IberiaNature

The Basque Country

Around the Net

• Nature parks in the Basque Country – a guide to the different protected areas of Euskadi

Books about the Basque Country I have read

The Basque Country: A Cultural History by Paddy Woodworth: Full of fascinating facts. An excellent balanced account, looking at aspects of the culture of the Basque Country on both sides of the Pyrenees,

Land of ancient and modern culture: Basque is a land of ancient and modern culture: Basque poets still compose spontaneous stanzas in public contests, but the region has also produced novelists like Pio Baroja and Bernardo Atxaga, sculptors like Chillida, painters like Zuluoaga, and cineastes like Julio Medem. Strange sports and fiestas: Rock-lifting, grass-scything, goose-decapitation – ancient agricultural practices generate a host of contests still common at fiestas, which also feature dancers costumed as horses, witches, and ancient deities. The guggenheim and gastronomy: It also boasts of the guggenheim and gastronomy: Bilbao’s flagship museum may be the best building of the last century; its restaurant is one of thousands which produces some of the best meals in the world. Amazon

Basque Country: Of Spain and France

This little guide book has some lovely coastal and mountain nature walks and drives. Fold-out touring map, large-scale (1:50,000) topo walking maps.

The Basque History of the World by Mark Kurlansky. Interesting in places but wildly opinionated.

This is probably the best book available to those who want to learn Basque through the English language. It provides a solid foundation to build on and covers the main grammatical points. It does however fail in one main point – the use of the Guipuzkoan dialect. This dialect although probably the most widely spoken differs from the Batua (Unified Basque) being taught in Schools and institutions in the Basque Country. Amazon

The Iberianature guide to Spain