The First Important Aspect of Spanish Culture: Art

Yesterday the weather was horrible! Not only was it cold and rainy, but we had to battle pretty much straight line wind and ended up seeing broken umbrellas strewn all over the sidewalks and in the garbage all over the city. To avoid the weather outside, we took a tour of the Guggenheim museum..which is beautiful. I don't think that I have been in such an architecturally amazing building; the perfect combination of metal, stone, and glass. The art inside is amazing...it honors all modern art from sculptures by Richard Serra, to the fine art of Gauguin and Picasso, to architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Today we went to Guernica, Guernika in Spanish, and visited the Peace Museum there. I think that if you ever visit Spain and are in Basque Country, you should visit this museum. There are a lot of museums in the world that house some of best art work or most famous art work in history, there are some that house interesting historical artifacts, there are some that are just very interactive and fun, but very rarely do these museums, even the most famous ones in the world, truly evoke such strong emotion that you leave feeling changed. This one does. The museum itself is small and plain, but the message, that universal call for peace and the remembrance of such a violent act could quite possibly touch even the most stoic individual. It was beautiful in every definition and worth the trip! We also visited the Biodiversity Center on the nature reserve on the outskirts of Guernica. It was more of a lighthearted trip and the center was amazing! It was just fun to walk through and look at all the pictures and wildlife they use to teach biodiversity!

Animal Room at the Biodiversity Center

Biodiversity Center

Peace Signs by the Guernica Peace Tree

Countryside in Guernica

I had a great time on our first excursion! After we got back from our day trip, Summer, Natasha, and I were able to participate and experience another important aspect of Spanish culture: soccer. This evening we were walking around looking for a little pastry to tide us over until we ate dinner, when we came upon a HUGE crowd of people in front of the Hotel Carlton in the Plaza Mayoua. Well it turns out that the Bilbao soccer team, Club Atletico, is playing against Real Madrid tomorrow, one of the top teams in Spain and the world. Knowing that some of the best soccer players in the world were coming to Bilbao was almost too much for me, and it was amazing watching them walk off the bus in my city! I was freaking out the whole time, and Summer even let me sit on her shoulders so I could get a better look at them over the crowd! I hear that Bilbao and other Spanish cities go crazy when there's a match and I can't wait to participate tomorrow!

written by

Laura Hanson on January 15, 2010 from Guernica y Luno, Spain

from the travel blog: Un Semestre en España

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