We’ve had this on the to-do list for a while now, a new entry in our “Viewpoints” series prepared by our very own English-language editor, and indefatigable traveler, John Bopp. It’s three days during Holy Week 2021, when we weren’t able to leave the Autonomous Community, where he takes us through different points in two Basque territories, Gizpuzkoa and Alava. (At least we had more freedom of movement in 2021; in 2020, we couldn’t leave the territory!)
So, before this strange and complicated 2021 draws to a close, we bring it to you.
Un viaje en Semana Santa
John R. Bopp
As covid restrictions started being lifted here in the Basque Country, we finally had the liberty to move throughout the whole of the Basque Country, but not outside it, so we made the most of it, grabbed our masks, and took some excellent daytrips to discover this land of ours (by car, not motorcycle, no less!)
Plaza in Tolosa, Gipuzkoa
Our first stop was Tolosa, in southeastern Gipuzkoa. Being close to the Navarrese border, on the road from Castile to France, the location has always been strategic, and the town, or villa, was granted a charter, or fuero, way back in 1256. We spent the morning exploring its plazas, markets, and churches, and were fascinated by a Jorge Oteiza statue in Fuero Square.
Jorge Oteiza sculpture in Tolosa, Gipuzkoa
We left Tolosa and headed northwest, stopping at the Ibai-Eder Reservoir, which has a splendid walk all around its circumference and is a great way to get some exercise.
Ibai-Eder Reservoir, Gipuzkoa
Nearby is Azpeitia, which we crossed through as we wanted to get to our destination before it closed. And that would be Loyola, home of St. Ignatius (1491-1556), one of the founders (along with St. Francis Xavier, whose castle we visited in October) of the Society of Jesus.
View of the Sanctuary of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Azpeitia
His sanctuary, in a village next to the center of Azpeitia, is like a mini Vatican. You approach through a park, and come up to an impressive Baroque building with a dome and lantern that reach 210 ft or 65 m into the sky. You climb the steps and enter into the basilica itself, an impressive Baroque masterpiece with side chapels and statues abounding.
Especially notable is how well-lit the dome is, thanks to its eight windows and lantern. Much like St. Paul’s in London, it’s actually a double dome, with a separation between the outer dome, visible from outside, and the inner one, which we couldn’t stop taking pictures of. One last stroll through Azpeitia was a great way to finish off our first day.
Dome of the Sanctuary of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Azpeitia
Memorial plaque of when Lafayette left Pasaia bound for the US
The second one took us to the far edge of Gipuzkoa, almost entering into the Northern Basque Country! We spent the morning strolling through Pasaia, just east of San Sebastian. At the mouth of the Oiartzun River, the town is actually four towns that have changed hands repeatedly over the centuries. Such an important port as this, thanks to fishing, whaling, and shipbuilding, would of course be in dispute. Indeed, from here many sailed to the New World, including even the Marquis of Lafayette, who would help the American colonies in the Revolutionary War.
We soaked up all that history and the charming fishing village houses and cafés. We waved as a very large boat went by as we strolled along to the end of the estuary. Unfortunately, due to covid restrictions, the Albaola Maritime School that’s rebuilding the San Juan was closed, so we’re going to have to go back
View of Pasai Donibane
We continued as we wanted to hike along the ridge between Pasaia and Hondarribia, where stand a series of watchtowers built in 1874 during the Second Carlist War. Unfortunately, that’s when the fog decided to roll in, so I got some beautiful pictures of unending gray. We’ll go back!
Watchtower on Mt. Jaizkibel
We ended up in Hondarribia itself, right on the Bidasoa separating the Northern and Southern Basque Countries. This town existed before 1200, and has a beautiful beach and charming old quarter. Strolling along the beach, I discovered it was longer than it looks!
View of the beach of Hondarribia and the Bay of TxingudiStreet in Hondarribia, with its typical fishermen’s houses
The third day took us to Pagoeta Natural Park. An absolutely stunning walk through the trees took us to Agorregi Mill, where you can still see the old mill wheels and mechanisms. It was truly fascinating, and we spent a good while going all the way around it.
Agorregi Mill
Agorregi Mill, detail of the mill
The walk back (uphill the whole way!) was perhaps less enjoyable, so needing some refreshment, we made for Aia. Again, my attempts to get some spectacular shots of the sea were thwarted by the fog, but we recharged our batteries and set off for our final destination.
The church in Orio is monumental. Dating from the 17th century, it sits on a plaza raised far above other parts of the city, and is visible from quite a distance. Here, Oteiza’s Pietà has a starring position. The town itself is also quite charming, but again we’ll have to return on a sunny day!
Orio Church
For our final day, we decided to exchange Gipuzkoa for Alava, especially the Rioja Alavesa region, where the sun is much more likely to shine! We started off in Aramaio, a small town whose architecture proves it’s the bridge between the Basque Coast and the Castilian plain. Dating from the 14th century, its historical important is readily evident.
Aramaiao Church, Álava
Street in Aramaio, Álava
We then headed south, and stopped at the viewpoint, near Legutio, of Urrunaga Reservoir. I tried to get pictures of this last May, but since then I couldn’t leave the province, I was left with a picture of the sign at the border!
Urrunaga Reservoir, Álava
The afternoon was spent in Bastida. This ancient medieval town is chock full of history, being over 800 years old. It was even part of Al-Andalus before the Reconquista, and changed hands repeatedly between Castile and Navarre until finally ending up in Alava in the 16th century. The breathtaking Baroque church dates from the 16th and 17th centuries: the interior is jaw-dropping.
Street in Labastida, Álava
After recovering from that, we climbed up to see Holy Christ church, which offers stunning views of the town and countryside. It was the perfect way to cap off a fabulous week of sightseeing in the Basque Country.
This website uses cookies so that we can give you the best possible user experience. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions like recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team understand which website areas you find most interesting and useful.
Necessary cookies activate basic functions like navigation and access to secure website areas. Without these cookies, the website cannot work properly.
Cookie
Type
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
persistent
1 year
This cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. It is used to store user consent for the cookies in the “Necessary” category.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-non-necessary
persistent
1 year
This cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. It is used to store user consent for the cookies in the “Non-Necessary” category.
PHPSESSID
session
End of browser session
This cookie is native to PHP and allows the website to save serialized status data. On this website, it is used to establish user sessions by passing status data via a temporary, or session, cookie. This cookie has no established expiration because it disappears when the website is closed.
viewed_cookie_policy
permanent
1 year
This cookie is placed by the GDPR Cookies Consent plug-in and is used to store whether the user has consented to the use of cookies or not. It stores no personal data.
__cfduid
permanent
1 month
Established by the CloudFlare service to identify trusted web traffic.
Marketing cookies are used to track website visitors. The aim is to display adverts that are relevant and appealing to the individual user.
Cookie
Type
Duration
Description
1P_JAR
persistent
1 month
This cookie is used to transfer data to Google.
DSID
persistent
1 hour
Established by Google, if you have started a session with your Google account on another device, this is used to link your activity between devices and coordinate ads that appear on them and to convert them.
fr
persistent
3 months
This cookie is necessary for the Facebook “Like” button to work.
IDE
persistent
2 years
Used by Google DoubleClick, it stores information about the way the user uses the website and any other ads before visiting the website. It is used to present the user with ads that are relevant according to the user’s profile.
mc
persistent
1 year
QuantCast platform cookie for granular audience measurements. It stores no personal data, only user identifiers and their browsing.
NID
persistent
6 months
The NID cookie contains a unique ID that Google uses to remember your preferences and other information, such as your preferred language, the number of search results you want shown per page (for example, 10 or 20), and whether you want the Google Safe Search filter activated.
uid
persistent
1 year
This cookie is used to anonymously measure the number and behavior of the visitors to the website. The data include the number of visits, the average duration of visit to the website, visited websites, etc., in order to understand the user’s preferences better with regards to targeted ads.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
permanent
5 months
This cookie is placed by YouTube. It is used to trace the information of the YouTube videos that are embedded in a website.
_fbp
permanent
1 day
Used by Facebook to offer a line of advertising products, such as real-time offers from third-party advertisers.
Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies.
Cookie
Type
Duration
Description
cref
persistent
1 year
Contains data on user navigation interaction and time spent on the website and its sub-pages. This data is used to optimize the relevance of advertisements and for statistical purposes.
d
persistent
3 months
Collects anonymous data on the user's visits to the website, such as the number of visits, average time spent on the website and what pages have been loaded with the purpose of generating reports for optimizing the website content.
i
persistent
1 year
Registers anonymized user data, such as IP address, geographical location, visited websites, and what ads the user has clicked, with the purpose of optimizing ad display based on the user's movement on websites that use the same ad network.
KADUSERCOOKIE
persistent
3 months
Registers a unique ID that identifies the user's device during return visits across websites that use the same ad network. The ID is used to allow targeted ads.
KTPCACOOKIE
persistent
1 day
Registers a unique ID that identifies the user's device during return visits across websites that use the same ad network. The ID is used to allow targeted ads.
na_id
persistent
13 months
Used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor's behavior and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com.
na_rn
persistent
13 months
Used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor’s behavior and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com.
na_sc_e
persistent
1 month
Used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor’s behavior and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com.
na_sr
persistent
1 month
Used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor’s behavior and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com.
na_srp
persistent
1 day
Used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor’s behaviour and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com.
na_tc
persistent
13 months
Used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor's behavior and facilitate the social sharing function provided by Addthis.com.
ouid
persistent
13 months
Sets an ID-string for the specific visitor. This is used to recognize the visitor upon re-entry. This allows the website to register the visitor's behavior and facilitate the social media sharing function provided by Addthis.com.