Travels with V
Basque, Spain
Travels with V
Basque, Spain
Like Phoenix from the ashes
Basque part 1, Bilbao
Our first image is so typical. A small tavern on some back street, a waitress pointing her mobile camera while the guests chat with some passers-by. It’s our first night in Bilbao and we’ve just stumbled into the first joint we could find. It’s not in the city center but in Deusto on the west side of the river Nervión, or Nerbioi as it’s called in the Basque language.
Why go to the Basque countries? Maybe because it’s actually a wild and rugged and slightly mystic place in our well organized Europe. With a language not even remotely like anywhere else, no one knows its origins. Add to that the gloriously beautful sceneries with high and steep mountains, green forests and winding roads. Home to a mountain people who have preserved their individuality through hundreds of years of war and surrender.
Bilbao is the biggest town in the Basque countries and the most industrialized. It has Spain’s second biggest port, already in the 17th century it became the major shipping port for iron and wool. In 1997 it saw the opening of a Guggenheim art museum, in a spectacular building created by the architect Frank Gehry. We will visit that one for sure.
Both of us have separately experienced Basque cities forty years ago, grey, worn and victims of violence and fear. The independence movement ETA was transformed into a terror group, murdering and blasting. Police were seen everywhere. But after ETA stopped their violent attacks in 2011, the area has changed 180 degrees and is now a center for a new and flourishing gastronomy.And the tourists are coming back.
With the Guggenheim museum being an exception, Bilbao itself is not particularly touristy. But in and around the city there are ten restaurants with Michelin stars. We went to “Islares”, endorsed by the gastro guide. Right by the Guggenheim and with a tasting meny centered around the sea, with lots of fish and shellfish.
It seems that every Basque town has an old town area with narrow streets. Bilbao has one but located a bit to the east of the city center. With no-cars streets lined with taverns and little odd shops. At its entrance lies the beautiful Arriaga theater, a 19th century fluffy cake.
Getting around is easy in Bilbao, by metro, buses or trams. All you need is a travelcard. That you have to visit Guggenheim goes without saying. Outside you’re met by a gigantic flower-covered dog before you slide in between the museum’s wavering walls.
When we are there the main exhibitions are by japanese cult artist Yoshitomo Nara and his anime-type angry, sad or lonely kids. And Martha Jungwirth, whose paintings to us mostly look unfinished.
The halls are huge and airy so they even fit a very large piece like the ”La materia del tiempo”, a group of rusty red circular thick metal labyrinths. Quite overwhelning and obviously popular to move through.
To experience more of the surrounding countryside we visit three different places around Bilbao. The first one nearly kills us. It’s called Gaztelugatxe and is a peninsula in the bay of Biscaye, with a famous and often photographed chapel on top. To get there we first have to descend down long and steep pathways down to the sea and then ascend even steeper stairs up to the chapel. And afterwards do the whole thing again backwards. It’s 35 degrees celcius. We pant like fishes in air when we’re back.
The second place, not very far from Gaztelugatxe is the sea port of Bermeo. It’s a town deeply rooted in fishing and seafaring. In older times also in whaling. It was actually the Basque capital until 1602. A nice town with charming buildings and narrow alleys. There’s no sandy beach around so a pier in the harbour is transformed to a “playa”.
Lastly we roll into Gernica (Guernica” in Spanish), the city whose fate was immortalized by Picasso in his epic painting of the horrors of war. On April 26 in 1937 Gernica was attacked and laid in ruins and rubble by the fascist allies of the dictator general Franco. First came Hitler’s Luftwaffe and dropped bombs in wave after wave, followed by Mussolini’s air force that shot at the fleeing inhabitants.
How many that lost their lives that day is under discussion but it was probably a couple of thousand. Three fourths of all houses were destroyed. Franco later explained that Gernica was destroyed by its inhabitants and by communists.
Gernica holds a special place in the herts of all Basques, and the reason is a tree. In a garden next to the city’s cathedral grows an oak that is a living symbol of the people’s longing for self determination. The tree was once an acorn on an even older oak, whose dead trunk now has its own memorial in the garden.
Top 5 in Basque:
- Getting there: If you’re not based in central Europe unfortunately flying is the only option. Bilbao has an international airport. To reach other cities bus is the best means of transport.
- Stay: Lots of hotels in the towns we visited, but many were also fully booked for late July – early August. Hotels are generally pricey but staying outside the city center is often much cheaper.
- Best beach: La Concha in San Sebastian, can be very crowded. But most cities by the sea have nice playas.
- Best food: The best pintxos (Basque tapas) we found in San Sebastian, but in Logroño and in the bistro of the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao we also found some really yummie. Gourmet: Mirador de Ulía in San Sebastian was top notch.
- Don’t miss: Guggenheim in Bilbao obviously, even though we did expect a little more than what we got. But by all means, get out of the cities and experience the beatiful countryside and the small towns and villages, like Getaria. For hiking, go to Izki national park.
