Day 10 & 11 - A Day Out in Bilbao, Docked in Getxo

Hi Everyone,

Bilbao is the last port of call before this cruise comes to an end, we docked in Getxo as the ship doesn't go that far down the river into Bilbao. This port has a lot to see including the Big Villas Promenade and the Vizcaya Hanging Bridge.

The cruise terminal is located at the tip of the port of Getxo so it's around a 15 minute walk to the main road. All along this promenade out towards the main road is mainly yacht or fishing stores but at the end there is a beautiful beach.

If you're not a lying on the beach type of person, like I am, there is a beautiful promenade that we lesiurely walked along which is also known as The Big Villas Promenade. Along this promenande there are a lot of mansions for you to discover which show the most iconic buildings in Getxo's palatial architecture, built during the neighbourhood of Las Arenas’s halcyon days, between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. There are 29 information panels that tell you about each of the mansions as well as what the mansions use to look like when they were first built.

At the end of the promenade we reached the Vizcaya Hanging Bridge which is an infrastructure located over the mouth of the River Ibaizabal which goes into Bilbao. It spans the two banks of the river, thereby connecting the municipalities of Getxo and Portugalete and it is a main commuter connection between the two municipalities. We observed the bridge for a while and the bridge was never empty, nor did it ever stop transporting people because it was constantly in use by commuters whether it was walking, cycling or driving.

The journey only costs 50 cents each way which is very cheap and it's something you must do as it's part of the UNESCO Heritage Centre. It's an amazing piece of engineering and you can sit on the promenade and really appreciate the infrastructure. You can also pay to walk along the top of the bridge which we didn't do this time as I have my young children in a double stroller which is does not accommodate. Also, there's a lot of steps to get up to the top of the bridge, not for the faint hearted either.

From here we made our way to the metro which isn't far at all and it only costs 2 Euros for a one way 2 zone trip which was enough to get us into the city centre of Bilbao. The metro was clean and it only took roughly 20-30 minutes and there's a train that runs every few minutes as well which meant it was perfect for us. The ship excursion shuttle wanted to charge $25 per person for a shuttle which is absolutely ridiculous considering it only cost us 12 Euros in all.

Once we got to Bilbao we walked to the Guggenheim which is an iconic building and it houses artwork from various different artists. There are also art installations around the outside of the museum which is nice to visit. Also, there is a giant flower sculpture of a dog called Puppy which apparently is the largest flower sculpture in the world, according to Google. It's another iconic place to have your picture taken if you're ever in Bilbao.

After walking round the town of Bilbao the weather was getting hotter so we decided to make our way back to the metro and go back to Getxo. Walking around Getxo is relaxing as it's not a very busy town, compared to Bilbao, and it has a very calm feel to it.

This is the last port of call on my cruise around Europe before disembarking at Southampton after a sea day. Therefore this concludes this series of post about my cruise. But I am prepping for a staycation down near the New Forest in the UK which I'll be blogging about too as we will be staying on a working farm.

Until next time, stay tuned.