Bilbao

Not your pao for breakfast nor the bill to pay for the pao. Bilbao is actually the largest city of the Basque Country in northern Spain. The reason why I would like to highlight this city is that I’ve been there sometime ago and I think I should share some of the least-explored parts of the world with my friends. And I just had the itch and urge to return.

This is one of the very first expeditions I had without an official tour guide. I stayed in London for a month a couple of years ago and my cousin was kind enough to expose me to the world of traveling – hopping from cities to cities on our own with a map in hand. I find it very difficult to write this post as I am trying to pick up the bits and pieces of what remained as a memory now. But I do know that I will not forget about this place the moment I stepped into this city.

There's an air smelling of art, culture, architecture and modernism. I felt all of them and all are intertwined into this wonderful city. People are often taken by surprise when they heard me mentioning Frank Gehry and Santiago Calatrava in the same breath.

I know Frank Gehry because after all, he designed the Wyborowa Vodka bottle and Tiffany & Co Gehry collection, didn't he?!! Actually, his most famous work of art has still got to be the Guggenheim Museum and there's where I learnt more about this world reknown and pioneering architect. His use of unusual materials, flowing forms and interlocking structures is legendary. That is exactly what he did with the museum. It was built by the riverfront, using titanium, glass, stones and wood with structures consisting of radically sculpted, organic contours. Even the titanium panels looked like fish scales and it reflects the light beautifully.

Frankly, I appreciate architecture than art itself. I was more interested in the building than the exhibitions of art that it housed. There was a giant spider sculpture where I can pole dance, some iron human sculptures and also a huge floral Puppy by Jeff Koons which the flower changes colour according to seasons, and also gigantic Tulips all for pleasure viewing. There was so much of fulfillment just strolling around the building because there's so much to see. And you can find the asymmetrical museum looks all different from every angle!

Hello all, this is my iron boyfriend!

The Zubizuri, "white bridge" is a tied arch footbridge across Nervion River in Bilbao, where you can walk to the Guggenheim museum using that bridge which is designed by Calatrava,. He is another great architect whom also designed the Loiu Airport of Bilbao. He is one who believes in bridging structural engineering with architecture. Another distinctive point about him is that he all his structures are in white!

It's actually quite cold but one for the picture!

Besides the modern structures and architectures, one can also visit the Cathedral de Santiago at the Plaza Santiago which is also another magnificent Gothic-styled cathedral built in the 16th century. There are seven streets converging at this limestone cathedral, making it a must-visit-spot for the tourists. Traveling around town is easy with the bus, Metro and EuskoTran.

Below are some of the other best places to visit in Bilbao:

Casco Viejo (Old historic town)
Puente Colgante (Hanging Transporter Bridge)
Plaza Nueva (Spanish Square with al fresco dining)
Mercado Rural de Santo Tomas (Flea Market)
Plaza Moyua (Plaza/square)

The people there are generally friendly and educated. And even the policemen asked me to take a photo with them and they gave me their email! Lol...

The hotel that I stayed in is Barcelo H Nervion, a 3 star hotel at Campo Volantin which is just 200m from the metro and about 7-10 mins of walking distance to the Guggenheim Museum. It's about RM300 a night and in Europe it might not be the best but it's still ok. And it's only 10km from the airport which is considered a fairly good location. KLM flies direct from KL to Bilbao and it will cost you a 5 figure airfare but one could take a flight to London and then switch to the low cost airlines like easyjet which costs around RM700 to fly to Bilbao from Stansted London.

But what I hated about easyjet is their ultra-strict system. We were at the airport hours in advance but the queue at the security check was so long and we didn't manage to reach the gate 40 mins before boarding time. We tried pleading the attendant at the counter because there were about 10 of us who couldn't get onto the plane but she refused to even talk to us. The airline rather waste time by throwing our luggages out than letting us in! And so we ended up paying extra a few hundred ringgit for the next flight and had to wait in Stansted for 6 hours! Don't you feel blessed to have Air Asia (always delayed boarding and less punctual) now?

This is strictly for those whom appreciates architecture than the art of shopping. Anyone having the itch to travel to Bilbao? I might and I'm still keeping the map!


Note: Don't tease me about my hair and the photographs because I seemed to have lost my digital copies and so I had to scan the photos piece by piece!

Cultured side of me....

People have all sort of different perceptions of me. Some called me arrogant, snobbish, cool, party animal, crazy, and gluttony. I remembered once when I was in college, a guy was talking about me to his friend behind my back, calling me arrogant. I turned around and confronted him. Ever since then, we were friends! See, this is a good example of what they say - do not judge a book by its cover!

And thus, don't be surprised that despite all the eating, and eating and drinking, (I don't party much) I actually do have a cultured side. The side where I attend musicals, concerts and orchestra. I do love musicals but do not have the privilege of attending all due to time and money (ahem.. ahem..) constraints. But lucky, I managed to catch Mamma Mia last year and The Riverdance when I was in college which were the best shows!

Last Sunday, I was at MPO KLCC with my friend Emily and her cousin and her cousin's friend. Sounds complicated eh? Don't bother. The MPO Chamber Concert was on at 3pm and has four sessions. The first one was by French composer Darius Milhaud, where they have 3 players playing the violin, clarinet and piano. The second session was Gyorgy Ligeti, with pieces performed on a Solo Cello. The third was by composer William Penn right after a short interval where they have a player on Marimba and Tuba. It was pretty interesting as I love the melodies of the Marimba. It's like one of those over sized xylophones that I used to play when I was a kid. The last for the day was Sergei Prokofiev, a Russian composer and it was played with a combination of a violinist and a pianist.

The Magnificent Hall

I might not know any of the composers or the players, but I can sure appreciate a good piece of music. The hall was almost full except for the 2 empty rows in front. It was really funny to see how we never stop clapping at the end of the performance where the players have to exit and re-enter to take a bow at the audience. The last performance had the players taking a bow 3 times! Malaysians are simply generous. Don't you think so?!!

At only RM10 for a Sunday concert, don't you think it's really a good deal? It's almost like the price you pay for a movie, except that this can be a sleepy experience for many. Most of the people who attended are foreigners. They surely know how to appreciate music and I was surprised that they were kids as young as a few years old. Most kids at this age would prefer to fight with their light sabers in front of a Star Wars movie in the cinema.

The only restriction is that you have to be properly dressed for the MPO performances and probably smart casual on a Sunday. However, if you forget to wear proper shoes, don't worry, there's shoes for rent right before going up to the hall. Programme books are priced at RM3 and it's not free, mind you.

I want to catch Chuanyun Li on this coming 27-28th June. The New York Times referred to him as “a first-rate violinist". Tickets starts from RM20 only! Wanna go?

Ticket Price : RM20
Culture: Priceless

(Note: Under the new CULTURE tag, I will soon be posting some cultured trips that I went to sometime ago)