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Spain: Basque Lands (País Vasco)

Overview

The Basque Lands (population 2.1 million) cover an area of 7,261km2 (2,800mi2) in the north of Spain bordering the Bay of Biscay. (The Basque Country extends through the region of Navarra and into France.) The region contains the provinces of Alava, Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya. The main towns include Bilbao, San Sebastián (Donostia) and Vitoria (Gasteiz), the region’s capital, renowned for its fine old quarter. San Sebastian is a beautiful city with an attractive old town, a sweeping bay, fine beaches (on the Costa Vasca), wide boulevards, and a cosmopolitan and distinguished air. It’s a fashionable resort popular with people who live in Madrid (Madrileños) and a former favourite of the Spanish aristocracy. In stark contrast to San Sebastian, Bilbao is an ugly industrial city, although it has an interesting old town and is home to the futuristic Guggenheim Art Gallery. Picturesque fishing villages such as Lekeittio and Ondarroa dot the magnificent Basque coast.

The Basque Lands are one of Spain’s wealthiest regions and one of its most heavily industrialised (farming, fishing, commerce and tourism are also important) and most densely populated, particularly the province of Guipuzcoa. It’s also one of Spain’s most beautiful and picturesque regions with Alpine-like country (it has been called ‘Switzerland by the sea’) bordered by the Pyrenees in the east and the Cantabrian mountains in the west. It’s noted for its rugged, dramatic mountain scenery (with wooden chalet-style houses perched precariously on steep slopes), green river valleys, rolling farmland, lively fishing ports, sandy beaches and bustling resorts. Basque cuisine is the finest in Spain and is best sampled in the old quarter of San Sebastian.

The Basques are a fiercely independent people with their own architecture, dress, language, cuisine, customs, sports (e.g. pelota) and folklore. Many of Spain’s 600,000 Basques live in the neighbouring province of Navarre, with a further 80,000 living in France. The Basque (Euskera) language is spoken by around 500,000 inhabitants of the Basque Lands, mostly in rural areas. It’s an ancient tongue of unknown origin that first appeared in Latin texts in the 9th century and bears no relation to any other European language and is thought to be the only remaining representative of a pre-Indo-European language. To foreigners and almost anyone but a native speaker it’s unfathomable, full of Ks, Xs and Zs and cluttered with other consonants.

The region’s climate is varied, experiencing Atlantic and Continental on the coast, and cold and wet in the mountains. The Basque Lands have excellent communications, with some of the best and most dramatic motorways in Spain, and are well served by rail and air links. Bilbao airport is served by flights from Dublin and London Stansted. Bilbao also has a ferry service to Portsmouth in the UK. The region is of little interest to most foreign homebuyers, although it’s a good location for a summer holiday home for those who cannot bear the more extreme heat in some other regions.

© Survival Books Limited 2005

“Buying a Home in Spain 2006” 5th Edition, David Hampshire.

Reproduced with the permission of Survival Books Limited.

Further information on this topic can be found in “Buying a Home in Spain 2006” 5th edition, by David Hampshire.

For extensive, annually updated information about buying a property in Spain, you can purchase this book at www.survivalbooks.net

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