We found out the difference between the "Center of Bilbao Culture" and the "Bilbao Cultural Center". They were not one and the same The Cultural Center, Azkuna Zentroa, is housed in an old wine, oil and pickling warehouse that was built in 1909. It was damaged by a fire in 1919 but still acted as a market till the 70's. A redesign in 2010 created a very unique space. It is now an exhibition space, a center for experimental cinema, it houses a gymnasium and pool, an art incubator There are three brick buildings built in the interior of this building and they are supported by 43 columns. Each column is different and each is ornate in its own way. One building houses a library, one a creative think tank and the third is a fitness center. We also went up to the top of the building to the terrace area. All this gawking gave us an appetite so we popped into a sushi bar. We had been craving some sushi so this place was irresistible. It had a funky décor mixing styles and iconography of many different Asian cultures. Even the name was a mash-up, of Mediterranean and Asian, The Panda "Mediterr-Asian". We had the best timing, we had no waiting and we were seated in our own dining room. The service was super fast and the sushi was very good. Once we were done, the line for entry was out the door and we actually had to wait to be able to wade through all those people trying to get in. We plotted a course to the Old Shanghai Restaurant for some dumplings to top off our tanks before everything closes at 3:30. Our dumplings, soup, duck rolls and tempura was delightful and tasty. We stopped off at El Cortes Inglese on the way back. We had to stock up because the next two days are national holidays and very few shops will be open. We don't want to run out of food on our next leg, a road trip to Barcelona.
Some serious details on this building
The exterior hides the treasures found inside
The library is shown here supported by the columns
They are all different
Different colors,
Different textures
Different shapes
Different materials
Inspired by different cultures
The pool is three stories above the floor
We got mooned by one kid!
The feet of the folks in the pool
The library area was most elegant
The area between the building within the building
Restaurants and shops are also located here
From the terrace
Somewhere in here is the pool
The glass barrier was keeping us from flling off the building but my brain was not convinced
So many rules!
A very cubic kind of building
Wow is all I can say!
I wonder how often cleaning or repainting is required
We were very hungry at this point
The funky décor
Japanese influences
Futuristic lighting
Art tile in the walls and space age light tubes
Chinese Pandas, Japanese Flag and Hindi bindi (facial dots)
Making the goodies!
Additional wandering brought us to this gem
So nice to see grand old buildings still standing
Perhaps another snack before the 3:30 closing time
It is very busy on this day before Easter
One very generous order of tempura
Busy on the outside too
A very odd window. At first it looked dirty but upon closer inspection we see that it is an intentional concrete addition to the window
We headed by El Cortes Inglese
And realize that there are many more gins for us to try
Many more gins,,,
These liquors were wrapped in foil like a chocolate bonbon
Pizza for the road or for our Easter dinner
It has been 307 days since we began our Migration
