. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

You really have to see this building to believe it - no photograph has ever done justice to this symphony of shapes, so alive that they seem ready to take wing. American architect Frank Gehry used blocks of limestone and undulating sheets of titanium to turn the notion of modern architecture on its ear.

So thoroughly did he succeed that two new terms were born from it: "The Bilbao Effect" - the ability of a city to turn its fortunes around by constructing a single world-class building - and "architourism," a whole segment of the travel industry revolving around landmarks of contemporary architecture.

Inside the 24,000-square-meter galleries of the museum are temporary exhibitions and rotating displays of its own collections of modern art. Highlights include works by Anselm Kiefer, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Andy Warhol.

Besides the Guggenheim Museum, Bilboa has other interesting cultural attractions: the Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao (Museum of Fine Arts), the Casco Viejo (Old Town), and the gourmet dining scene. Bilboa is renowned for its Michelin-starred gastronomic restaurants, including Nerua in the Guggenheim Museum; Ola Martín Berasategui, which serves contemporary Spanish cuisine based on fresh market ingredients; and Atelier Etxanobe, which offers creative haute cuisine.