Basque Country

Spain’s unique ethnic region seduces with tantalizing sights and flavors

Geographically, Basque country straddles the Pyrenees’ western foothills, so the Basque people live in both France and Spain—but mostly in the latter. They are Europe’s oldest traceable ethnic group, and their language, Euskera, predates any of the commonly spoken Romance languages. Conqueror after conqueror, Roman to Visigoth to Moor, may have driven them into the Pyrenees, where they stayed and carved out a life for themselves filled with tradition and customs practiced to this day.

Those who travel to this region will be in any of three Spanish provinces occupying the eastern part of the Cantabrian Mountains. Visitors will enjoy seeing the main city of Bilbao, a popular destination now that its Guggenheim Museum has opened; the town of Guernica, which inspired Picasso’s Guernica, arguably the single most famous painting of the 20th century (though nowadays, politics rarely intrude on vacationers in this beautiful corner of Spain); and the many restaurants presenting authentic and refined Basque cuisine (one called El Amparo serves dishes that some critics hail as Spain’s finest provincial food).

© 2009, Wiley Publishing, Inc.