The Basque Country is quite literally some of the most beautiful land I have ever seen. While San Sebestián is breathtaking, even just traveling 10 minutes to a town outside of the city opens up an amazing countryside stretching out through the hills and mountains.
Emily Vaartstra | Rawr
The entrance of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, a church that sits at the top of a 200-plus stair case leading out to a small patch of mountain sitting in the ocean.
While the political tension is complicated between the Basque Country and Spain itself, the culture and language of the Basque Country is rich with history and it is incredibly unique in comparison to the rest of the world.
The Basque language, called Euskera, is one of the three languages in the world that has no known language of origin. That sets it apart from other cultures and languages as their history is incredibly ancient, and the Basque population is significantly small.
It is incredible that the Basque language is still so prominent in Spain, because following the Spanish Civil War, a dictator called Francisco Franco prohibited the speaking or learning of the Basque language in Spain. However, there were underground groups who still spoke and taught Euskera despite the persecution of the culture by Franco. Today about 1/3 of the Basque Country speak Euskera, and the number is growing.
A couple weekends ago, I had the immense pleasure of going on an exclusive trip with a native Basque student, Juncal. Juncal took us to a small town called Bermeo, which is about an hour west from San Sebastián in the Basque Country.
The weather was perfect as we hiked down to the entrance of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, a church that sits at the top of a 200-plus stair case leading out to a small patch of mountain sitting in the ocean. The story behind the name of the church comes from the thought that John the Baptist had set foot in the church. There is even a foot print that is claimed to belong to John the Baptist.
I recently had my very first tutoring job in a little Basque town just outside of San Sebastián. The interesting dynamic is that both of the moms speak Castellano, general Spanish, and Euskera, but the boys only speak Euskera, of which I know all of four words.
I also had my very first day of teaching classes in English to groups of 12, 13, and 14-year-olds. I gave a presentation about myself that included explaining the University of Idaho to them. I finished off the presentation telling them what a mascot was and teaching them about Joe Vandal who they thought was cool. My second presentation was about Idaho: what you can do there, places to visit, and the Basque community in Boise.
Teaching those classes was by far the greatest experience I have ever had in my entire life, let alone the best experience I have had in Spain.
Last weekend I finally walked part of the Camino de Santiago from San Sebastián to a small Basque town called Orio. It was about a 3 hour hike and it was the most beautiful hike I have ever been on. Personally, I think everyone has to do at least a sliver of the Camino at some point in their life. I won’t bore you with a history lesson, but go look it up. It is pretty amazing.
Living in the Basque Country is almost like getting to be in two countries for the price of one.
Emily Vaartstra can be reached at [email protected]