Vino Con Vino: Exploring Euskal Herria with Wonderful Friends

Before getting in to the details and start of "The Big Trip," for the first time, we are featuring a guest blogger, our dear friend, and my college roommate Jill, who spent a week with us. Here’s her take on our little corner of the world.

Hello, this is Jill Spadia. I recently had scheduled vacation time but hadn’t made any specific plans, and my husband was unable to leave work, so I had to decide what to do. Rather than sit home and do chores or errands, I decided to do something I’ve wanted to do for years—visit Jeff and Shana. They have given me the honor of sharing my thoughts with you.

While I tell people I visited Spain, in truth, I visited the Pais Vasco / Pays Basque. I knew San Sebastián was in the “Basque region” but knew little about the Basque people or culture. My entire trip was a crash course in all things Basque. At every turn, I was able to see and learn about the Basque people, an ethnic group whose homeland includes areas in southern France and northern Spain. Everything from their food and language, to traditional dress. Even their sports, like rowing races of fishing boats with 13 rowers and 1 skipper, strength contests that feature wood chopping and carrying heavy stones, and their favorite sport, pelota, which is like jai alai. The Basques have a very vibrant culture and are a very proud people.

My first stop was Bilbao where I met Shana. From that first evening, Basque culture was on display everywhere we went. Immediately, I was exposed to the Basque language. While Spanish is the official national language; the Basque language is alive and well. You hear it spoken frequently, see it on signs, and it is the language most students are educated in at school. The Basque language was forbidden during Franco’s rule. Since his death, the language has made a resurgence.

The Sunday I arrived was the last day of Bilbao’s Semana Grande--a weeklong festival of parades, bull fighting, music, food, drinking, and general civic celebration. Shana and I made our way to a central square in the Casco Viejo (old town) which was packed with friends and families celebrating. Some wore traditional dress, there were men in berets, and many others wore the town’s bandana (this year blue in color) around their necks to add to the civic pride. Everyone, us included, enjoyed pintxos (tapas) and the local txakoli wine. Musicians played traditional folk tunes and people were spontaneously singing along and dancing. The music consisted of 3 types of instruments—a drum, a flute type instrument, and an instrument that was something between a clarinet and a recorder. The combination sounded somewhat like fife and drum music of the American Revolution crossed with an elementary school band composed of 75% flutes. On the central stage, groups danced, including this group of men performing around a Maypole.

After Jeff joined us, we rented a car and explored the villages heading east from Bilbao. Each fishing village is cuter than the next. Some are so small you miss the whole town if you blink. Others are a bit larger with functioning harbors and all have beautiful beaches. Basque flags and the local town’s rowing team’s flag decorated apartment buildings in each. Our first stop was San Juan de Gaztelugatxe (say that 3 times fast!). Does this staircase look at all familiar to you? For GOT fans, imagine Daenerys Targaryen walking up to Dragonstone castle. Pathway real... Dragonstone castle, not so much.

We continued to Guernica—today a beautiful, peaceful town with a tragic history. The Basques have had democratic assemblies as governing bodies for centuries. The Guernica assembly dates to the 1500’s. Under an oak tree, the assembly would make governing decisions and agreements between the Basques and Spanish Kings, allowing for relative Basque independence. The current Assembly Hall, which lies adjacent to the oak tree, contains a fantastic stained glass ceiling that depicts the Assembly and the tree as well as local fishermen, farmers, and other Basque cultural symbols. The more you look, the more you see of the local history.

As for the tragic history....in1937, the Nazis wanted to try out a new bombing tactic which would inflict maximum civilian death and infrastructure destruction. Franco was looking for a way to destroy the Basques during the Spanish Civil war and suggested to Hitler that he use Guernica as the town on which to try the new type of warfare. On April 26, 1937, Guernica was bombed destroying most of the town and killing approximately one-third of the civilian population. Amazingly the Assembly and oak tree survived. The city has been completely rebuilt and is now a beautiful, peaceful, thriving town. There is still a heaviness in the town though, an echo of what happened there that you can feel.

Next on the list was exploring the French Basque area—Biarritz and Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Both are less than an hour’s drive from San Sebastián. While clearly still Basque with Basque architecture and the Basque beret everywhere, the towns do feel much more “French” somehow. Biarritz is the larger of the towns—a sophisticated surf town. I could spend quite a few lazy days in Biarritz, lounging on the beach and eating. The shoreline is stunning.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz is a simpler fishing village. Its claim to fame is that it was the wedding site of French King Louis XIV and Marie-Therese of Spain in 1660. The site was chosen as it was half way for both parties. The church in which they were married, St-Jean-Baptiste Church, is much less grand than I expected. It is quite simple and very dark. Not exactly the grand cathedrals of France you think would befit the marriage of a king. I loved that the current church pays homage to the fishermen and fishing industry with ship models hanging from the ceiling.

My next big Basque cultural event was the San Sebastián August 31 celebration—a yearly commemoration of the day the city nearly burned down! Back in 1813, during the Napoleonic war, San Sebastián was occupied by French troops. The Spanish asked the English and Portuguese to come help take back the city. After a long battle, the Spanish, English and Portuguese allies were able to breach the city walls and drive the French out. Apparently the Spanish then failed to pay their allies. So, the English and Portuguese pillaged the city, resulting in the death of many citizens and starting a fire that nearly destroyed the city. Only one street remained unscathed--today known as 31 August Street. Every year there is a re-enactment of the battle. And when I say re-enactment, they go all out!! In a central plaza, a “wall” is built with hay bales. The “French soldiers” are on one side of the wall. A parade marches to the plaza including people dressed as Basque civilians and battalions of Spanish, English, and Portuguese soldiers. When the two groups meet at the plaza, a gun/cannon battle takes place where I think they actually shoot a historically correct number of blank gun rounds and cannons! After the wall is breached, everyone cheers! The battle continues into the old town. Then to commemorate the fire, after the sun has set, all the lights in the old town are turned off. People light candles in their windows. A group of citizens holding torches, playing music, singing traditional songs, makes a slow march down August 31 Street. The entire town seemed to come out for the event.

While not exactly Basque, we did venture south/inland to Pamplona. While the area around San Sebastián is mountainous, green, and lush, Pamplona lies in a much drier and hotter plateau, with “golden” grasses, like the California “golden hills”. We entered the walled city near the bull pen, where the bulls are held prior to the famous run with the bulls. Bull fights in Pamplona occur only during the San Fermin festival, for 8 days a year in July. We walked from the bull pen along the path the bulls take, past the statue of San Fermin (to whom those running with the bulls pray), down the city streets to the bull ring. I had expected large streets, wide open spaces to allow for the bulls and the insane humans to run. But no. Pamplona is a “typical” ancient walled city with narrow, cobblestone streets. You must be absolutely out of your mind to think running with the bulls in those narrow streets is a good idea!

After exploring the bull ring, cathedral, and city, we had the most amazing lunch at Hamabi, a restaurant on the upper floors of the Pamplona central market. Lunch in Spain is an affair that starts mid-afternoon. I think we sat down to our 5-course lunch at 2:30 and left close to 5 pm! I can’t do justice to either the amount of food served or the fabulous flavors. But I do leave you with a picture of the desserts. Notice the Basque cheesecake on the right. Apparently, it was not cheesy enough as they added extra grated cheese on top! It was beyond fabulous.

There are many beautiful towns along the coast that are an easy train ride from San Sebastián. One day we went to Zarautz, a beautiful beach town that many locals come to for vacation, and then walked to the next town over, Getaria, which is the birthplace of Juan Sebastian Elkano. Who is Elkano you ask? A Basque explorer who sailed with Magellan. The Basques point out that he was the first explorer to circumnavigate the Earth in one continuous journey. He completed his journey September 6, 1522, so 2022 is the 500th anniversary and the Gipuzkoa province celebrated that day as a holiday. We had a fabulous fish lunch overlooking the Getaria harbor, toasting Elkano and his accomplishments--and laughing at our inability to take selfies!

Our last excursion was taking the train to Zumaia to see the Flysch. Flysch is a type of sedimentary rock. Eons ago, the Spanish peninsula was an island. Sedimentary rock was laid down on the seabed between the Spanish land mass and Europe. When what is now Spain moved and “crashed” into the European continent, the seabed was pushed together and the sedimentary rock folded upwards. Those layers of sedimentary rock were pushed out of the ocean to create mountains along the shore and those sediment layers bent like ribbon candy. The layers are now in an almost vertical configuration, best seen along the coast. These are stunning in Zumaia. From some angles, the rock looks like pages of a book or mille-feuille in French pastry. At other angles it looks like scales on a dragon (hence the use of the beach and

rock formations in GOT). The layers of rock are a timeline of history oriented along the coast from east to west. Scientists have dated the different layers and even found a distinct black band that corresponds to the time after the asteroid hit the earth, resulting in the extinction of the dinosaurs. The coastline is stunning. We enjoyed it both from land and on a boat tour. Spectacular is the only word I can use.

And of course, I got to explore San Sebastián with my hosts! I now see why Jeff and Shana chose San Sebastián as their new home. It is a fantastic city. The coast includes three beautiful beaches, complete with a seaside promenade. It really looks made for movies.

The downtown is full of Belle Époque buildings, beautiful parks, multiple squares/plazas with flowers and fountains. And sculptures everywhere. I really liked The Comb of the Wind by Basque sculptor Eduardo Chilida. It features 3 parts set on the rocks at the western end of La Concha Bay.

People really use the outdoor spaces in their city, sitting outside at cafes, reading on benches, sitting on the beach. It is a very livable and walkable city. Feels large enough to be called a city, but small enough to be easy to get around and friendly. In the old town, we tried numerous pintxos bars—one specializing in anchovies. We tried three: one with blueberry preserves, one with mixed vegetables, and one with anchovy and foie gras. The anchovy and blueberry was surprisingly delicious! One evening we had Basque cheesecake and Pedro Ximenez sherry for dinner! Can’t beat that. I also tried a Spanish vermouth—a sweet red vermouth served with an orange slice or peel.

In preparation for the rowing competition that was happening in San Sebastián the upcoming weekend, there were food stalls one day—one making a Basque specialty, talo. It is a coarse, handmade corn tortilla cooked to order, that is filled with your choice of cheese, Spanish chorizo sausage, and bacon. OMG... so simple and so good!