and apologised for that, whereby she told us that English was fine. We developed a really good rapport with her and booked a basic twin room for the two nights, arranged for our bikes to be stored in their luggage locker, thanked her very much and went back to the tent for a coffee and bed. That was one job out of the way. We now at least had a place to stay in Bilbao, as there is no campsite in the city.

Our next mission was to either hire a car, which was our number one option, or find out about the buses and trains and the hassles that go with transporting bikes over here. Morning dawned with no condensation on the tent, thanks to a gentle offshore breeze. Julia got stuck into uploading the blog as the wifi here is very quick, whilst I made our cuppa and got breakfast together. We also spoke to Georgina and Brody re our predicament with our credit card situation and asked them if they could whip over to our place and get the number off my card, just in case we could just use my number, rather than have the actual card on us.  Then we tried phoning the Visa Global credit card emergency number – well good luck with that if you ever have an actual dire emergency!  Seems you can’t call them on their collect number from a mobile.  So we tried calling their help number at our own expense – nada. So then we phoned Shazza who said she’d get her sister Lisa to call us later, as she is in the TSB. Awesome.

The old docklands - probably be prime real estate in twenty years

Then we were off, after packing up a lovely dry tent for the first time in ages, heading for Bilbao. The road wasn’t too busy and for a long spell we were on cycle ways into the city – and most importantly it was flat as our legs feel dead after the past few days.  As you enter the city from the coast, you ride along the river, with its kms of docklands, most of it now long past it’s use by date, the same as many ports, which nowadays only see minor trade compared with their heyday. 

These types of five-a-side pitches are everywhere - no wonder the Spanish are so good at football

The big time - Bilbao Athletico's stadium

Edging closer to the city centre we came upon Athletico Bilbao’s stadium, for the uninitiated, a Spanish football team.

Made a quick detour away from the riverside to grab some lunch supplies and spied a Lidl – perfect.  Until we saw the resident beggar sitting hopefully outside with his outstretched plastic green cup.  As we approached we saw him turn his head and spit a great gob on the footpath – so we kept walking and Lidl, you’ll have to get your beggars some better manners if you want to see any of our coin.  Found another supermarket a little farther on and loaded the panniers.

A beautiful ride into the heart of the city.  So easy....just follow the river.

Back to the river we moved closer to the heart of the city and the difference is immense. Great cycle ways, with lovely riverside gardens and park areas for the kids. Now we were seeing the tourist areas and the inner city and it does them credit.

the Guggenheim Museum

Bilbao seems well laid out, clean and modern - at least around the Guggenheim it does anyway.

Came upon the Guggenheim museum, which Irena tells us inspired Andrew Paterson when he was designing the Len Lye centre.  Of course being the art snobs we are, we already knew that (yeah right!). At one point just along from there, you can see the direct influence that leaving the old frontages standing and combining them with the new, has had, even in a small way in New Plymouth.

The view from our lunch spot

 

It was blowing strongly, so we looked for a sheltered place to eat our lunch. Found that on the other side of the river, virtually under a bridge arch, with all the other homeless people (just kidding, there was only us) in the shade….perfect. Temperature, depending on their gauges, which are all over the place, varied from 25 – 28 degrees today. Doesn't feel like a New Plymouth day with that sort of temperature though - feels more like 22 C.

Decided to use the Tourist Info, as most everyone speaks English and so it was. A very helpful young woman when asked about requirements on shipping bikes between cities on buses or trains, told me that in all cases they must be boxed up…damn, what a pain. At least the required people are helpful. When visiting the train station a few minutes later, another lady informed me that, yes, they have to be boxed and if the dimensions are not bang on, whoever is in charge on departure day has the right to refuse the boxed article. So far, not good news. Off to check in to the hotel, which is where this episode began and where our fortunes changed.

The hotel is positioned perfectly in the old town area and is a lovely old style building, with marble staircase and beautiful décor. Our conversation with Merisol had not been in vain and rather than a normal indoor room overlooking a courtyard, she had upgraded us to a suite looking out on the old town action. She told us later that she had done this for us. We were delighted with the outcome, although when I think about it, if you gave us grass to camp on, you’d probably get the same response.

Aaaahhh bliss!!

The view from our hotel room.  Glad we're only on the second floor as our thighs are screaming by the time we get to our room.  It's not that the stairs are steep or anything, just our legs are knackered!  There is a lift if we find it too much though!

After offloading our gear we decided to go to a hire car company and see if there was any way they would use Julia’s credit card to hire the car, as I left mine at home, but brought my drivers license. In Spain, supposedly, according to all written material, you may not hire a vehicle with another persons credit card. What the hell, we needed to find out if this was true, so a visit to Europcar, in the train station, just around the corner, soon put our fears to rest, with yet another very helpful female, booking a van for us on Friday. This means that we can get to see the places we wanted to and make up some time. Excellent. Now we could enjoy our stay here without having to worry about boxing up bikes and getting to train or bus stations.

Cool view from railway station

Took a wander through the old town taking photo  opportunities whenever they presented, which was frequently. Spanish people love their cafes/restaurants/bars, a lot like everywhere else, come to think of it and these were littered throughout the old town along with plenty of pastry shops.

The old town was full of quaint streets and cafes

Bought some beer and wine and back to the hotel for some relaxing and a quiet drink. We still find it hard to spend four to five times the amount on a drink, which we can get from a supermarket. And for the next two nights we have the luxury of a fridge to chill our drinks.  As for food, well, we might treat ourselves tomorrow night but tonight we have some leftovers to use up. I noticed Julia drooling today at some of the clothing, bag and footwear shops. Still, nowhere to pack those, but maybe some treats in Barcelona.

After dinner we went for a stroll around the old town, but we were disappointed to see the big buildings were not lit up as they often are in big cities.  The best views would be by the river which is where we headed, but it felt a bit dodgy during the daytime and even more so at night so we ducked into the old town with the other tourists.  However, it still didn’t feel safe so we went back to the hotel as there wasn’t much to see anyway.