A Magical View of the Basque Country

In 2001 or so, the Basque television company ETB aired a series of videos about the Basque Country entitled Lau Haizeetara in Euskara and La Mirada Magica in Spanish. These videos, led by first Iñaki Pangua and later Edu Llorente, explored the land of the Basque Country from helicopter. From what I can tell (my Spanish is not so great), Iñaki and two others died in a helicopter crash during filming and that is when Edu took over.

In any case, these videos explore the Basque Country from a bird’s eye view. The camera follows the coast, zooms through the mountains, and hovers over cities as the narrator delves into the history and beauty of the Basque Country. Narration is in both Spanish and Euskara.

I first discovered these randomly maybe 10-15 years ago. As I mentioned, my Spanish isn’t good enough to really follow the narration in depth, so I haven’t gone through all of them. But simply as a visual feast, these videos are great. That said, I’ve always thought it would be awesome to have these dubbed into English. Given that there are no actors, one isn’t dubbing dialog, but narration, and it seems that wouldn’t be so hard. And these videos would be an excellent introduction to the wonders and majesty of the Basque Country. I can’t imagine I’m alone in wanting an English version of these.

In the end, there were 10 chapters, each containing 3 episodes, that explored different parts of the Basque Country. Here are links to them, direct from EiTB’s website. Enjoy!

1×01 El Hierro Y El Mar: Costa occidental de Bizkaia / The Iron and the Sea: The Western Coast of Bizkaia

1×02 Una Proa Al Mar: Costa norte de Bizkaia / A Bow to the Sea: The Northern Coast of Bizkaia

1×03 Costa oriental de Bizkaia / The Eastern Coast of Bizkaia

2×01 Costa occidental de Gipuzkoa / The Western Coast of Gipuzkoa

2×02 Costa Oriental Gipuzkoa / The Eastern Coast of Gipuzkoa

2×03 Costa Labortana / The Coast of Lapurdi

3×01 Entre El Cielo y La Tierra / Between the Sky and the Earth

3×02 La Ciudad Del Mar, San Sebastián / The City of the Sea, San Sebastián

3×03 La Ciudad De Los Anillos, Vitoria-Gasteiz / The City of the Two Rings, Vitoria-Gasteiz

4×01 Entre El Agua Y El Vino, Ribera Del Ebro / Between the Water and the Wine, the Bank of the Ebro

4×02 La Vieja Ciudad, Pamplona / The Old City, Pamplona

4×03 Campos Y Fortalezas, Navarra Sur / Fields and Fortresses, Southern Nafarroa

5×01 La Montaña Habitada, Pirineo Atlántico / The Inhabited Mountains, the Atlantic Pyrenees

5×02 La Roca Y El Agua, Alto Pirineo / The Rock and the Water, the High Pyrenees

5×03 A Los Pies Del Orhi, Pirineo Central / At the Feet of Orhi, the Central Pyrenees

6×01 Vientos De Invierno / Winds of Winter

6×02 Los Valles Profundos, El Deba y El Urola / The Deep Valleys, Deba and Urola

6×03 Zuberoa, El Paraíso Escondido / Zuberoa, the Hidden Paradise

7×01 Bizkaia, Valles Orientales / The Eastern Valleys of Bizkaia

7×02 Bizkaia, Valles Occidentales / The Western Valleys of Bizkaia

7×03 El Corazón De Bizkaia / The Heart of Bizkaia

8×01 Ría Adentro, El Gran Bilbao / Following the River, the Great Bilbao

8×02 Las Tierras Frías, Álava: Valles Occidentales / The Cold Lands, the Western Valleys of Araba

8×03 De La Llanada A La Montaña: Álava, Valles Orientales / From the Plains to the Mountains: The Eastern Valleys of Araba

9×01 La Navarra verde / Nafarroa the Green

9×02 La Navarra Del Norte / Nafarroa of the North

9×03 La Isla Interior, El Goierri y Sus Cimas / The Interior Island, The Goierri and its Peaks

10×01 Bilbao, la ciudad / Bilbao, the City

10×02 Baiona y Lapurdi / Baiona and Lapurdi

10×03 Viaje a la tierra de los vascos / Trip to the Lands of the Basques

One thought on “A Magical View of the Basque Country”

What do you think? Leave a Reply!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.