This family has an impressive museum dedicated to wine. It takes you from the historical…read morebeginnings of wine in the world, over 8,000 years ago. It has dramatic videos of the production of wines. It has a huge collection of the ancient and modern equipment used in the production of wine. The museum is over 40,00 square feet. Here you can see the corkscrew collection of the Vivanco Museum of the Culture of Wine, consisting of close to 3500 pieces that show the evolution and diversity of this apparently simple instrument. We downloaded the tour narrative to our phones and we walked for 90 minutes amazed at the information and we only heard 1/2 of the story. This is a place where anyone who respects and likes wine could spend 3-4 hours seeing all the fascinating items in the collection. Totally recommend, but spend more time. There are guided tours by the staff, but they blow through in less than 90 minutes.

The views are absolutely gorgeous and stunning, and the museum is great for learning about wine,…read moreit's history, and how relevant grapes are to this area. Food in the restaurant was very nice, we were served a traditional Basque lunch of bacalao, lamb, chorizo and potato stew...

This is the late 20th century opus of American architect Frank Gehry…read more As an architect, i am always amazed at what some architects can get build. Thus, this always perplexed me. However in situ, it makes total sense. At a human scale its underpinnings line up with the surrounding buildings and the river it sits upon. The curvilinear forms are symbolic of the ships once built on this ground in the early 20th century. As an icon and symbol of basque pride. Interestingly, it also plays homage to Frank Lloyd Wright's opus the original Guggenheim in NYC. The Art? The building is the art. I will let others comment on its success as a gallery. However, it is perhaps the one of the greatest pieces of architecture of our time. Post Modern deconstructionist Master Work

This museum was the main reason why I chose to visit Bilbao during my recent trip to Spain. It had…read morebeen on my bucket list for years! I've visited the Guggenheim museums in NYC and Venice and I have to say that this building had the most unique architecture of them all so far. Designed by Frank Gehry, the museum is a deconstructionist building with over 33,000 titanium plates. Located along the Nervion River, the industrial backdrop of Bilbao blends in with the metallic look of the museum. The interior seems a bit jumbled, which is a contrast to the sleekness of the exterior. Stairwells jut here and there, it didn't seem like there was a real flow. In terms of the collection, while I was here there was an exhibition of Jasper Johns, and while I'm not a huge fan but know his work, it was interesting. I found that the exhibits were on the niche side, albeit very comprehensive with retrospectives of their work. I really liked viewing the installation piece by Richard Serra, The Matter of Time. Also being a fan of Jeff Koons, the live Puppy outdoor sculpture is amazing to view. Honestly, I was more impressed with the architecture rather than the art here.

I visited this museum in August of 2014 and enjoyed my visit of about 1.5 hours, visiting almost…read moreall of the sections and finding a number of the exhibits very interesting. It is surely worth a look and the reasonable entry fee, but I was slightly disappointed as a museum-lover/nerd who had heard a lot of great things about this specific locale. The entrance is on the side with the fountains.

Came here while visiting Donostia and we managed to get free entry! It's a really great museum and…read moreit's manageable for spending as little as an hour, unless you want to go through all of the exhibits in substantial detail, which could take quite a bit more time. There's a lot of old Basque history including seafaring history, whaling stuff, and then more modern stuff, too, ranging from Basque artists to, I don't know, secret Basque space lasers. The architectural integration of the old cathedral and cloister is also well done-- leaving the sanctuary, you walk out into this gorgeous, peaceful grassy area and aren't even thinking about the fact that the upstairs is more of a proper museum setting. Definitely worth a visit

Definitely recommend visiting if you are in San Sebastian for more than a couple of days, or if…read moreit's raining and are looking for an indoor activity. It's a great way to learn about Basque history and culture and it includes a church and cloister as part of the building's structure. Bonus: they have a a cafe with tasty pintxos and tapas for the appetite you will work up walking through the museum.

I am extremely disappointed. The permanent collection is not on display during renovation and…read morethat's why I came to this city and decided on it over other cities in Spain. THERE IS NO INFORMATION ONLINE THAT THE PERMANENT COLLECTION IS CLOSED. The staff confirmed this and they receive this complaint everyday. THIS IS EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING. The new building is scheduled to reopen in October. For a major museum, this lack of communication is very bad.

I was a bit disappointed with this museum. I thought it would be similar to El Prado in Madrid,…read morewith lots and lots of master paintings but it was actually a combination of traditional Renaissance and Medieval paintings and modern art. The amount of paintings by masters of the Renaissance was very small. The museum itself was not very big either...just two floors and about 4 wings. Overall not a bad place to spend a few hours, but not a place that I would recommend to someone that liked their time at The Prado in Madrid.

In Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Saint James Way can be done in two ways. One is the traditional…read moremulti-day journey that passes through many towns and personal reflection points. The other is shortened to about an hour through an interesting (albeit pricey) interpretive Center right on the Camino de Santiago. This place is worth a look. The building is handsome, the exhibits are well considered, and there's a good selection of gifty stuff in the Lobby.

Photos etc coming soon…read more Very interesting small museum Next door to the Archeology Museum Free on Thursday

I just returned from Spain, where we saw Chillida sculptures everywhere, particularly in the north…read more This was an eye-opener, as I only learned about him a few years ago, while staying with friends in St. Jean-de-Luz, in France, about 20 minutes north of the Spanish border. Luckily, at that time, my friend's father practically forced my friend's wife and I to go down to Spain to the Chillida sculpture garden. So I knew them when I saw them. (I'll add some pictures in the future.) I'm actually not a huge fan of abstract sculpture, but the space is beautiful and when you can see all of his work in one place, it clicks. If you are in Bilbao for the Guggenheim, or in the area for any other reason, I strongly recommend spending an hour or two at this museum. Note: It's not terribly easy to find. Get directions in advance.

Our wonderful hosts at the Pension Bellas Artes told my wife and I that we needed to pay a visit to…read morethe Chillida museum. This was emphasized even more by the the fact that apparently they were closing at the end of 2010. Personally I am not a huge fan of most forms of modern art, but I found the Chillida museum pretty engaging. You can wander around the many pieces of art that are placed throughout the grounds. It might be a fun place to let the kids expend some energy while you wander around and interpret the pieces. Hopefully someone will step in and manage the finances of this uniquely Basque artist's legacy, far better then the previous caretakers.