Breakfast with hot milky chocolate, tomato jam and toast at the Albergue and then it's down hill to Bilbao town with the Canadian woman. I check into the Akelarre Hostel which is very nice with a warm welcome and a HOT shower. They do a service wash and dry for €5, so my muddy clothes get a treat as well.

It's raining when I set out and the Guggenheim is a 20 minute walk, so it's good day for visiting a gallery.

I thoroughly enjoy revisiting the Richard Serra sculptures. I spent a lot of time wandering in and out of them and had a sense of time slowing down as I did so; I didn't know the the installation is called 'The Matter of Time'. They are very subtle despite their scale; goodness knows how they were made and installed.

The main exhibition was a collection of 'cell/lair' works by Louise Bougeoise which were a real contrast to the massively formal Serras.

I had my first awful meal experience near the Guggenheim; very bad fried fish and soggy salad at an exorbitant price. I should have consulted Trip Advisor.

I then went in search of the AZ centre which had been recommended to me, which has a Philip Stark interior and a glass bottomed swimming pool so you can see people swimming above you.... I'm not convinced why you would want to do that!

From there I walk to the Old Town with its narrow balconied streets, stone churches and little shops. It's a lovely day by now, so I stroll around.

I return to the hostel for a cup of tea and settle into the room. There are only two of us in the room, a NZ peregrina and me, so it should be a quieter night, sin roncadores.

I eat supper standing at a local bar: warm tortilla, goats' cheese with raspberry jam and a glass of the local Charcoli white-sparkling wine. Very nice. Then home snd bed by 10pm. Off again tomorrow on the flat apparently!