Bilbao: The First Meeting with the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain

Two summers ago, I travelled through southern Europe on a quest to discover microstates, exclaves and other interesting destinations in a part of Europe I’d only visited on leisure holidays before. One of these destinations was the Basque Country, a complex region that differs greatly from the two countries that it’s found within, Spain and France.

The Basque Country (or Euskal Herria in the local language) is a large region in the western Pyrenees Mountains that comprises four provinces in Spain and three in France. It’s the ancient home of the Basque people, said to be one of the oldest peoples in Europe.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by the Basque Country. Mainly because of its language, Euskara, which is the oldest living language in Europe. It’s a language isolate, which means that it is unrelated to any other language in the world. In fact, it’s the last remaining descendant of one of the pre-Indo-European languages in western Europe! Unfortunately, it’s considered one of the most difficult languages in Europe to learn, so I wasn’t about to try, but I was interested in learning more about the Basque people and their unique culture. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).