2. The Basque
Country
• Our country is not very
big, only 100km’s square
but it is very nice as it has
something of all worlds.
In the North we have
unspoilt beaches against
the backdrop of high green
mountains, in the South
like around the
Mediteranean vineyards
are found.
3. The landscape inside: the mountains, the
fields
• The Basque Country´s nice
and rainy weather gives a
green landscape, there are a
lot of pine, oak and chestnut
trees in big forests.
• Since we are very close to
the Pyrenees, in fact, we live
there, we have got lots of
mountains. We have got
green fields full of grass in
which we can find lots of
farmhouses scattered all
over the place.
4. For many centuries, agriculture has been
the Basque Country’s main activity
• At first, it began in the
valleys and in the flat
fields, and later on it moved
to the mountainous regions.
From the year 1950 the
agriculture sector lost its
predominance in the
Basque Country.
Nowadays, these are the
main agricultural products:
sugarbeet, corn, potatoes
and barley...
5. Cattle raising
• Cattle raising is still an
important activity for the
farmhouses. There are big
cow and sheep farms in
many places in the Basque
Country which are helped
by the Oceanic climate.
The milk industries every
year obtain 275.286 litres
of milk from the cows.
6. • The Basque people lived
in scattered farmhouses
and, therefore, they
produced everything they
needed.
• The shape of these
caserios farmhouses is
very significant; they have
got three floors: in the
ground floor we can find
the stable, where we keep
animals, the second floor
the farmers live and, in the
third floor, the chamber,
where the grass is kept
and dried.
Typical Farmer withTxapela.
7. • Until the year 1975,
industry was the most
important element in the
Basque economical
development, especially
thanks to the iron mines
and ship building. At the
end of the 70s, after the
economical crisis and
when Spain had entered
the European Union, the
Basque Country went
through big changes in its
industrial structure.
8. Fishing has always been very important
We have got different sorts
of fishing boats:
70% of the boats take part in
the shallow-sea fishing.
Provided with small boats
they fish hakes breams,
anchovies...
About a hundred boats take
part in deep-sea fishing.
The biggest deep-sea fishing
boats, provided with big
freezes, look for cod-
fishes and tuna.
9. The coast: the sea villages
• Since the Basque country
is on the Atlantic shore,
there is a lot of landscape
connected with the sea.
Lots of shore villages
were created, for example:
Bermeo and Getaria. All
these villages have got the
same pattern: the port (full
of boats ), surrounded by
the village consisting of
tall houses and narrow
streets. The people from
these villages have always
lived on fishing.
10. The coast: the seaside
San
Sebastian
La Concha
• On some beaches you
can surf.
• The waves are good
for the surf and many
champions come to the
Basque country to
surf.
11. THE FIESTAS IN TYPICAL BASQUE CLOTHES
VITORIA IN CHILDREN WEAR IN THE FIESTAS
AUGUST
12. The cabezudos or big heads
are seen in most fiestas in
the Basque Country. Inside
them are teenagers. In their
hands they carry a pig´s
bladder.
The cabezudos run after the
people and hit them with their
pig bladder. This makes a lot of
noise which makes the little
children very frightened not us.
The cabezudos hit the small
children very softly but the
bigger ones like us they hit hard.
13. The Giants
Giants are at some festivals.
They have inside them a
teenage boy or a girl to move
them disguised around the
streets.
14. • One figure that is typical in
the fiestas is Gargantua, a
huge fat man who swallows
children in his enormous
mouth, only to expel them
out through a door in the
back of his trousers, the
young children are very
frightened of this fat man.
Mari Jaia the mascot
of the fiestas in
Bilbao in August.
15. The San Fermins are the first
important fiestas in the Basque
Country. They celebrate them
in the capital of Navarra
(Pamplona). For this day
everyone puts on a white T-
shirt, white trousers and a red
hankercheif. Thousands of
foreign people come to the
fiestas and Pamplona is full.
16. The running of the bulls in Pamplona
This world famous
fiesta, is from 7 of July
to 14 of July. At eight
o'clock each morning
mostly young men
(although anyone can)
run in front of the bulls,
this is very dangerous
and every year some
people are injured. It
usually lasts from two to
three minutes
19. Typical Dishes.
Bacaloa pil-
pil which is
cod in garlic
sauce is very
nice.
Angulas which are very small
eels, are very expensive but rico.
Most bars have tapas like
tortilla, jamon serrano etc.
20. TOURISM
• The Basque tourism,
the most attractive
things are: the
landscape, the food,
the art, the sports, the
festivals, the
traditional
entertainments and
the people.
• In the last few years,
the inner tourism has
become more
important with sport
and health tourism.
21. There are castles for tourists
• Butron is an enchanted
castle with it we can
image what it was like
in the battles that took
place there in the
middle ages.
• The area around the
castle has been
converted into a garden
with more than five
hundred trees of
different types each
carefully chosen.
23. BILBAO
St Nicholas Church built in La Plaza Nueva is the oldest
the 18th century it has a square in Bilbao it was finished
Baroque style. Dedicated to in 1849. It has 64 arches and is
the patron saint of sailors. in Neoclassical style.
24. La Ribera Market built in Calzadas de Mallona steps
1920 is of great that go to Bilbao´s first
architectural beauty. cementery, built 1806.
25. Church of San Anton built The Cathedral of Santiago.
in the 16th Century. It has Built in the 14th century in
a Gothic style. the Gothic style.
26. • The Guggenheim.
• This museum is a
spectacular building
designed by Frank O.
Gehry, with 24,000
square meters of
exhibition area and
located in the very heart
of Bilbao. It was built
between 1993 and 1995.
It is an extraordinary
combination of
interconnecting shapes
of metal and glass.
27. Puppy.The giant dog at the entrance of the
museum is always full of flowers. It was built
only for the museum´s opening ceremony. But
the people liked it so now it is permanent.
28. The Euskalduna Concert Hall
is a modern building built in
the shape of a ship in dry dock.
The Euskalduna Bridge has an
unusual shape with separate lanes
for pedestrians, bikes and cars.
29. Deusto University opened in The Arriaga Theatre
1886 built in the classical style. opened in 1890 is a
It is a private university famous very luxurious and
for business studies students. elegant building in
the centre of Bilbao.
30. Bilbao Metro.
Puente Colgante or Hanging
bridge built in 1893 joins both
banks of the river. It is made of Bilbao Museum
iron. of Fine Arts.
31. • San Mames “La catedral” is
the stadium of the Athletic
of Bilbao. It is one of the
oldest stadiums in the
Spanish football league,
without doubt it is one with
the most history. The
stadium was inagurated by
Alfonso XIII in the
“Semana Santa” of 1913. In
total there are places for
48874 people. All the
players are Basque.
32. Bermeo is the second
most important port
in Viscaya. In 1476 it
was named the capital
of Viscaya now
Bilbao is.
Gaztelugatxe is a small
island found in the north
east of Bakio. The island is
joined only by a bridge to
the main land. When you
cross the bridge you climb a
steep slope with 300 steps
to the small church at the
top of the Island.
33. GERNIKA-LUMO
It is a town outstanding personality of its own. It is
the historical capital of the Basque Country thanks
to its thousand year old tree and due to its tragic
bombing by Hitler s planes (permission of the
dictator Franco to practise bomb on his own
civilians) on the 26th of April 1937, which was
immortalised in Pablo Picasso s picture "Gernika".