Bilbao and the Basque Country

Bilbao and the Basque Country Travel Guide

Time in Bilbao may soon need to be identified as BG or AG (Before Guggenheim, After Guggenheim). Never has a single monument of art and architecture so radically changed a city -- or, for that matter, a nation, and in this case two: Spain and the semiautonomous region of Spain known as the Basque Country or by its official name, Euskadi. Architect Frank Gehry's stunning Museo Guggenheim, Norman Foster's sleek subway system, and the glass Santiago Calatrava footbridge, which allows pedestrians to all but walk on water, have all helped foment a cultural revolution in Bilbao, the Basque Country's commercial capital.

Just southwest of the southern border of France and bathed by the Bay of Biscay, the Basque Country is made up of three main provinces: Vizcaya (which includes Bilbao); Guipuzcoa (which includes San Sebastián); and Alava, where the Basque capital, Vitoria, lies. Navarre, east of Euskadi and part Basque in its upper reaches, and La Rioja, south of Euskadi and the premier Spanish wine country, are closely linked neighbors.

With its steady drizzle (poetically called the sirimiri), damp verdant landscape, and rugged coastline, the Basque Country is a distinct national and cultural entity within the Spanish state, and it has a linguistically mysterious, non-Indo-European language of its own: Euskera. In contrast to the traditionally individualistic and passionate Latin peoples who have been their neighbors, the Basques have often been seen as more collective-minded and practical. They are also known to love competition -- it has been said that Basques will bet on anything that has numbers on it and moves.

The entire region is packed with pleasures and treasures. Bilbao and the Basque Country, along with part-Basque Navarre and La Rioja, offer a great deal of urban variety. From the industrial muscle and newfound artistic power of Bilbao to the grace and lightness of San Sebastián, from the classical sweep of Pamplona to Vitoria's weathered stone or Logroño's streets looking out on the fruited plains of the Ebro valley, the five main cities have distinct characters to savor. In addition, the geographical gamut run from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pyrenees or the Sierra de la Demanda peaks means that surfing, sailing, skiing, and mountain hiking are all within a 100-mile radius.

The much-reported Basque independence movement is made up of a small but radical sector of the political spectrum. The underground organization known as ETA, or Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Liberty), has killed more than 700 people in more than 25 years of terrorist activity. Conflict waxes and wanes, but the problem is extremely unlikely to affect travelers.