wait, i thought bilbao was supposed to be ugly?

No, it's not. And I'll explain...
Since the conference technically ended on Saturday morning and our train tickets back to Madrid weren't until Sunday afternoon, I was trying to figure out whether to stay in Santander or make my way somewhere else. In the end, Lisa and I decided to join Katica, Rebecca, Angie, and Baird on a side trip to Bilbao.

Part of the old city by the river. The cool yellow building to the right? Yeah, that's the train station.

Bilbao is a city in Basque Country about an hour and a half bus ride from Santander. After almost burning down the hotel, we set off. The weather when we got there was great, and Lisa and I found a nice cheap hostel in the old part of the city. We then walked around the city, seeing the main attraction: the Guggenheim. It is one of the chain of Guggenheim museums, housed in a great building designed by the architect Frank Gehry. Let's just say, it's pretty stinkin' cool. There is also a massive dog made of flowers in front of it, which of course we got pictures of. While some went inside the museum, I decided to stay outside and walk the city some. Many guide books and people who have been there say Bilbao is an ugly town, but we didn't see it at all. It was really charming, a great mixture of old and new.

The Guggenheim entrance.
View from the back of the Guggenheim, complete with giant spider.
Lisa and I in front of the dog. Again, left my camera in Madrid. So thank you Lisa for the pictures.

That night, we went out to eat some pintxos, the typical Basque food. Little did we know it would be packed out because a soccer match had just gotten out, but we luckily found a few different places to eat little pintxos, basically bite-sized food on a piece of bread. They were pretty tasty.
IThe next morning, I woke up and went for a run along the river past the Guggenheim. Then Lisa and I went to a little market in the main plaza where they were selling used books, coins, and birds. Yes, birds. It was a good morning, but we had to make our way back to Santander to catch the train back to Madrid. But all in all, a great choice was made to visit Bilbao.

The awesome Bilbao riverside at night.