Today we continue our dive into Spanish Basque country. San Sebastian/Donostia is perhaps the most obvious and popular destination within this region, with Bilbao coming in at a close 2nd. But everybody I know who’s gained any degree of familiarity with this region has told me that, if you really want to get a feel for this place, you have to get out of the main cities. That is what we’ll attempt to do today, with Hondarribia. There’s still a LOT more left to do and see in Basque Country, but hopefully this will give us an added layer of depth. So, let’s jump in. Vamos!
An Intro to Hondarribia
Hondarribia is a beautiful little town that sits on the Spanish side of the Bidasoa river, which forms the border between France and Spain in the Bay of Biscay. The estuary that forms here, where the Bidasoa river meets the Atlantic, is called the Bay of Txingudi. So, when you look across the water from Hondarribia, you are looking into France. At the end of this article—spoiler!—we’re going to cross the river, but before we do that, we’ll explore this last outpost of Spanish Basque Country. Here’s the view of Hondarribia from the water, and a map for some context:
With a population of barely 17,000, Hondarribia is a small place, but it is just one of many small, interconnected communities sprinkled throughout this region. Remember the people we met in San Sebastian in the previous article that were from the town of Irun? That’s just the next town south from this place! And, while they were historically a bit more separated, today there is a connective belt of urban sprawl that connects them. In fact, even towns that might appear to be a lot less connected than Hondarribia and Irun are actually served by excellent public transit bus routes. That was how we planned to get from San Sebastian to Hondarribia… but while I was ordering a coffee, the bus doors closed and whisked my friends away toward the next town without me. 🥲
Instead of waiting for the next bus, I hailed a taxi and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly and easily I got where I needed to go. Driving through the green, rolling hills in the crisp early morning light, it all felt extremely idyllic. The roads are smooth, the signage is clear, and there are enviable houses with inviting gardens whizzing by at every turn. Turning off of the highway, the residential roads are quiet and clean, giving travelers immediate feelings of safety and peace.
On this trip, one my friends—who comes regularly to Basque Country—remarked that “it’s like Basque Country is trying to out-do every other region of Spain”. I thought back on this soundbite often as I put this article together. This place has really over-achieved! And Hondarribia is no exception… especially when it comes to sports. Even this seemingly obscure little town is home to a quite a few famous Spanish athletes, including (to name just a few) the famous golfer José María Olazábal, NASCAR driver Ander Vilariño Facal, and of course, the famous football coach Unai Emery, who is currently at Aston Villa, but has also coached Arsenal, PSG, Sevilla, and more. It’s hard to imagine that there were Basque terrorists operating here not so long ago. But, viewed through a historical lens, it makes a bit more sense. The Basques did not survive as a cultural and linguistic isolate for millenia by accident. This is a proud people that has always been willing to fight for their place in this world. Here’s an excerpt from the previous article that will be good context for what is to come:
What makes the Basques so intriguing? Let’s start with language. I’m sure you’ve heard of some of the major language families, such as Romance Languages (e.g. Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese), Germanic Languages (e.g. English, German, Dutch, Swedish), and Slavic Languages (e.g. Russian, Polish, Czech, Serbian). These are groups of related languages that all evolved from a common ancestral language. In fact, languages all over the world can mostly be grouped into “families”… but Basque (Euskara) doesn’t fit into any of them. It is a language isolate, meaning that is bears no relationship at all to any other surviving language. Its origins are utterly mysterious, and the culture it belongs to… oh boy.
If you know anything about European history (and indeed, history in general), you know that is it almost impossible to find an ethnic bloodline that was never intermingled with another. Empires rise and fall, conquering the surrounding lands and mixing their DNA with the locals. For example, much of the original inhabitants of modern-day England are descended from peoples who were historically French or Scandinavian and had previously invaded England. Well… the Basques have SOMEHOW managed to withstand it all. Their ancestry is a straight line that can be drawn back even farther than history itself. Indeed, archeological evidence suggests that they have been living in this same spot in Northern Spain/Southwestern France at least since the Paleolithic era of pre-historic times.
During this trip, I was traveling with a couple of American friends who had adopted Spanish Basque Country as a sort of a spiritual home-away-from-home (shoutout to Jason & Jimmy!) Thanks to Jason’s flawless command of Castilian Spanish, he had actually managed to build relationships over here—and Hondarribia was no exception; we actually ran into somebody he knew on the street! Enter Jorge. As we caught up, Jorge explained to us that he was currently involved in community efforts to preserve the Euskara language. There was a street market set up in central Hondarribia where he was operating a booth that contained a sign-up sheet for Euskara speakers to connect with each other (pictured in the gallery below). They were also handing out pins that people could wear to let others know to speak to them in Euskara if possible. Speaking to him about these preservation efforts was interesting. Here’s a quick geographical look at the Basque-speaking areas we’re going to talk about in the coming paragraphs:
In the previous article, when asked, the people that we’d met from Irun told me that, when they are out and about at shops, etc., they would begin speaking in Euskara by default. Hearing that Euskara had been the primary language spoken in their schools since they were small children gave the impression that the language was on quite solid footing, but here in Hondarribia, the situation was portrayed to me as being a bit more precarious. Now, instead of military threats to the Basque language and identity, the challenge is one of cultural dilution. In order to participate in the globalized society, people need to operate in Spanish or English. The drivers of the Basque language, therefore, seem to be in a state of reinvention.
A 2021 survey found that there were just under 700,000 Euskara speakers in the Basque Autonomous Region (BAC), with another ~76,000 in the neighboring Spanish province of Navarre. We’ll set aside Navarre for now and just focus on BAC. This survey found that about ~41.3% of people in BAC speak Euskara, but that only ~19.9% of the population speaks Basque in their everyday life as much or more than Spanish. In fact, these statistics have actually trended upward in the past 50 years, and as we listened to Jorge explain (in English) what he was doing at this booth in the market, it became clear that this did not happen by accident.
Here are a few pictures from central Hondarribia. It’s a small place, so the “city center” is just a few streets, but those streets are packed with cafes, restaurants, and speciality grocery stores slinging some of the best looking food you’ll see anywhere.
After my smooth morning ride into Hondarribia, I arrived in the city center quite impressed with its polished, sparkling modernity and cleanliness. Its sleek, well-kept public face is Singapore-esque, but don’t let that fool you. The origins of this sparkling little gem of a town are ancient. It was first granted a town charter in 1203. However, people had been living here since before recorded human history; this place is OLD, even for Europe. When it was originally “founded”, it was done so in order to fortify and defend the mouth of the Bidasoa River, which—even then—marked the border between nations. At the time, however, Hondarribia was part of the Kingdom of Castile (Modern Spain didn’t exist yet), which bordered the Kingdom of Navarre (modern France didn’t exist yet either). In fact, Hondarribia pre-dates the founding of “modern” Spain by almost 300 years.
Due to its strategic military significance, the town was encircled by thick stone walls, complete with medieval bastions and gates. It would withstand many battles and sieges through the centuries, and is today one of the best preserved walled towns in Basque Country from this era. The area within these walls is today simply known as “Old Town” and its narrow cobblestone streets feature traditional, colorful Basque houses with wooden balconies. There were certainly echoes of San Sebastian’s Parte Vieja, but—before it was burned in the Napoleonic Wars—it would have looked a lot more like the pictures you’ll see in the gallery below.
To my delight, we passed a wedding party in our walk through Hondarribia’s Old Town. I love seeing modern life playing in these old towns. Sometimes I require reassurance that these places are not merely relics, but remain venues for daily local life as well, and—perhaps unsurprisingly—Basque Country excelled in this area.
That’s it for Spanish Basque Country… but we’re not done with the Basques quite yet. You see, Basque territory extends well into France as well. Naturally, I had to see both sides of this coin. And, luckily, there is a cheap ferry that goes back and forth across the Bay of Txingudi. It’s a very short ride, but it was from this ferry that the pictures at the top of this article were taken. Here are a couple of BTS snaps from this crossing.
So I’ll be back with more very soon! But before I go, let me grace your ears with the track of the day…
I always make an effort to find local music to feature in these articles… but the catch is that I actually have to like it. I’m not ashamed to admit that I will listen to this blog’s playlist pretty regularly. That makes things challenging, because there is not a lot of choose from in every destination. However, in Basque Country, this was not an issue. Musically speaking, this culture is PROLIFIC. Instead, the challenge was discerning between music that is truly “Basque” (which, to me, means sung in the Basque language) vs. music from Basque artists that is clearly looking for commercial appeal across the rest of Spain (i.e. sung in Spanish). Does this differentiation even matter? Hard to say! Maybe this is the fundamental cultural tension at play in a place like Basque Country. How do they participate in “Spain”, while also protecting and preserving the Basque identity? Music is a great vehicle to explore issues like this. If life ever lands me as the host of a travel show, music would be my angle. Food has been done a million times over. Anyway, as I sifted through layers of contemporary Basque artists and compared them against traditional Basque folk music, I came across this little ditty. I barely even know what’s going on here, but I REALLY LIKE IT! It gives me alt-Celtic vibes. Apparently it’s being played on a Basque diatonic accordion called the trikitixa… and the artist, who hails from Bilbao, actually won a Latin Grammy in the folk category a few years back. So… you’re welcome for unearthing this Basque folk gem!
