Bilbao, Spain

For centuries, the great buildings and monuments of European civilisation were mostly consecrated to the glory of God and kings. In our own enlightened age of secularism and equality, we have abandoned such injustices, and now our great buildings are instead consecrated to the glory of architects. The Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry, is a case in point. It is officially 'iconic' and 'innovative' and therefore we are all obliged to admire it, even if we all probably created prettier things with Lego when we were kids.

Bilbao is the largest city in the Basque country, and Basque separatism is rife. Near my hotel is the local office of the national (meaning Spanish) Guardia Civil, rather in the manner of a British Army HQ tucked away in West Belfast; accordingly it's a very small and modest building, guarded around the clock by a soldier carrying an assault rifle. The Basque language, like its Catalan and Valencian equivalents, resembles a peculiar cocktail of Spanish, Albanian and Klingon. I haven't bothered trying to learn any of it.

However my studies in regular Spanish are going well, and I continue to enjoy watching 'Big Bang Theory' dubbed and subtitled in Spanish. Even if it's an episode I haven't seen before, and even without visual props, I can still understand the jokes. It makes me laugh and yet at the same time it gives me a smug feeling of shallow self-satisfaction. (Now I know how all you lefties feel when you watch 'topical comedy' panel shows on the BBC.) They have to be careful how they pronounce Penny's name, because in Spanish pene means something else, and it's nothing to do with pasta.

On a related note, there's a nice bar in central Bilbao called La Roca, where the men's room has a single urinal situated in a little alcove with full-wall mirrors either side. The mirrors are slightly angled, for that 'reflections repeating to infinity' effect that you sometimes see in elevators. I found it slightly disconcerting. It's not that I object to the sight of the masterwork of Nature's ingenuity and generosity that is my own generative member; it's just that I'm not used to seeing fifty of them at once. Nor is it easy to micturate when fifty faces are watching, even if they're all my own. See below for pictures. (Just kidding.)

Looking east. Guggenheim on the right.

'Flower Puppy' statue by Jeff Koons, outside the Guggenheim.

Athletic Bilbao football club.
In this city, even the football stadiums are arty-farty.

Town hall

Plaza Nueva

Looking south-east from the top of the cable car.

Looking south-west from the top of the cable car.

Edd vs Food #57
Dürüm kebab with chips, from my local pizza shop.
Apologies for repeating the Berlin Edd vs Food, but I do love a good kebab.
Only in the UK are they derided as fodder for drunken peasants.
Everywhere else, the US included, they're a delicacy.