No sightings of Pulp so far at our hotel. Actually we THINK we may have seen the drummer, but not quite sure.

Hotel room breakfast and then a search for a good coffee. We found this tiny hole in the wall place called Siembra Coffee. Great coffee – made with super extra care. We got them to takeaway (as there wasn’t really any room to have them there – I mean, we could’ve just stood out the front which is what others were doing – but we decided to go to a nearby square with a fountain and hang with the locals.)

We decided to go and check out the Guggenheim Museum today. We weren’t sure if we were going to go or not because sometimes museums can get a bit much. But, it’s the Guggenheim AND we got a 20% discount with our BBK wristbands- so why not?

Anyway, long story short – the Guggenheim was really great and we saw artworks by lots of our favourites including Gilbert & George, Yayoi Kusama and more. We spent a long time in there. Would recommend A++.

Some photos for your enjoyment follow.

Guggenheim completed, we now needed some lunch. We went to Cafe Originale which we had walked past earlier and it looked cute. We tried really hard not to eat bread for lunch, but we failed. Good coffee and food.

We also had a piece of Basque cheesecake because, well, we are in Basque, and what better time to eat a cheesecake than when you are in its region of origin.

After lunch went back to the hotel for a bit of a rest and to get ready to head out to BBK Festival tonight.

We caught the subway two stops to San Mames station then we had to try to find the shuttle bus to take us up the mountain to the festival venue. Subway was no problem, finding the shuttle bus however… let’s just say, they are not big on signage around here. We walked around in the hot sun for a while and asked some people until we found the shuttle buses conveniently located behind a huge building.

We didn’t have to line up long for the bus though which was good and soon we were on our way.

Once we got to the venue mountain we still had to walk almost 1km up hill to the entrance. Some people are camping here for the 3 day festival and they were lugging all their stuff up the hill – did not look like fun as it was also quite hot.

After about 700m we found ourselves at the end of a non moving line that went on forever. The festival had already opened so we weren’t sure what the hold up was, but all we could do was wait and hope. Maybe 15-20 minutes later the line started moving and we ended up getting in quite quickly.

Got me some random free merchandise

And got me a BBK tee. I really wanted a Pulp tee but poor exchange rate ment it would’ve been like $70. Sad.

Had a wander around the festival grounds to get our bearings. Decided to get some dinner early before everything gets really busy and everyone gets really drunk. We got some burgers and sat down at a bench. We were soon joined by some new friends from Italy & Venezuela. We had a nice chat about music and festivals and the like, before we headed off again.

Had a beer and Steve had a Johnnie Walker with Coke. Even though Johnnie Walker seemed to be a major sponsor of the festival – when I ordered it, the lady behind the bar had no idea what I was talking about. After figuring it out eventually, she then proceeded to pour at LEAST 4 shots worth of Johnnie Walker in to the cup. Like I was watching her pour it and she just kept pouring and pouring and pouring….

The first band we wanted to see was Japanese Breakfast and they were just about to start so we went and secured a spot. We managed to get a spot right on the rail.

Japanese Breakfast were great but omg the smoke machine was overdone!

Next up on this stage was Pulp – the band we were here to see. There was still almost a 2 hour wait, but we decided to stick it out at the rail. Who knows if or when we will ever see Pulp again and getting to watch them from the rail would be the best.

So we settled in for the long haul and watched everyone around us get progressively drunk.

Several people tried to muscle in on our spot – but don’t try that shit with me – if I have to do some ninja moves on you I will.

Although, that said, just before Pulp started, this English couple turned up and befriended the people next to us with their tales of how much they love Pulp because they flew ALL THE WAY FROM THE UK to be here – ahhh that’s great, so you flew like 2 hours to be here? Try 18 hours people!!! Plus driving time!!

Anyway, then it was time for Pulp and it was so amazing. The crowd was super excited and everyone sang and danced and pogo-ed and it all got a bit hectic at some points but it was so great. Though the kick drum level was killer – sooooo loud – even with earplugs.

And then Pulp was over and it was really late (well for us anyway) and we were tired from all the jumping up and down.

We decided it was time to go home and after walking all the way over to where we thought the exit was, we were told we had to walk all the way back to the other side of the festival to exit. Then back down the hill for 1km and then on to the bus. Then the subway.

We actually got back to the hotel quite quickly – efficient public transport is such a bonus in a city. Although it was about 2am by now and Steve explained his tiredness by saying he was “Disneyland tired”

Great show Pulp!