Getting to our hotel in Bilbao, the Silken Gran Hotel Domine Bilbao was a snap. You land; grab a ride on the Bizkaibus (1.4 € per person) and get off at the first stop. Checking in at this Five-Star property is simple and befitting the rating. While there is a difference between European and American Five Star standards, you just could not beat the service here, or how friendly people were.
And then of course, there was the main reason I chose to splurge a little. The hotel sits right across the street from The Guggenheim Museum and what is my favorite topiary piece, Puppy by Jeff Koons. We just couldn't help but take a photo of it every time we walked by.
If the objective of art is to elicit an emotional response in oneself, this piece had it in spades for us. We still smile whenever we talk about, or see a photo of puppy……which I decided to nickname "Fred", a lovely 43 meter tall chia pet. Did you know that "Fred" once played part in a terror plot? You can read about it in this post on Atlas Obsucra.
The second thing we needed to do….after taking photos of Puppy, was to find something to eat. I had a few places on my shortlist and we headed off to grab a bite.
Perhaps it's the lay-out of Bilbao, or that streets emanated from plazas like petals on a flower, but for some reason we had a rather tough time finding places that weren't along the waterfront in Bilbao. Strange, Barcelona and Madrid were relatively easy….Bilbao not so much.
After literally going around in a circle, we decided to grab a cup of espresso and regroup. I knew the street we were looking for, Diputacion was very close by.
The folks in Bilbao and Basque Country in general are very helpful and friendly. And one of the locals pointed us down a street and gave us some landmarks to work with.
After a couple of turns we found the place we were looking for La Vina del Ensanche.
There's an outdoor seating area, basically restaurant service, the bar stacked with pintxos (tapas), for some reason we just never took to these. Rather, we usually went for a table and ordered pintxos calientes and items off the menu.
Our arrival was at an odd time; about 430 pm. 
We had dinner reservations for later that evening and just wanted something to tide us over.
It was fairly easy to make decisions.
A crianza for me; a tinto for the Missus.
And a couple of items from the chalkboard; starting with the "Huevo-Foie". Basically soft boiled egg and foie gras. This was decadent and delicious.
Perfect for bread dipping, wonderfully egginess, with the even more rich and savory flavors off a nice foie mousse. Could I have this for breakfast every morning?
Along with a small portion of Carrillera de Iberico; braised pork cheeks in a wonderful rich sauce.
This stuff is rich, so a little goes a long way. This was totally our kind of thing…..get used to seeing these dishes a lot in future posts.
La Vina Del Ensanche
Diputacion 10
Bilbao, Spain
We somehow made our way back to the Guggenheim…..we used the phrase "donde esta el Guggenheim" several times along the way.
For us, the highlights of the Guggenheim (after "Fred" of course) were in turn the structure, an amazing building of flowing curves and lines, designed by who else? Frank Gehry.
The glass elevators are something else.
The "public art" like the famous "Maman Spider", Jeff Koon's Tulips,
And Niki de Saint Phalle's Dancing Nana's are quite wonderful. By the way, Niki de Saint Phalle moved to La Jolla in the 90's and passed away there in 2002. If you think this style looks familiar, you've probably seen her work around San Diego.
It seemed, at least to us, that the public art really over shadowed what was shown within the walls of the museum. Most of what we saw inside the Guggenheim really didn't resonate with us. Some of it was quite puzzling. We're probably just not cultured enough, I guess.
Displays, like the huge set of steel ellipses by Richard Serra named The Matter of Time, basically walking through the spiraled paths….I'm not sure what the message is?
Still, I'm glad we visited…….
We were really enjoying the vibe of the city to this point…..
Relaxed, playful, with a splash of color……..