Today was such an exhausting day for everyone, it should have come with a warning label. We started off the day with a bus tour up along the coast of Gernika, passing several small towns and learning about their history, especially the towns of Mundaka and Bermeo.
Mundaka is famous small town in the Basque region because they used to host a big surfing competition. The waves there are special because they’re “backwards”. Wave generally go from right to left, but the waves in and around Mundaka go from left to right. They also have an interesting story involving the other village Bermeo. Both towns wanted ownership over an island, and couldn’t decide who owned it, so they decided to host a competition. Each town would send a rower out, and whoever reached the island first would claim it. It looked like Mundaka would win the competition, but the rower for Bermeo through a tile onto the island, which gave them ownership. Now, once a year they hold a ceremony where someone rows partly to the island and then throws a tile over.
We also learned about the history of the Basque people, like that they are a matriarchal society. Farming land is very limited in this region because of all of the hills and mountains, so to ensure that the farm stays within the family, they pass it down to the eldest daughter because they know that any children that they have would be theirs. We also learned that the Basque people were the second ones to reach America after the Vikings. They first visited Ireland, and then Iceland, before landing in Newfoundland, while hunting whales. There used to be a law in Iceland that if any Basque fisherman steps foot on thier island, that they were to be killed. In 2015, they had a ceremony to retire the law. Even though Mundaka, Bermeo, and more are fishing villages, and nowadays you would think them quite poor, in the past these villages were very wealthy. Whale hunting was a very profitable sport because of all the different uses of the whale, including using whale oil for light. Because of this, you can see many mansions built around the towns.
After finishing the bus tour of these towns, we had reached our final destination, San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. San Juan is an islet famous for having Game of Thrones film a scene there, but they also have an importance in Basque history. Located on the islet is a church, with a long, winding staircase leading up to it, after a long decline. The views from the church were amazing, but after all of the stairs we had to climb (240 of them), I was exhausting. Even thinking of the walk we had to do back was terrifying, thinking back to the decline we did at the very beginning of the walk. All in all, the hike took around 2 hours, and we walked 4.3 miles. I do think that the walk was worth it even if it was exhausting.
After the hike, we stopped in Bermeo for lunch, and they had so many amazing pintxo’s there. We even got desert as a program, and I think I found a new favorite ice cream flavor, Kinder. After lunch we went to the painted forest of Oma. The trees there were painted by Basque artist Agustin Ibarrola, and when you stand in a specific spot, the painted trees come together to reveal a singular artwork. Walking to get to the forest was a bit of a hike, with the entire trail being 2.1 miles, but I think that I enjoyed the views when we got there.
Even though today was tiring with all of the walking we did, I really enjoyed it. It was nice to be able to see and appreciate all of the nature in the Basque countryside, taking a bit of a break from the academics of our study abroad.