The Basque Country

San Sebastian, Friday 13th and Saturday 14th May

On the way to San Sebastian we called at the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art at Bilbao. It was raining again.

The museum building itself is one of the standout art works, along with giant metal flowers, a giant spider, and an enormous dog shaped work (known as "The Puppy") which is planted with flowers to make a colourful display. (The Puppy was being rehabbed while we were there so the pic below is borrowed).

The Guggenheim Art Museum building, Bilbao

Once you got inside there was any amount of modern art, some quite accessible but some needing a degree or two in art appreciation. Andy Warhol's work "Shadows" took the prize for size, being made up of 102 large canvases comprising repeating images in different colours. Many museums/galleries can't display the whole work due to space constraints - in the Guggenheim you can see it all in one massive room.

The trams were very modern too, and went right past the museum.

We arrived in San Sebastian just as the rain finally stopped (for a while). San Sebastian is in a beautiful location with three sandy beaches. It is a very popular resort town, having first been "put on the map" by the Spanish royalty in the 19th century who chose to spend their summers there.

It is also a renowned for its gourmet food scene, especially tapas (or pintxos as they are called in this part of the country). Of course we  indulged - a pintxos bar followed by dinner in a fancy jatetxta (Basque for restaurant) in the old part of town.

San Sebastian.

The old town of San Sebastian.

Gourmet pintxos - sliced octopus marinated in olive oil with peppers and onions.

We visited the the Basque museum in San Sebastian and took a trip over the border into France to Biarritz and St Jean de Luz. Both places consider themselves Basque first, rather than Spanish or French. The Basque identity remains very strong although the days of ETA and Basque separatist terrorism are long past.

The Basque language is very interesting. No one knows how the langauage originated as it has no obvious links to other nearby languages, or any other languages for that matter. It is the primary language spoken and taught in the Basque Counrty. All public signs are in Basque, with usually Spanish, French and/or English as well. We know enough Basque to get by, barely - I can recognise a restaurant by the sign, say hello (kaixo) and thank you (eskerrik asko). Anything more and out comes google translate.