On the way in to Ferrol from the ship we passed an area known as Arsenal Militar. A mannequin recalled Spain’s military past. Here’s a photo with some beardy bloke beside it:-

Ferrol seems to be laid out in a grid pattern though the streets are not wide. This was at siesta time when the streets emptied:-

A square in Ferrol:-

The building to the left of the square in the photo above has an odd mixture of architectural styles. See the glass gable-end:-

It was also hard by what may be a memorial to Spain’s colonial wars (if I can trust my reading of the Spanish inscription.) It was in the middle of a busy road so I didn’t linger long:-

You know you’re not in Calvinist Scotland any more when you come across a statue like this in an otherwise perfectly normal street. (Hooded penitents are apparently a big part of Holy Week celebrations in Ferrol.):-

The first thing that strikes you as you look from a ship in dock at Avilés, Asturias, Spain, is the stunning set of Modernist buildings below which collectively make up the Oscar Niemeyer International Cultural Centre or Centro Niemeyer.

Stitch of two photos:-

View looking back from the walkway to the town, Reflections in the Ria de Avilés:-

Closer View showing stylised flower sculpture:-

Dome and Auditorium (curved building):-

Auditorium with “stick” horse:-

Stairway and vents:-

Tower:-

Dome, SS Black Watch in background:-

“Stick” horse detail:-

Stylised flowers, Avilés in background:-

Dome and Tower:-

Flowers and Avilés:-

Low rise building. (It’s multi-purpose. It seemed to house the restaurant/café):-

Auditorium reverse angle:-

Auditorium and tower:-

Edited to add: Actually on closer inspection that “stick” horse may be a “stick” woman.

Home of Athletic Club, commonly known as Athletic Bilbao.

Through coach windows hence blurry:-

Stadium with crane in foreground:-

Ría del Nervión O de Bilbao, Telefonica tower to left, San Mamés Stadium behind it:-

San Mamés Stadium:-

Edited to add:- I meant to say the stadium looks a bit like a spaceship has plonked itself down in the middle of the city.

You can find images of the San Mamés here.

Bilbao sits in a bowl of hills with the Ría del Nervión O de Bilbao running through it.

View towards South Bilbao from Aretxbaleta Bidea:-

Panorama from Aretxbaleta Bidea (stitch of three photos):-

Bilbao is a stunning city but due to its surrounding hills is very compact.

Buildings across Ría del Nervión O de Bilbao from Guggenheim Museum:-

University Buildings from fountains outside Guggenheim Museum:-

Bilboa Opera House:-

Mural Under Salbeko Zubia Bridge over Ría del Nervión O de Bilbao:-

River view:-

The river loops through the city. Another bridge view:-

Telefonica tower throuugh trees:-

Telefonica tower:-

“Umbrella” feature on the exterior:-

Internal structures:-

We were told these iron spirals were built in before the roof and walls were put up. As you walk round them the walls bend in and the space around you is changed:-

Fountains at the edge of the external plaza:-

There are external and internal exhibits at the Guggenheim.

The steel spheres are Tall Tree and The Eye by Anish Kapoor. They are surrounded here by FOG, an installation by Fujiko Nakaya. The mist switches on every so often:-

The giant spider (Maman) protecting her clutch of eggs is by Louise Bourgeois:-

Salbeko Zubia Bridge, Bilbao, FOG and Spider:-

Tulips by Jeff Koons:-

Tulips, Salbeko Zubia Bridge in background:-

Puppy by Jeff Koons. A giant West Highland Terrier covered in flowers. The flowers bloom at different times of the year so the exhibit is always changing. From Museum:-

Puppy, museum in background:-

Puppy and museum:-

The attraction, for me, of the cruise we decided to take was the opportunity to visit the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, whose url I note has a Basque Country (Euskadi) stem.

Designed by Frank Gehry, the museum building is distinctive and idiosyncratic. It has no straight lines in its construction.
This view is from Aretxbaleta Bidea in the hills above the city. The Salbeko Zubia bridge over Ría del Nervión O de Bilbao is in the middleground here in front of the museum:-

This model, in the museum shop, bears a resemblance to a ship:-

The musuem from road and tramway:-

Closer view:-

Moving towards entrance:-

Part of exterior:-

Exterior (other side):-

There was a man in the waterway with a fishing net!:-

This fine Art Deco building in Lorient, Brittany, France was just across a bridge over the inlet of the river, Le Scorff, from the modern Art Deco in the previous post.

Chambre de Commerce de Lorient et du Morbihan:-

Close-up of pediment:-

Doorway:-

Corner view:-

Side view upper detail:-

View from side street:-

The nearer doorway in the photo above has Tribunal de Commerce in the stone at the upper level:-

Our first cruise stop was in Lorient, Brittany, France. Almost the first thing we saw after making our way out of the port was this piece of Modern Art Deco:-

The style continued a bit further along:-

The same group of buildings from across an inlet of the river, Le Scorff, just beyond where the Black Watch was moored:-

The spire of this church kept catching my eye. It was ages before I found the street it was in. Eglise Notre Dame de Victorie St Louis, rebuilt 1953-5 after bomb damage during the war:-

Doorway:-

The Body Shop:-

There is a slight Art Deco look, especially the porthole windows in the annexy bit, to this building at Lorient harbour, which from its appearance may date from the Second World War:-

My original post about this building is here.

Last May we stopped in there for a coffee and a cake.

The internal doors:-

Door and ceiling detail:-

Doors to café:-

Main room one angle:-

Main room second angle:-

Main room third angle:-

Red room. This was where we sat down:-

Red room other angle:-

Stairwell:-

Upper floor (i):-

Upper floor (ii):-

Exterior detail of side doorway:-