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24 Oct 2016

Bacalao Pil-Pil and Basque Food Competitions…

By basque

What is Bacalao Pil-Pil? This emblematic Basque dish…

For a coastal city, Bilbao eats an awful lot of Bacalao or saltcod. There are rumours as to the reason behind this of course, as is always the case with a Bilbao legend, but here isn’t the place to let you know them.

8 days of cooking competions!

Bacalao, in its ‘raw’ state is a smelly, somewhat oily hunk of grey-white fish, covered as you can imagine, in salt. Not the most appetising I can assure you. There are several shops in Bilbao itself dedicated to its sale, with many more across the villages, towns and provinces of Euskalherria, the Basque Country. Its extremely popular and its elevated status in the culinary pantheon of Basque goodies, which is pretty well regarded throughout the world, is down to this one, uniquely Basque dish.

Bacalao al pil-pil

As with many tasty dishes, the ingredients are not complex, bacalao, olive oil, garlic… yes thats it. So the fascination here is with the preparation. I am not sure if you know how seriously the Basques take their food, but believe me, I cant think of many cultures or folk who can compare. As a serious people Basques can sometimes become obsessed with certain things and cooking is certainly one. So much so that it is the national sport (not really of course but it does seem like it at times!)

I am not going to give you a recipe here, or indeed describe the silky, smooth sauce that results from the gentle, sensuous ‘shaking’ that is necessary to create this iconic and mysterious meal. Instead I have a several videos you can watch to see one of the fascinating techniques used to create this wonderfully tasty, fishy, garlicky and oily dish. You will have to imagine how its made and why these competitors, seen here in 2016 Bilbao fiestas’ Bacalao cooking competition, ‘move’ their dishes so. The Bacalao day is one of 8 days of competition…. 🙂

The alternative is to come and visit one of the fiestas across our fantastic corner of the world from Easter to October with us on your own private guided Basque Tour…. 🙂

Roll the camera!! Which is your favourite??

 

19 Oct 2016

Espectacular video de San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, escenario de la grabación de Juego de Tronos

By basque

Impresionante vídeo de San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, de la empresa airetikan, donde están grabando estos días nuevas escenas de la serie Juego de Tronos. Este espectacular paraje, ya de por sí visitado por miles de personas cada año, será conocido a nivel mundial más si cabe por el rodaje de la serie, que hará las delicias de sus millones de seguidores.

15 Oct 2016

Armintza – Getxo Coastal Hike

By basque

Armintza to Getxo along the beautiful Bizkaian coast…

Armintza, where is that? Well here at Basque Experiences we love a stroll. Or to put it more exactly a long walk along our fantastic trails, paths, walking routes and hikes. From the shortest city wander, to days on the Camino de Santiago to the hardest mountain climbs, we have them all here in the Basque Country.

One of our favourites, and one that fits perfectly in a day is the great coastal trail from Getxo, to Armintza. We have talked about Getxo and the coast before in an earlier blog (here it is so you dont have to look for it…). However the coast and the paths continue east along this spectacular coast. Its a trek we love to offer to our visitors and combines perfectly with a local lunch. A true Basque Tour, or Basque Experience, one rarely seen by visitors…

Visit Armintza as part of a Private-guided Basque Tour.

This hike along the coast takes around 4-5 hours, depending on your ability, and how long you stop off in Plentzia for a pintxo and a beer 😉  Its a fairly easy trek, with only a couple of parts where the incline and descent are tough on the knees. Accompanied by the Bay of Biscay at all times, the route passes along beautiful light sandy beaches, surfers coves, coastal cliffs, farms, small villages and old farmhouses. You will also get to see vineyards, and lighthouses, civil war bunkers, golf courses, cows, windmills, goats, wild mushrooms, oak woods, eucalyptus plantations… want me to go on?

It really is a great walk, which coupled with that stop in Plentzia half-way for my favourite tortilla de patata, juicy not dry of course, and a cold beer for 3.5€, will see you tired and happy! My favourite way of doing it is to leave Algorta metro station, which is 35 minutes from the centre of Bilbao by metro, and head up to the Getxo windmill and keep going. Leaving at about 10:00 should see us end up in the charming and little-visited fishing village of Armintza for around 2-3:00. Perfect timing to grab a ‘Menu del dia’, for around 10€… Returning is easy, there is a bus leaving back to Getxo on the half hour every hour, you don’t even have to walk back!!! Just don’t fall asleep on the bus though…

Here are some of the latest pics I took…

  • basque coast
  • Path to Armintza
  • Armintza cows
  • Armintza harbour
  • Armintza - Arminza.... guess the difference?

 

28 Sep 2016

Elorrio and it’s magnificent history!!

By basque

Coats of Arms of Elorrio, Bizkaia

Elorrio in Biscay is an enchanting small town hidden away in the hills in the east of the province, protected by the Intxorta, Oiz, Anboto and Udalaitz mountains.

Meaning ‘Hawthorn’ in Basque,  Elorrio grew due to its strategic location close to the borders of Gipuzkoa to the east and Alava to the south, and to the hills themselves, which were full of iron ore…. Founded as a town, with all the privileges that entails, in 1356 many of its ‘nobles’ were closely involved with the King and the House of Austria, whose ‘Office of Indian Affairs’ was based in Seville.

The trade in arms, and iron to the Americas via Seville, created great wealth for many of the towns folk, who constructed great palaces on their family lands in the town. Many of these noble families erected Coats of Arms on these beautiful Baroque palaces and mansions, indeed today there are 20 palaces and 68 coats of arms, the highest number in all the Basque Country. Here is just a small selection…

  • Elorrio
    Arabio
  • Elorrio
    Arespakotxaga
  • Elorrio
    Arriola
  • Elorrio
    Zearsolo
  • Elorrio
    Zearsolo

In addition to the fantastic collection of 16th and 17th Century Palaces, there are many other historic monuments which stand as testament to this golden age for the town. One can find the largest temple in the Biscay, the Basilica de la Purísima Concepción sat alongside the palaces, town walls, convents, houses and crosses of this magnificent ‘villa’.

More ancient history is also represented here, at just one mile away we can find the Chapel of San Adrián, where the ancient Necropolis of Argiñeta is the resting place for 21 sarcophagus, some of which date to pre-christian times in the 9th Century….

A charming town, full of history, atmosphere, stories, legends and a stone’s throw from Bilbao. A great place for a day-trip perhaps combined with a hike in the Urkiola Park….. Get those boots on and join us!!

 

 

17 Sep 2016

Filming Geografens Testamente Basque Country

By basque

Filming Swedish TV’s Geografens Testamente in the Basque Country

There is a very popular TV show for children in Sweden called Geografens Testamente…. Educational, for 10-13 year olds, a bit of adventure, some history and lots of European Geography. A little bit like Indiana Jones, with a fantasy, adventure story with good guys and baddies…. All sounds like good clean fun to me!

So we get a call asking to help them with the logistics as they are filming an episode here in the Basque Country…. So you can imagine the answer! The Bizkaia Hanging Bridge, our good friend Jaime Ortiz Mendieta and his super boat the Nayiri and finally at the magnificent Torre Loizaga.

So this is now Basque Experiences’ second TV filming assignment and it went really smoothly. The team from Baluba TV were over the moon as we got them out of a serious problem the day before… Anyway the day was fantastic, the sun was hot, the boat ran like a dream and the tower was perfect for the sword fighting scenes!! Of course, a special mention to the Bilbao Fencing Club who were superb!

Here we have three of the short clips we took whilst at work , believe me there was no time for more!! Its really surprising how hard these guys work….. You expect it to be very laid back and slow paced but they didn’t stop all day!! Anyway it was great fun and if there are any film or TV companies out there who need logistical support or ideas or organisation… well here we are!!

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