The Irish Mail on Sunday

Wonderous Spain at its thrilling best

Frank Barrett tours the north of the nation, drinking in the delights of the Rioja wine region and the beautiful Basque Country

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Once upon a time people used to talk about wanting to visit the ‘real’ Spain. What they meant was that, while areas such as the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca were certainly in Spain, they had begun to resemble a caricature world of wacky Irish and English bars and German sausage shops into which Iberian life barely intruded. For holidaymak­ers in Torremolin­os, for example, discoverin­g the ‘real’ Spain involved a coach trip to the white villages or to the Alhambra in Granada with a folkloric flamenco show thrown in for good measure.

Despite the fact that there have long been Aer Lingus and Ryanair flights to Santander and Bilbao, Spain’s northern coast – the Costa Verde – has never become a major destinatio­n. ‘Spain with rain’ was how someone disparagin­gly described it to me.

Northern Spain, however, is not a pale imitation of the south, it is another world entirely – rich in scenery (its steepling Picos de Europa mountains rank as one of Europe’s most picturesqu­e places), culture and historic cities.

In the wake of this month’s awful events in Nice, it’s worth rememberin­g that the Basque Country, which takes up the eastern half of northern Spain, long struggled to survive under the dark shadow of terrorism carried out by separatist group ETA. Their actions did not just divert tourists away from the Bas que Country itself, but depressed visitor numbers and investment to the whole of the north.

At a time of almost relentless bad news, it’s a pleasure to bring good news from the Basque Country. Five years ago peace was declared and the question of independen­ce now seems to have slipped away. The owner of a local restaurant told me Basques now had other more important worries: ‘We want jobs. Young people want a future.’

Not long ago, you didn’t have to travel too far from Bilbao, the de facto capital of the Basque Country, for evidence of the separatist­s’ campaign. Any road signs, for example, which used the official Castilian spelling for local place names were roughly obliterate­d by spray paint. The region’s Basque heritage is now much more in evidence. Signs no longer point the way to the town of Guernica – it is identified solely by its Basque spelling of Gernika.

Nobody is sure about the origins of the Basque language – it may have roots in Caucasian Georgia. What is certain is that many Basque words (full of Zs, Xs and Ks) look like a collection of bad Scrabble hands. Outside San Sebastian and Bilbao, Guernica is the one place instantly recognised around the world. What has guaranteed its immortalit­y is not so much the event that inspired a painting, but the painting itself.

Next April will mark the 80th anniversar­y of the day in 1937 when a squadron of German and Italian aircraft bombed Guernica’s defenceles­s population. It provided a chilling foretaste of the horrors of the Second World War.

An excellent museum in the town tells the story of the brutal and unexpected attack and its place in the Spanish Civil War, which saw the defeat of the Republican­s and the rise of Franco. Had it not been for the presence in Guernica of journalist George Steer, the real story of the atrocity might never have been told.

Steer’s report and the photos caught Pablo Picasso’s attention and persuaded him to make the bombing the subject of a major painting which he had been asked to display at the Paris Internatio­nal Exposition in 1937. The symbolic work came to represent the horrors of the Spanish Civil War and war in general. Picasso refused to allow his painting to be seen in Spain while Franco was alive, but after the dictator’s death in 1975 it became possible to bring it home: eventually Guernica ended up in the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid (there has been some pressure to give the painting a permanent home at Bilbao’s Guggenheim

In the upper hills bears and wolves still roam while eagles soar overhead

– but most agree the work is too fragile to move again). There is an excellent reproducti­on on a wall in the centre of Guernica. Later this year a new film, Gernika, will tell the story of the bombing.

The north of the country features much of the best of Spain. It has the best of the wine – Rioja; the best food; and the best scenery. The lushness of the hills and valleys of the countrysid­e between the Pyrenees and the Picos de Europa is breathtaki­ng. In the upper hills, bears and wolves still roam, while eagles soar overhead. And the area is rich in unexpected delights which you can only really

discover with a car. My car rental booking company, Holiday Autos, made it easy to check the best deals.

After a 30-minute drive from Bilbao, we arrived in remote countrysid­e. After venturing over an old and mysterious narrow bridge, we found ourselves outside a ‘fairytale’ estate. A handwritte­n sign in Spanish warned that dogs were loose on the property, adding, just in case anyone needed reminding: ‘Dogs bite.’

The sign was at Loizaga Tower, a castle that harbours one of the world’s largest collection­s of vintage Rolls-Royces – 45 in total. There’s probably a good reason why they’re here, and why the museum is open only on Sundays, but none of this is explained. Even more mysterious is how the cars made it over that rickety bridge.

Further inland is the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, the scene of the Duke of Wellington’s famous triumph over the Napoleonic French army in June 1813. In the old cathedral is a great collection of religious effigies: the figures are disturbing­ly life-like.

We spent a fascinatin­g night in the castellate­d Hotel Castillo El Collado in Laguardia, at the heart of Rioja wine country. A short drive away is the Frank Gehry-designed Marques de Riscal hotel – a pocket-size version of his Bilbao Guggenheim.

On the drive to San Sebastian, we paused at Pamplona, which was in full preparatio­n for the annual bull-running festival. It used to attract serious students of bull-fighting such as Ernest Hemingway, who began the tourist rush here with his novel The Sun Also Rises. Now it seems to be popular with budget travellers from the Antipodes and South Africa.

San Sebastian, Spain’s most elegant seaside resort, is the polar opposite – full of smart hotels (we stayed in the excellent film-themed Astoria7) and Michelin-starred restaurant­s. San Sebastian was where Spanish royals used to spend summer to escape the torrid Madrid heat.

There may be better places to while away the dog days of summer, but I would be hard put to think of one.

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? MASTERPIEC­E: A copy of Picasso’s Guernica on a wall in the Basque town
MASTERPIEC­E: A copy of Picasso’s Guernica on a wall in the Basque town
 ??  ?? CRAZY: The running with the bulls festival in Pamplona
CRAZY: The running with the bulls festival in Pamplona
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 ??  ?? TOWER OF STRENGTH: The. castellate­d.Hotel. Castillo.el.Collado. in.laguardia.is.a. beautiful.and. fascinatin­g.place. to.spend.a.night.and. is.located.deep.in.the. heart.of.the.Rioja. wine.country.
TOWER OF STRENGTH: The. castellate­d.Hotel. Castillo.el.Collado. in.laguardia.is.a. beautiful.and. fascinatin­g.place. to.spend.a.night.and. is.located.deep.in.the. heart.of.the.Rioja. wine.country.

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