San Sebastián, Spain: Coastal Gem of the Basque Country
Returning to Spain from a little over a week in northern France , I decided to pass through the Spanish Basque Country situated around the western corner of the Pyrenees mountains. This would complete the loop around France I wanted to make, having entered via Barcelona and the eastern Pyreness on the other side. Green, beach-blessed San Sebastián was stop number one, just outside the French border on the Atlantic coast. It was love at first sight. San Sebastián, seen from Mount Urgull But who are the Basques? Before I got interested in Spain or Spanish history, I had never heard of this people group before, but, come to find out, they’ve been interacting with Europe and the world since before the time of the Romans. In short, the defining feature of the Basque people is that they speak, well, Basque— a language with no discernible link to any other European language that has resisted competition from Latin, French, and Spanish for thousands of years. The Basques str...