Travel Guides | Bilbao Travel Guide
Bilbao Travel Guide
Basque separateness
Despite the best efforts of the Basque authorities, terrorism still grabs more column inches in the foreign press than any other issue. It is a serious business but it shouldn’t cloud visitors’ judgement. ETA is alive, active, and focused, but harming tourists is in complete opposition to its agenda; nearly all their actions are targeted at the Madrid government in some way, or at Basques who are seen as collaborators. A huge majority of Basques deplore terrorism, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t feel strongly about independence: many do, and they shouldn’t be confused with etarristas.
Emerging from the shadows
For forty years under Franco Basqueness was suppressed; the language was banned and the history was falsified. Since his death in 1975 the reawakening of the region has gathered momentum and become an explosion. It’s still happening, and it’s palpable; as the visitor is discovering the region, the region is rediscovering itself, like a sleeper awakening and stretching limbs.
‘Basque’-ing in reflected glory
If Bilbao has struggled to re-invent itself, San Sebastián appears to have coasted through on the back of its superb natural setting, a magnet for beachbound visitors since the mid-nineteenth century. Considered one of the peninsula’s most beautiful cities, its popularity with backpackers has injected a much-needed dose of youth into the gracefully ageing resort. In contrast to both, Vitoria is a retiring beauty; a quiet achiever combining attractiveness with intelligence: a surprising but suitable capital of the Basque lands. Away from the cities, the things that make a Basque’s heart beat loud with the call of ancestors are all still part of rural life: the green hills, the colourful fishing fleets, the slope-roofed stone farmhouses built to last, the pelota, the berets. Away from the city’s cosmopolitan influences, Basqueness is both evident and accessible.
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