Going for walks

I've started walking around this beautiful place that I'm in. The day before yesterday, I went around this area. It's called Artxanda (Basque spelling of what sounds like Artchanda) and it's a small community on top of one of the many mountains surrounding the city of Bilbao. Basically it's just crowning this hill. It's not a very big town/village or whatever you want to call it. There are a lot of parks, some houses, a high school and a primary school, a small private medical centre, and a bunch of restaurants. Oh yeah there's a culinary school here too. I guess there's other stuff but that's what I've seen. When I was walking 2 days ago I went to the adjoining hilltop, where there is an old unused monastary. Apparently it's a landmark around here. There is a lot of parkland here. There are also a lot of restaurants - because of the view, this is where there are a lot of terrace restaurants, overlookng the city. People like to get married in the parks and have their receptions at these restaurants.
So I took an hour long walk around Artxanda. I walked to the monastary, which has a great view of the hills on the eastern side, and the valley where the airport is. I then walked towards the main park, and around to the other side of the hill, the western part where the valley where the city of Bilbao is. I crossed the street to a
lookout point. I watched the city turn on lights as sunset approached and the sun dropped behind the mountains on the far side of the city. It was gorgeous.
The most obvious landmark here is the Guggenheim Museum (http://www.virtourist.com/europe/bilbao/Bilbao_Photos.htm), which completely takes my breath away every time I see it. It's a huge structure covered with titanium, and it never ceases to amaze me how something so obviously man-made and not living can look so beautiful and organic. Next to it is there are 2 huge cubes, which, under any
other circumstances would be ugly and ruin the beauty of the museum, however these cubes are an exhibit, they are pearly looking and coated with some kind of prismatic refractive coating, which basically means that at any time of the day and in any light, you can see beautiful colours ranging from vivid fuschia and purple and violet and red in bright sunlight, to gentle muted pastels in subdued cloudy light,
bright flashes of rainbows when there is sunlighted reflected onto certain spots.... anything. It's so beautiful. When I go there, I don't know what I like most, the cubes or the museum! Inside the cubes there are 2 displays as well. I won't tell you about them, I'll save it for when you come and visit :o)
Along the edge of downtown Bilbao, which is a pretty small, and well organised city, there is a river. It runs in a semicircular shape, describing half of the imaginary wheel thatis the city. Actually I think it's more of a canal, since the walls of it are very obviously man made. There are beautifully designed bridges crossing it at
intervals, and park and walking paths all along both sides of it. On the "inside" of the circle you see the city, all low buildings except for two 20-storey buildings, on the outside of the circle there are some towns. My favourite is "Casco Viejo" the "Old City" which is best identified by the 2 church steeples, and the small close buildings.
The buildings lining the river are all very dignified looking. Some with the old style architecture typical of European cities, others more modern, but all very nice. Of course, the Guggenheim is one of the modern ones and is really what draws your eye when you look.
After looking at the city and the mountains behind it and the clouds playing with the peaks of the mountains, I walked back home, happy.
Last night, I decided to take a different route. I got my subway/train/bus pass and headed for the funicular, which is about 5 minutes away, in the park. The funicular (or Funi as they call it), is basically just like the Carmelit, but with only the stops at the top and bottom, and is above ground. It runs every 15 minutes and the ride is about 1.5 to 2 minutes. Basically it means that although in a car it takes about 15 minutes to get down the mountain and get downtown, and the bus takes about 20 to 25, if I leave home walking at 6 minutes to either the hour, quarter past, quarter to or the half hour, anytime between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., I can be in Bilbao less than 10 minutes later. I can cross one of the bridges and be in the centre of downtown within 5 minutes of that, or I can head along the river and be in the old city in 10 minutes. For a 50 cent ride! :o))))
So yesterday, I grabbed my pass and took the 7:15 funi down. I first walked across the bridge and alongside the river towards and past the old city, then turned and came back the same way, which took half an hour. Then I walked along and past the Guggenheim, still along the river, got there just in time to see the steamy fog that is periodically created over the reflecting pool in front of the museum (on purpose), and then along the river down towards the docks and the maritime museum. There was a beautiful pedestrian walkway all along the way, with a separate bike path and literally hundreds maybe even a thousand or so people walking, jogging, cycling, rollerblading, walking in couples, walking with families, dogs, grandparents with grandchildren, everyone. And everyone was so happy to be outside in
the fresh air and enjoying the city. It was wonderful. What I'm calling a footpath was actually more like a pedestrian brick road, about 5 or 6 metres wide, so although there were a lot of people, it never felt crowded. Every now and then there was the tinkling bell of the streetcar going by, but other than that and the bicycles, there was no sign of any other traffic. The roads are elsewhere. I got to a
bridge and crossed, about half an hour after my first bridge, and walked back along the other side of the river. This was just as pretty, more residential, but the walking path had a park down the middle of it. In some places the park was broken by a basketball court, a skate park, complete with ramps and stairs and rails and
everything, and the typical skaters and bladers, a playground.... totally a family place. Again, people exercising, walking their dogs, out with family, or just hanging out on the benches watching the setting sun reflecting on the Guggenheim cubes. It was soooooo nice.
I got back to the funi after walking for an hour and a half, and was home in 10 minutes. It was such a perfect evening! I've resolved to walk every night, and I'm really looking forward to tonight's walk. I want to start a little later though, because at 9 p.m. in the reflecting pool at the Guggenheim, there are these flames of fire that shoot up every 5 minutes - really impressive, and at 10 the laser show
starts on the cubes, which is even cooler than seeing the sunlight on them during the day! I also want to explore the city more, so I want to choose a different road each evening and go into the city and come back out, and walk along the river (where it is brightly lit and full of people) as it gets darker.