In the next year or so the Cook Islands and Basque Country is on our list.

Basque Country seems so rich in cultural tradition etc.
Fascinating - they're religious, honorable people - they have their own language

Travel Tips?

Following as both are on our list. I'm supposed to have some Basque heritage and have always wanted to see Bilbao.

In an hour, I'm having lunch with my friend who is also my PCP. He is Basque and still has family members living there. He grew up there then moved to Puerto Rico then to U.S. (Miami , technically not sure if you can still consider that a part of the U.S.). We did the Camino Compostela de Santiago a year and a half ago. He invited me to travel further with him to visit Bilbao and the Basque Country but I stupidly returned to work instead . Anything specific you would want me to ask him?

How far into the region are the most remote areas of basque people and are there places to stay? . We want to get as close to the remote areas as possible where true Basque living takes place. The farming. The rural festivals. Sheep camps etc

We usually spend half a trip near water and other half in mountains. We can navigate Bilbao just struggling with the rural mountain part.
Thank you much!

Roots86 said:

---

How far into the region are the most remote areas of basque people and are there places to stay? . We want to get as close to the remote areas as possible where true Basque living takes place. The farming. The rural festivals. Sheep camps etc

We usually spend half a trip near water and other half in mountains. We can navigate Bilbao just struggling with the rural mountain part.
Thank you much!

---

Just finished taqueria then cuban coffees with him. I will try to put into memory as much as I can. The region is much bigger than I thought it was - I had forgotten that it went into France as well. His family maintains an apartment on the coastline just north of Bilbao in Plentzia. With the steel and ship building industry in such decline, Bilbao has made itself into a significant tourism hub. That should be easy enough to figure out, as you say. He said you don't have to go far out at all to get to pretty remote areas. Once you get outside of any city, you get into very remote and rugged territory quickly. That was the Basque peoples' secret for years, and how they remained semi-autonomous for so long.

Mountains of the Spanish Basque Country

He says that Guernica is worth visiting, to get a feel for the Basque culture and that the surrounding countryside is beautiful. Monday is supposedly the best day, as there is a big farmers' market there. Obviously, a lot of the fame of the city is for being the recipient of Italy and Hitler's bombing in 1937, supported by Franco and immortalized by the Picasso painting. Guernica was typically a meeting place for Basque people who lived in the countryside, and you don't need to travel far outside in order to be among really small towns.

He said that San Sebastin is a really beautiful area right on the water that is worth seeing. Especially if you are Catholic, he said that Azpeitia, where Saint Ignatius of Loyola was born, is worth seeing.

Dining everywhere should be great. Basque Country, apparently, has the highest concentration of Michelin rated restaurants in the world. If you want to "treat yourself", you will have plenty of options to choose from. They aren't located in cities, either, they are spread all around. That being said, you shouldn't have a problem finding great food wherever you go without spending much $$$ - such was the case when we did the Camino Compostela de Santiago. Shooting fish in a barrel, really.

Michelin Rated Restaurants in Spanish Basque Country

He said it shouldn't be hard at all to find B&Bs scattered throughout the area. Hope that helps.

Incredibly helpful! Even more excited now . I couldn't find a location I was excited about until I remembered reading about Cook Islands ( Hemingway) and Basque Country. The culture of a place is important to us so this is going to be a lot of fun to plan. Cannot thank you enough!

Roots86 said:

---

Incredibly helpful! Even more excited now . I couldn't find a location I was excited about until I remembered reading about Cook Islands ( Hemingway) and Basque Country. The culture of a place is important to us so this is going to be a lot of fun to plan. Cannot thank you enough!

---

Glad to help. Since you mentioned reading, a couple of things. He said this is a great book to read. He has it out on loan to his son, who is going to be spending a month in Spain this summer ahead of starting medical school:
Basque History of the World
And since you mentioned Hemingway, I would imagine you've read The Sun Also Rises. My friend did mention that Pamplona is also a part of Basque Country, which I did not recall.

One story my friend told me about being Basque was interesting - he was at one of the practice rounds at The Masters in Augusta when Jose Maria Olazabal was playing several years ago. Knowing that he was Basque, my friend said something to him using their local dialect as JMO was walking along. He was somewhat stunned that someone in Augusta spoke so well, and he came over to have a friendly chat with him in their native tongue.

The last thing I will say is very important: make sure you tell EVERYONE you meet that you are from, or live in, Texas when you are there (my assumption). We had a group of four doing the Camino together (I was the only one not of direct Spanish descent), and they made it a habit to tell people that I was from Texas. Spaniards are absolutely intrigued by Texans, probably from their love of spaghetti westerns, many of which were filmed there. Perhaps I am telling you something you already know, but I certainly wasn't expecting the response I got from natives when that was mentioned. By the end of the trip, it became a bit of a side joke (even though we were obviously on a very important mission to save our souls).

That's pretty neat! Haha yes of course I will-Always get a kick out of that! Texas is loved worldwide!

I'll definitely order the book

I spent half a summer in Basque Country almost 10 years ago in between a job change. Best time of my life. I still think about getting back over there again for an extended period of time.

Spent some time there in San Sebastian (Donostia in Basque) and Pamplona. A very beautiful & unique place. Highly recommend San Se, the beach is amazing. One of my favorite towns in Europe.
Riding the bus into the Basque Country felt like a world apart from the rest of Spain.

The mountains were more like the Smokies in appearance, & the weather was downright cold & damp for a few days (even in July). Not sure when you are going, but make sure you have at least a jacket or be prepared to buy one.

That's great info/ was considering going in September but maybe we should go middle of summer.

I would stay in September. It's still warm enough & the crowds and prices will be lower.

Yes I just realized that - big price difference

These guys had a great series on traveling to the Basque Country. They lived and worked there before becoming award winning travel documentarians. There's more videos than I posted.

There is not much you can go wrong with in the Basque Country! We tend to bounce around city to city and you seem to want to be more in the rural areas so not sure I have a ton of great info for your style of trip. I can say the food and lifestyle is great - pastries, cheese, JAMON!, fresh bread...I think zamburinas are more of a Galician thing but super tasty. We eat 5-7 small meals a day in Spain and walk for the most part in all the cities.

But we were there in 2021 as part of a trip covering all of northern Spain so here it is and if you want more info on anything we did let me know and I'll go into more detail.

> Madrid - one of my favorite cities on our fine planet
> Bilbao - lots to do here; pick a spot for dinner in advance, tons of cafes/street food and hard to tell what is good (we had a good meal at Los Furors https://losfueros.com/)
> San Sebastin - stayed in the old city, Pinxto food tour highly recommended (we used Devour Food Tours)
> Comillas
> Hotel Oso (cool little hotel in the mountains!), stopped at El Capricho de Gaud on the way
> Hike Picos de Europa
> Ribadeo - As Catedrais beach on the way out
> Santiago de Compostela - lots to do around
> Ourense (Parador Santo Estevo is a cool hotel built out of an old monastery
> Madrid


We have also done most of the East + Andorra + Pyrenees and West + Portugal as well if you are venturing in any of those directions.

San Sebastian is incredible. Some good day hiking there too. I actually enjoyed Santander quite a bit, although it is a bigger city. Bilbao and Oviedo were ok, but not the most interesting outside the museum in Bilbao, but ai should have probably spent more time there with Gemini's recs above. I was trying to get to Ribadeo to time the tides so I could maximize the Cathedral Beach experience. Ribadeo might be one of my favorite places on this planet. Cathedral Beach, hike out to Light House, relax in these secret little beach coves, take a sail boat out, smallish town. Also lots of rural, hiking opportunities along the way amongst pine trees and beach cliffs.

Great info! - We will definitely spend some time in the cities but we don't last long - have a strong pull for rural areas . Seeing both always gives a complete picture. When we went to Sardinia, it was tough to leave the Mediterranean to head into the rural mountain areas but it was definitely worth it to see it all. We Still think of that water every day though. And want to go back .