Steps Through Steel and Stone — Walking Bilbao, One Curve at a Time
There are cities that seduce you into discovering their secrets by walking - like Paris or Vienna. And then there are cities, where you have to earn your discoveries. Bilbao is the latter. The Basque city doesn’t so much beckon the walker as it tests her resolve. Walking Bilbao isn’t necessarily flânerie; it’s cardio with architectural commentary. Still, for those willing to take the stairs (and there are many — 323 up to Begoña alone, plus another seventy mechanical contraptions to ease the climb), Bilbao rewards curiosity with the kind of architectural storytelling no tour bus could ever narrate. It's a flâneuse's dream, a place that doesn’t so much reveal itself as unfurl, like a titanium flower catching the Basque drizzle. Too prosaic? Yeah, maybe. Architecturally, the shoe fits though, at least for the city's famous bulding, the Guggenheim. The hightest part of the museum is crowned by a large skylight in the shape of a metal flower covering the Atrium. But, I am...
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