Bilbao, Spain

My train ride from Madrid to Bilbao was 5 hours long. Luckily for me, the views were spectacular. The glare on the train windows wasn't so spectacular but I managed so see amazing views anyway. I found that the Tarzan soundtrack enhanced the views the most, but the Lion Kong and Mulan soundtracks did just as well a job. There was a really loud group of Americans in front of me for that 5 hour ride, so I couldn't even doze. They also did not speak Spanish and were extremely rude to a confused adorable man who probably just couldn't make out what his seat number was or something. I was appalled at their behavior, giving Americans a real bad name. Anyhoo, the train was basically an airplane on the ground. They handed out headphones, played movies, walked around with a drinks and snack cart. I'm pretty sure the only difference is we were on the ground and they didn't give us blankets and pillows like they would for long flights. 

At 10pm I arrived in Bilbao, which was great because I wanted to sleep anyway so I didn't really miss out on much, just took the metro to my hostel and slept. The next day I interrogated the hostel worker and added an extra night to my stay since I wanted more time in Bilbao and one day in Pamplona probably wouldn't have been enough either. I was real ambitious when I made my plans during the semester let me tell ya. I spent my first day in Bilbao just walking around, typical Mildred style. I could've gone to the museums, but I wasn't really feeling that so I just took a nice riverside walk. Bilbao is gorgeous so just walking around was really enough for me. Around 2 I went back to the hostel to enjoy seista and read, but then I failed to leave the hostel again that day like I had told myself I would. 

So then the next day, May 27th, I began my day a lot earlier because everyone else was up and moving so I just got up with them. I ate a lovely breakfast at the hostel and then headed out to check out all the sites circled on my map. I started at the Duck Park. It was slightly disappointing after seeing so many beautiful parks. This was just a small park that was very obviously surrounded by busy roads. After spending time there, like an hour, I headed on my way to the train station. I walked passed the museum circled on my map, didn't feel like going in so kept walking. Bought my train ticket and then river walked. I found a slightly sketchy side of Bilbao. It wasn't actually sketchy, there just wasn't a lot of people. Then I went to old town and walked around there before going to the elevator. The elevator was much like the 4th street elevator in Dubuque, taking you up to see the view. This one went allllll the way up a mountain though so you could see all of Bilbao. It was a gorgeous view let me tell you. 

Then I headed back to the hostel for the night. I ran into one of my roommates at the hostel on the way back and she was rushing back because she messed up the time her bus left. She had been thinking 16 was 6 o'clock and realized her bus was actually leaving at 4. So she was rushing back with 30 minutes to get there. She's a nice lady, she had hurt herself walking 170 kilometers of the Camino. She was from New Zealand and we had a lot of chats about the teaching methods that she has seen there. She currently doesn't have a home, and had just quit her job of 20 years working with domestically abused women. She doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, but she's walking the Camino and then going to walk around the entire circumference of New Zealand if she can complete the Camino. As a 60 year old, I think she has her life figured out because she's doing what she enjoys and not staying somewhere she didn't have a passion for anymore. Turns out her bus was at 18, 6 o'clock after all by the way so she ran back for nothing. While at the hostel I also met a Danish couple who were so adorable. They were taking a few days off from the Camino as well. Every night they would sit on the females bed and just tease each other in Danish, lots of laughter and giggling, until she was ready for bed and then he would tuck her in before going off to do whatever he was doing. They were adorable. The New Zealand female gave them all sorts of tips for when they travel to New Zealand at some time in the future. 

Anyhoo, on May 28th, I woke up at 5 am and walked to the metro to get to the train station. My train left at 6:30 and I arrived in Barcelona at 13:30. Another gorgeous train ride too with Disney soundtrack enhancing the imagery. Then I spent the rest of the day reading in the hostel.