Espana Verde

Day 7 of my Globus tour. Today, we drove from Oviedo in the Asturias region of Spain to Santander in the Cantabrian area of Spain to Bilbao and San Sebastian in the Basque Country of Spain. We drove to Santander through Espana Verde (Green Spain).

Espana Verde

More of Espana Verde.

Espana Verde

More of Espana Verde. Breathtaking views.

Espana Verde

More of Espana Verde.

Santander

Arriving in Santander, the capital of the Cantabria area of Spain. The official language of Cantabria is Castilian Spanish. The main attraction in Santander is the Cathedral of Santander, which we didn’t visit. Santander, however, has some very beautiful buildings, such as the one in the photo.

Santander

Another old beautiful building.

Santander

Another beautiful building.

Santander

We stopped to have a morning break along the promenade across from the Bay of Santander.

Bay of Santander

The Bay of Santander across from the promenade. Santander is a port city.

Bank of Santander

The headquarters of the Bank of Santander, founded here in 1857, are in this building. It is the largest bank in Spain and you see its branch offices almost everywhere.

Bilbao

We entered the city of Bilbao, the largest city in Basque Country on the Prince and Princess of Spain Bridge, also called the La Salve Bridge. The Basque Country is both in Spain and in France––93.2 of the Basques live in Spain and 6.8% live in France. In Spain, about 34% are fluent Basque speakers, about 19% are passive Basque speakers (those who can understand Basque but not speak it), and about 47% do not speak Basque. The second languages of Basque Country are Spanish in Spain and French in France.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

A view of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, a modern and contemporary art museum designed by Canadian–American architect Frank Gehry, inaugurated October 1997 by King Carlos I. It strongly reminded me of the Frank Gehry–designed Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles which opened in 2003 and which has a similar look. Of interest, Frank Gehry has designed The Grand, a complex of shops, a movie theater, a 20–story hotel, and a 39–story tower of condos and apartments in Los Angeles directly across from the Disney Concert Hall. To see its prototype, Google “Grand Avenue Project Los Angeles.” It is set to open at the end of 2022.

“Puppy” Sculpture

In front of the Guggenheim Museum is a flower sculpture named “Puppy” by Jeff Koons. It is a West Highland terrier puppy covered with flowers. The artist said that he fused two things together that make people happy: puppies and flowers.

“Tall Tree & The Eye” Sculpture

On the side of the Guggenheim Museum is the “Tall Tree & The Eye” sculpture by Anish Kapoor.

“Maman” Sculpture

The “Maman” sculpture on the side of the museum was created by Louise Bourgeois as a tribute to her mother who was a weaver. The sculpture “looks at the protective nature of mothers, as the spider tries to protect the sac of eggs attached to her stomach.”

The Guggenheim

Inside the museum: a randomness of curves.

“The Matter of Time”

Inside the museum was “The Matter of Time” by Richard Serra which is a set of eight sculptures made from weathered steel. I had seen a sculpture very similar to this one at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. At the latter museum, Richard Serra’s sculpture is called “Band” and contains similar elements.

“Tulips”

This sculpture of muliticolored balloon flowers is called “Tulips,” by Jeff Koons. Now I was feeling a bit strange as I had seen a very similar sculpture once before: at the Broad Museum in Los Angeles which is next to the Disney Concert Hall. Jeff Koons sculpture is also named “Tulips” at the Broad Museum but the color of some of the tulips are in different places than at the Guggenheim. What to be learned: if an artist is good enough to be shown at the Guggenheim Bilbao, most likely you will see similar works by the same artist in other art museums.

“One Hundred Fifty Multicolored Marilyns”

One of the artworks in the museum: “One Hundred Fifty Multicolored Marilyns” by Andy Warhol.

I have put my photos of Bilbao on a slideshow. Go to http://www.peggysphotos.com/bilbao–guggenheim–museum/ (Slide Shows, Western Europe, Spain–1, “Bilbao; Guggenheim Museum”).

Click-Claps–MOVIE

These click–claps were performing outside the museum.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/N8gIiVWUPkQ

A Click-Clap

A close–up of one of the click–claps.

Bilbao

Bilbao has a large number of very beautiful old buildings. It is a city to spend some extra time in to see them. We left Bilbao right after we visited the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

Espana Verde

We left Bilbao to drive to San Sebastian and drove again through Espana Verde (Green Spain).