Yesterday, ETA officially announced the end of its campaign of violence. While viewed with skepticism by the main political parties of Spain, this is a historic day for the Basque Country. And one that was inevitable. While the PP and PSOE make typical remarks about how we’ve seen this before and how can we trust […]
Ondo Ibili! is a semi-regular feature of Buber’s Basque Page to highlight travels and experiences in the Basque Country. The goal is to help those who haven’t had the chance to go to the Basque Country to connect to it and to highlight some off-the-beaten-path experiences that others might want to try during their next […]
Maite Lacruz sent me this link to a time-lapse video she and Patxi Itulain made of the lighthouses in the Basque Country (Itsasargiak, or sea-lights, in Euskara). This is a wonderful tour of the Basque Country from a different perspective. I’d never even noticed the lighthouses there; another thing to check out on some future […]
The bombing of Gernika has become an integral part of the greater Basque experience, quite possibly of Basque identity itself. Every Basque, whether born in Bilbao or Boise, knows what happened in Gernika. Reproductions of Picasso’s Guernica can be found in even the simplest of basseriak in the rural Basque Country, in places where modern […]
First, Bilbao wins the “Nobel prize” of cities. Then Donostia is chosen as European Cultural Capital. Not to be outdone or left behind, Vitoria-Gasteiz, capital of the province of Araba and of the Basque Autonomous Community, has been chosen as the European Green Capital 2012. Vitoria-Gasteiz was chosen because of its environmental policies, including its […]
A very interesting development from the Basque Country. With all of the concerns related to climate change and dependence on foreign oil, people are looking for new ways to extract energy from where ever possible. The Basque Country is known for its waves — just ask any surfing aficionado. And while not as famous as […]
(I couldn’t resist the pun.) Some big news for the Basque Country’s biggest cities. First, Donostia has been chosen, along with Wroclaw, Poland, as one of the two European Capitals of Culture in 2016. EiTB has the news here. This means that for the year of 2016, Donostia will host events that highlight Europe’s cultural […]
In his blog, Ricardo Ibarra posted an infographic taken from El Correo that shows the breakdown of the last elections by region within the Basque Autonomous Community, an image shamelessly stolen from him and reposted here (click on the image for a bigger version). It is interesting to see how things break down. Gipuzkoa went […]
The Basque Country has changed dramatically since the time my father left for a new life in the United States. Not only politically, with the death of Franco, the activity of ETA, and the rise of the Basque Autonomous Community, but socially, as well, as the Basque people have taken their culture into the 21st […]
If you’ve never been to the Basque Country and are considering your first visit, you might have no idea of where to start your tour. Or if you’ve been several times to see family, you might want to break out of the routine of visiting the family baserria and find something new. Rick Steves, “America’s […]
