by Anne-Marie | Nov 14, 2019 | Entertainment, Travel |
Today on the YouTube channel, I’m collaborating with an American YouTuber in Bilbao to bring you tips on what you need to know before visiting the Basque Country.
When I was in the Basque Country last month, I met up with Bart Farrell of the Basque YouTube channel Kontatu and invited him onto the Hella Basque channel. He is an American who has been living in the Basque Country for 8 years, so I figured he would be the perfect person to help newcomers to the Basque Country navigate their first visit.
In the video, we talk about what makes the Basque Country unique, places to visit, and phrases in Basque to help you get around.
by Anne-Marie | Nov 5, 2019 | Travel |
Last week I gave you guys a general overview of my trip to the Basque Country. Today I want to tell you about one particular day that was pretty special.
Through social media, I made friends with a private tour guide in the Basque Country, Aitor Delgado of Aitor Delgado Tours. And while I was in the Basque Country, he was kind enough to show me around. Find out where we went and what we did.
by Anne-Marie | Oct 29, 2019 | Travel |
I’m back from the Basque Country!
I got back last week and I’ve been enjoying the time to get caught up on much of the work I’ve been neglecting these last few weeks.
If you missed the announcement, I took a break from blogging and making YouTube videos for a few weeks this month because I went to the Basque Country for the VII World Congress of Basque Communities.
In this post I’ll tell you about the trip, but I’m also going to detail my itinerary since some of you asked for a play-by-play of exactly what I did and where I went.
by Anne-Marie | Oct 30, 2018 | Travel |
This time last year, I finished walking the Camino de Santiago.
I headed out from Saint Jean-Pied-de-Port in the Basque Country, crossed the Pyrenees on Day 1, and kept walking for 36 consecutive days until I reached the Galician coast at Finisterre on the evening of October 31st.
I covered a distance of almost 600 miles in a little over a month. Walking by myself every day with everything I needed in a 20 pound backpack (I could have packed lighter but your girl likes her trail snacks).
For those of you who don’t know what the Camino de Santiago is, a brief introduction: The Camino is a Catholic pilgrimage that dates back to the Middle Ages (which in the last few decades has been co-opted as an ultra toursity walking holiday and fitness challenge).
People walk (or cycle or ride horseback) from all over Europe to the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, where the remains of Saint James, one of Jesus’ Apostles, are said to be held.
The Camino has become a bit of a rite of passage for some of us in the Basque diaspora, especially for those of us whose families come from regions near the pilgrimage routes.
When I was walking the Camino, I even ran into another Basque American woman from San Francisco. Small world!
by Anne-Marie | Jul 24, 2018 | Culture, Travel |
If you’ve been following Hella Basque on Instagram, you’ll know that a few months ago I went on a trip to Australia and New Zealand with my family.
It’s been a years-long dream of my dad’s and my uncle’s to visit these two countries. Aita had heard that Australia was a nice, clean country (he has an obsession with cleanliness on his travels–absolutely LOVED Switzerland for this reason), and he was happy to see all of the sheep he’d heard about that populated New Zealand.
Normally Aita’s not a big world traveler. It’s like pulling teeth to try to even get him to go visit the Basque Country, let alone a country he’s unfamiliar with.
Mom and I, on the other hand, don’t need any convincing to go on a trip, so Mom jumped at the chance to organize it all and I was very glad to go along for the ride.
In the planning stages, my mom had the forethought to organize something she thought Aita and my uncle would really enjoy: a visit to the Basque club in Sydney, Australia, Gure Txoko (‘Our Corner’) Euskal Etxea.
Gure Txoko was founded in 1966 by 26 families and is the oldest Basque club in Australia.
We had heard from Basques here in San Francisco that there was a Basque club in Sydney, and I’d come across their Facebook page before, but we didn’t know any more about it than that.
We were curious to learn about these Basques in Australia. Who are they? What did they go to Australia to do? When did they immigrate? Where in Australia did they settle? How many of them are there?
Gure Txoko is open every Sunday for lunch, but unfortunately our itinerary had us in Sydney in the middle of the week. Without expecting much of a response, my mom sent off a message to their Facebook page asking if there was any way we could visit their Euskal Etxea on a Tuesday.
And they said yes!
by Anne-Marie | Jul 5, 2018 | Travel |
What do Iceland and the Basque Country have to do with each other?
The history goes way back to the whaling days of the Basques.
Basque People in Iceland
Iceland first came on my radar in April 2015. At the time, lots of articles were being published online about Basque government officials and academics attending a ceremony in Iceland. All for the unveiling of a memorial plaque to commemorate Basque sailors slaughtered by Icelanders in 1615.
Wait, what? Back up.
