País Vasco

Time to wrap up my trip to the Basque country (País Vasco in Spanish and Euskadi in Basque). This is an area in northern Spain whose people are unique, along with their ancient language. This area has been largely untouched by the various conquering people (Moors, Romans, Visigoths, etc) for a variety of reasons (not seen as important, hard to get to, etc) thus leaving their language mostly uninfluenced for thousands of years. No other language in Europe is like it in terms of words or sentence structure. Truly unique. However, everyone there speaks Spanish and few really speak Basque (Euskera). I'm assuming this is due to the intense oppression this area experienced when dictator Franco was in power and outlawed their language and culture (how do you outlaw a culture?). This is also the place where the city Guernica is.

Okay, now that you have some history, it's picture time. I plan on showing you some pictures, saying a little bit about them, and maybe throwing in some other thoughts and points.

Okay, the Internet is being really slow tonight, so I'll be sure to only include the major points.
Yes, the Internet is being slow, but I thought it was important to include 2 pictures of the plane and the bus that bused us out to the plane. Um... Yeah...

Here's a picture of me in front of the main beach in San Sebastián.

I forgot to mention, the night I was going to catch the train/bus to Bilbao, these guys came up to me and asked me where my house was. I kept telling them I was trying to catch a train and I was staying in a hostel. They wanted me to give them my keys to the hostel. Um... no?


Here's another shot of the city.

The people are so nice in this area. They also work out a lot. I see runners everywhere, something you never, ever see in Barcelona. I also so a ton of gyms with fancy tennis courts, pools, and more. Plus, the day I left, I guess that would be today, there was some kind of running/bicycle event. Some type of race going on all day and a man over the loudspeakers strung throughout the city talked almost the whole time.
Here's some graffiti. Gora ETA basically means to support ETA. ETA is a group in the Basque country which stands for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or Basque Homeland and Freedom. It was formed in 1959 and is classified as a terrorist group by the UN and Spanish government. They are known for their terrorists acts and seem to be a little more radical than the movement in Barcelona and Catalonia. I guess they usually warn ahead of time where they are going to attack. I suppose that's a good thing. Buses are a popular target. In fact, according to one Spaniard I talked to, if a bus is running late, a funny/popular thing to say is something like, "The bus must be running late because it was burned by ETA." All this said, apparently there is some kind of ceasefire going on, but the Spanish government and ETA don't seem to get along too well.

And here's the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao. It was a pretty sweet museum.

Again, sorry if this post is choppy or something. If you want to see more photos or hear about other things, let me know. If not, I'll just charge ahead with whatever happens tomorrow in the World of Chad in Barcelona.

A lady's shirt in a store window with a very unlady like word.

Pretty ******* Vacant