First morning in Bilbao, first images...

Church of San Nicolás

First morning in Bilbao. Took a short early morning walk, looking for photographic opportunities and looking for breakfast. My, and no doubt most photographers', favourite hours are in the early morning and early evening, when light is softer.

The neighbourhood felt really quiet. Is this Bilbao? Only later did I find out that it was a bank holiday, which explained the calm, almost silent, streets. The problem was I wanted to see the river in the morning, but breakfast (again, I found out later) would be better had in the opposite direction. Where I was, a lot of cafés were closed and those open didn't appeal to me much.

I ended up in Granier, a bakery franchise to be found in many parts of Spain. Unexciting, turn the page. The one back home in Las Palmas is far better. It's a sad trend where bakeries are devoid of the aroma of fresh bread, the sort which pulls you to the origin of it. These days, everything is frozen and bakeries do not need bakers anymore.

After a quick breakfast, I strolled back to the apartment to prepare for the first tour...

Santander train station

Arenal bridge (Basque: Areatzako zubia)

River Nervion in the morning

A street lamp in Bilbao