What to see in the Basque Country: From Game of Thrones to the famous flysch

What to see in the Basque Country

Formed by the provinces of Álava, Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya, the Basque Country community encompasses a series of cultural and natural attractions that confirm the potential of this unique land overlooking the Cantabrian Sea. Do you want to discover what to see in the Basque Country?

Guggenheim Museum

Guggenheim in Bilbao

Bilbao is a jovial, modern city full of contrasts that revolves around its greatest icon: a Guggenheim Museum opened in 1997 and become synonymous with design and avant-garde in the Basque city. Wrapped in a curvy and metallic shape design work of architect Frank Owen Gehry, the Guggenheim houses a wide collection of works by Susana Solano, Richard Serra and other masters of contemporary art that contrasts with those other "openair" works such as the famous flower poppy designed by Jeff Knoons, or the Louise Bourgeois giant spider. Without a doubt, the main attraction to see in the Basque Country.

Concha Bay

La Concha Bay in the Basque Country

Many assure that it is one of the most beautiful bays not only from Spain, but also from Europe, and we have to agree with them. Because there is nothing like walking through the labyrinthine and exquisite streets of San Sebastián to finish before that spectacle that is the Bahía de la Concha. A panorama that houses the famous La Concha beach and is dotted by the island of Santa Clara and crossed by the Urgull and Igueldo mountains, ideal viewpoints from which to take that essential photograph on your way through the Basque Country.

Hermitage of San Juan de Gaztelugache

Saint John of Gaztelugache

If you are a fan of Game of Thrones, surely you recognize a certain islet connected to the ground by a bridge and on the top of which lies a hermitage. Yes, this is the very scene of Rock Dragon from the HBO series, better known as Gaztelugache, a place 30 minutes from Bilbao, more specifically in the town of guaranteeor, where to take a photo in front of 241 steps leading to the hermitage dedicated to San Juan It is a delight for the senses and the best viewpoint from which to be conquered by the Cantabrian breezes. One of the most epic places to see in the Basque Country.

Urdaibai Reserve

Urdaibai in the Basque Country

The Basque Country is synonymous with nature and, specifically, with a set of national enclaves among which we highlight the Urdaibai Reserve, considered Biosphere Reserve in 1986. Overlooking the estuary of the Oka River, this reserve brings together a set of forests, islets, beaches and mountains where strawberry trees make love with muddy areas, wetlands and species such as salamanders, eagles or shrews distributed in eight different environments. The perfect geographical melting pot of Spain. If you also like surfing, nothing better than going to the Laidatxu Beach, where you will find one of the inlets with the most epic waves in the world.

Guernica

Replica of the painting in Guernica

Not far from Irdaibai, awaits Guernica, a city famous for the painting in which Pablo Picasso interpreted the bombing of this place on April 26, 1937. Political and cultural epicenter of the Basque Country, Guernica (also known as Gernika-Lumo) is a journey through the history of the community thanks to icons such as the Guernica Tree, in the Casa de Juntas, where the autonomy of Vizcaya was agreed in the Middle Ages, in addition to events such as the festival lol, which houses the fastest sport in the world thanks to a ball that can exceed 300 km / hour. If you have time to spare, drop by the nearby Oma Forest, where the trees lie painted by the artist Agustín Ibarrola.

Hondarribia

What to see in the Basque Country

Also known in Spanish as Fuenterrabia, this town in the province of Guipúzcoa located 20 kilometers from San Sebastián is possibly one of the most picturesque in the Basque Country. A walk through an old town surrounded by an exquisite medieval wall that hides wooden balconies of all colors and that connects with the neighborhood of La Marina, a maritime place where you will find some of the best bars in town, and in the Basque Country in general. For example, the footprint of Basque chefs such as Martín Berasategui, the usual jury of the famous Euskadi Saboréala Pintxos Championship held here.

Geopark of the Basque Coast

Basque Country Geopark

If you approach Zumaia, you will discover that some of the best flysch routes. But what are they about? The flysch are structures born from the rocky layers formed by the sediment cluster at the bottom of the sea more than 50 million years ago, giving rise to different layers that, similar to the shape of a many-layered cake that thickens the extension of the Basque Coast Geopark, between the towns of Zumaia and Deba, resulting in one of the best examples of geotourism of our country.

Historic center of Vitoria-Gasteiz

Mural in Vitoria Gasteiz

Considered as one of the most spectacular medieval cities in Spain, Vitoria-Gasteiz is born from two towns: Gasteiz, an old village, and Nueva Vitoria, a city founded in the XNUMXth century by King Sancho VI "El Sabio" with a fortress that reinforced the structure of the previous one. The result is a historical labyrinth where colored houses surround places like the Machete Square or, especially, the Cathedral of Santa María, the cornerstone of a city that bets on other aspects such as its Murals Route, ideal for marveling at local art in the form of street art.

Irati Forest

Irati Forest in the Basque Country

Do you like Tim Burton movies? Well, especially when autumn arrives, the Irati Forest becomes an unforgettable canvas of red and ocher colors. Considered as one of the largest beech forests on the European continent, is distributed between the north of Navarra and the Atlantic Prineos and is divided into the Lizardoia Integral Reserve, Mendilatz Nature Reserve and Tristuibartea Nature Reserve. A set of trees, rivers and fauna that evokes the bellowing, or the cry of the zeal of the deer; in addition to the presence of other species such as roe deer, wild boar or the gray dormouse.

Which of these places to see in the Basque Country do you prefer? How many have you visited?


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