Our plan to visit the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao was shared by hundreds of other visitors so instead we walked alongside the river till we reached the Old Town.
Then the rain came and we walked back past all the shops to catch our bus back to the ship.
Our seven day cruise on Sapphire Princess took us from Southampton to La Coruna, Bilbao, Le Verdon, St. Peter Port and finally back to Southampton.
Day 4 Tuesday 28th May Bilbao, Spain
While we slept Sapphire Princess had manoeuvred into the inner harbour.
The quay was the same one that we have been to before with a lighthouse at the end of the breakwater.
We were early for breakfast in the International Dining Room. The special of the day was all about fruit so I reverted and had an omelette plus American bacon instead.
Rain was again forecast so we caught the shuttle bus into Bilbao. Across from the Sapphire Princess was a Norwegian Cruise line ship, Norwegian Spirit, which was now docked.
The shuttle bus ride was only about 25 minutes into Bilbao.There we were dropped off by the Fine Art Museum. The Guggenheim was only a 10 minute walk away by the side of the estuary.
The Guggenheim Museum
Outside the Guggenheim were four street performers who were sitting down being ‘dogs’ and making clicking noises to attract attention.
They had a large crowd and we watched as they performed and sounded a bell whenever anyone added money to their pot. We went into the Guggenheim through the lower entrance then we saw the long queue for tickets.
The puppy statue was at the top of the steps and almost at the end of the queue.
The lesson learnt was that the next time we come to Bilbao is to buy tickets online so that we would not have to queue.
Back at the river we walked to the spider statue.
This was the centre of attention of two Norwegian Cruise Line tours. Further along the river I could see a large mural of two women partially obscured by a bridge.
Looking back at the Guggenheim the crowds had thinned around the spider.
After a long wait this was the closest I came to having the statue with no-one around it.
The walk up the river side had other views and I went up and over the Zubizuri foot bridge to take pictures.
