Euskadi

These are our courtesey flags at the moment the top one is the Spanish maritime ensign ( correct one, no crown)

The one below is the Basque flag, most Basques, that means pretty much everyone we meet, would prefer the flags to be reversed. That is, the Basque flag to be flown over the Spanish flag but I am afraid my flag etiquette wont allow me to do that. I am still a little surprised at the similarity of the Basque flag to our own Union flag.

The Basque launguage is very prominent, being on all roadsigns, ticket machines etc. We are just now for example living in Getxo if you are Basque and Las Arenas if you feel yourself to be more Spanish.

The Basque launguage itself is apparently unique in having no roots in any other language. This makes it hugely difficult if not impossible to guess the meaning of words.

It pre-dates the Roman languages and its alphabet has its own pronunciation. Possibly it would help to illustrate the point with an example of the Basque language.

Gizon-emakume guztiak aske jaiotzen dira, duintasun eta eskubide berberak dituztela; eta ezaguera eta kontzientzia dutenez gero, elkarren artean senide legez jokatu beharra dute.

This translates as;

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

It's the first article in the universal declaration of human rights.........

There is definitely the feeling that we are in Basque Country ( Euskadi ) and not in Spain. The food is excellent,  however the same launguage problems arise when trying to figure out what a particular dish is.

There is also sport, as well as the universal football, (Athletico Bilbao must be unique in the world  as it insists all it's players must be from or have trained in Basque Country) there are also very Basque sports like Pelotta and Trainera races, the video below shows one we watched on the river.

There is also a very real feeling of history and culture of which people are justifiably proud. We were interested to see some traditional dancing during the recent festival of La Mercedes. 

 

In a strange and haunting side note our tour of Celtic and Basque country's has had as a kind of recurrent theme, it's " Dirty old town " we have heard it in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France and now Spain. We took ourselves off to the cafe above the cliffs in Algorta, the Cafe Usategi to find some traditional music, which we did, and it was excellent, particularly with the awesome view out over the harbour as a backdrop. A great evening including "Dirty old town "....................again.