Camino de Santiago LITE: Day 18 (del Norte): Bilbao to Portugalete

Re-entering the Guggenheim Museum in the evening briefly before they close, we watch a multi-media presentation by a Pakistani artist Shazia Sikander called Parallax. It has fantastic imagery based on computer animation with accompanying music and narrated poetry. If this is modern art, then I like it. We have a half hour before the dinner reservation, which is perfect as we have a chance to walk around the building at dusk.

Bilbao: walking toward the Guggenheim Museum from the hotel

Guggenheim: another look at the Puppy (poo-pi as they call it here), as the evening approaches.

Guggenheim: Sikander's Parallax, partly based on the events at the Strait of Hormuz

Guggenheim: another look at the atrium inside

Guggenheim at closing

Guggenheim along Nervion River at dusk

Guggenheim: getting dark

Guggenheim: seen from the pedestrian bridge to the west

Guggenheim along Nervion River seen from the pedestrian bridge

Guggenheim: these flames almost knocked me backward when they went up without warning.

We do make it to dinner without falling asleep. This may be the first major meal during this trip that I scheduled for dinner instead of lunch, perhaps against my better judgment, as Nerua is only open for dinner today. I have agonized over this a bit and finally decided earlier today to go for dinner instead of the alternative of returning to Bilbao for a lunch here at the end of the trip. (So we will be going from Santander, our final destination on this Camino walk, to Madrid.)

It just seems appropriate that we simply walk up the short stairs next to Bourgeois' Spider to enter Nerua and cap off the great day. On the website of the restaurant is a statement "Artist Jeff Koons ... refers to art as something that is not an object but rather in the mind of the observer. The same line of thought is what the restaurant Nerua wishes to convey, getting visitors to create their own dining experience, making the means to do so accessible to the diner." Huh? Anyway, curiously the small restaurant is half empty, and we are seated next to a window through which the Spider was so close you can almost touch it. The staff are very nice, and the quality of food meets my expectations. In the middle of the meal, a loud noise is heard and it's from a torrential downpour. Ironically the ever-prepared wife left our umbrella at the hotel this one time.The rain does not let up and we borrow a large embossed umbrella to walk back to the Puppy and then another block to the hotel, but the wife's shoes are soaking wet.

Nerua (right lower): the restaurant is part of the Guggenheim complex

Nerua: by now we are used to the routine of visiting the kitchen and having a nibble

Nerua: I would call this a triple A - Asparagus, Arugula and Avocado

Nerua: anchovy with oats cream and sage

Nerua: trying this Basque specialty one more time - chipiron

Nerua: you wonder how a Spanish kitchen could prepare mochi but the skin was the most soft I have ever tasted

Oh, yes, the following morning we do continue the walk out of Bilbao, which almost feels like an after-thought. I choose the simplest and shortest of the three possible routes to Portugalete, so it's going to be a short walk. At least we are not taking the "fourth option" mentioned in the Cicero guide, which is to take a subway to Portugalete!

The route on the map is very straightforward as we have to just follow the river all the way to Portugalete. But as we get out of Bilbao, the roads can be confusing so I still had to rely on my Google Map. Midway through the walk, we are joined by the only other pilgrim we are seeing today (most people surely left a long time before our leisurely departure close to noon.) He is from a small town called Fresnoy-la-Riviere, north of Paris. I mean, literally he started walking from his home. Having finished Camino Frances in a similar fashion, from his home via the Le Puy route, he took the Vezelay route to get to Del Norte this time. He is a retired engineer, older than me, but seemingly a very fit, savvy and motivated peregrino, which I think are more typical on this route than Frances.

Bilbao: looking back at the Guggenheim one last time as we leave west toward Portugalete

Today's walk is mostly along the river, flat and straighforward. We are joined by a Frenchman who has already walked two months straight.

Into his staff, Jean-Philippe has carved his own design as well as the names of the starting and finishing points of the Camino. He was inspired by a similar staff carried by a monk in France.

Taking a quick break with Jean-Philippe at the ferry dock along the route to Portugalete

The route deviates a bit through the town of Getxo, which was unexpected. Perhaps they demanded equal time - why should Portugalete across the river get all the foot traffic? Crossing the river in a car ferry suspended from a bridge, which is something none of us have ever seen before, we arrive at our well-positioned hotel on the water front. From the overall ambience of the town, our historic hotel and experiencing the "ferry crossing," it's been an interesting afternoon. And we avoided the rain altogether.