Guggenheim at sunset

I'm in Bilbao in northern Spain, staying in a hotel directly opposite the Guggenheim museum of modern and contemporary art.

I'm actually planning to visit the gallery itself tomorrow. Today was all about a very different landmark in these parts - Guernica.

This is a town that was almost completely destroyed in an act of cold-blooded murder in the Spanish Civil War. Hitler's planes, acting on behalf of Franco, bombed the town, and those civilians who fled into the fields to escape the carnage were gunned down.

More than 1,500 people were killed, although they are still to this day trying to work out exactly how many died and who they all were. The Spanish Army has never accepted responsibility - Franco even tried to blame republicans.

Today, the town is a lovely place to visit - and a very interesting one, too. There is still an air raid shelter you can visit, a very good museum of peace, the Basque assembly rooms, a mural of Picasso's haunting portrayal of the Guernica bombardment and lots of other fascinating places.

Our decision to visit Guernica was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision, but it was well worth making the effort.