Basqxit

Bilbao is capital of the Basque region. For quite a while, the Basques have been keen on independence from Spain (and I suppose France too), and with some justification. The Basque region, like Catalan is one of the economic wealth generators in Spain so they are good to go it alone, but Madrid wants to hang on to it (all those lovely tax Euros at stake). The Basques have a separate language, a distinct culture of their own, distinctive and rather fetching large beret hats (no I do not have one), their own flag and anchovies to die for. I guess you can draw parallels to Catalan (berets aside), to Scotland’s view on its membership of the UK (haggis, kilts saltire and bagpipes) and indeed to UK’s view of membership of the EU (intransigence, pot holes, failing public services and fish’n’chips). One difference is that Basqxit has a history of betrayal from the US and UK/France, as after WW2, the US, UK and France supported their cause only to realise that in fact, General Franco (Madrid head honcho)  was an anti-commy, so in the atmosphere of The Cold War, the US (followed sheepishly by the Brits and the French) put all their diplomatic muscle behind anti-commy Madrid and in so doing betrayed the Basques and ETA was born. A few assassinations, bombings and tit for tat murders later, ETA has now calmed down, but there remains a distinctly independent Basque feel about Bilbao.

The tapas here is wonderful; cheese and ham croquettes, anchovies any way, sardines, calamaris and Sereno ham and did anybody tell you that the Spanish do great wine.. Rioja and Txakoli (a crisp dry white, pronounced Jack O’Lee, which has quickly become a firm favourite with Nicky) are made in the Basque country (another reason Madrid wants to keep it). So from a food and wine perspective, no issues and noticeably cheaper than La Rochelle and indeed UK (€3.50 for a beer and a glass of wine). Not brutally destroyed by allied bombers during WW2, loads of old bits remain, with streets too narrow for cars (actually more than the famous 7), littered with eateries, tapas bars and a very relaxed joie de vivre. Bizarrely, there is a Guggenheim Museum here also, building designed by Norman Foster (he of HSBC HKG HQ fame) sat by the river; $100M building  with a 20M high floral cat which would be completely out of place in most cities, but somehow works in Bilbao.

As with France there are no potholes on the roads, no homeless people that we saw and no Daily Mail (one for you Donna) to bring the mood of the country down. Everybody just gets on and enjoys life. The squares are full in the evenings with kids playing safely and unsupervised and everybody is smiling. However, I expect one day that Nigel Farage will have a holiday here at the invitation of ETA on some jumped up freebie that he labels a diplomatic mission and get everybody wound up on a path of self destruction. Maybe not. Not wanting to make any kind of political statement here as this is a travel blog after all, but Europe is a great place (we did live in Europe for many years), with many cultures and everywhere has a strong sense of local community where everybody ignores the antics of Brussels and gets on with life; we Brits have a lot to learn …The language issue is complex here; and we felt inadequate with our only words being ‘Cerveza’, ‘Txakoli’ and ‘Gracias’ which is very useful but not enough to discuss the Basque separatist philosophy in detail and their view on Nigel Farage and his separatist strategies and expected outcomes. When en we asked anybody for language guidance, it was duly given, but sometimes in Basque and sometimes in Spanish. Awkward for the beginner.

The weather is better than our arrival suggested it might be. We had a great day on the beach, once we found an unsupervised lovely little bay where dogs ARE allowed and Toby exhausted himself with other dogs and sun, sea and sand (another new experience for him)…still very weary of going out of his depth though!!

Route planning now becoming a focus point as we need to get to get to A Coruña by mid July for our first visitors and on the way do a couple of days hiking in the Picos … so back to planning over a vino tinto and some fresh anchovies and calamaris.

RyanAir flies to Bilbao from a variety of airports. Please check out this Interesting perspective at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVASZ2lCY5Y.