This blog post is a catch up from the end of 2017. I have a lot of content and galleries that I just didn’t have the time to publish last year, so I will be threading some of them into the blog this spring before other bike rides and trips take over completely.

I particularly wanted to write about Bilbao as part of my trip to the Basque Country in November because I am feeling a little guilty that my only post about the trip at the time was a full on rant about the soggy weather and I really should be a lot more constructive if my motto is “I do not despair”.

Bilbao is the Basque Country’s largest city with a particularly strong heritage as an industrial city and port. But like so many similar cities around the world it suffered badly in the 1980s as traditional steel and mining industries declined.

It’s global reputation today is as a model of regeneration. I may not have known too much about Bilbao itself before I went there, but the iconic Guggenheim Museum on its former industrial riverside has long been one of my “must see” ambitions.

It was therefore extremely timely that the only significant break in the cold steely rain that dominated our trip was a couple of hours on a Bilbao morning which gave my colleague Jesus and I the chance to have a quick wander.

Time to let the pictures do the talking.

And a real pleasure to be there in the evening too, because although the rain was back the river was also the backdrop to a fine collection of Christmas decorations.

I have a few other photos of Bilbao’s street and squares, but I think the riverside images are enough to justify my statement “bright spot of the week”, by day and by night.The city is well deserving of its reputation as a resurgent urban centre.