Lore-Loreak

In Yow Terry Ack

Oh hey so it's been a while. Inauteriak/carnaval was really fun. Other than being shown how the U.S. looks to other parts of the world..

Udan

San Pedro Jaiak, Lasarte-Oria

He is Master of All He Surveilllz

 

Balcony container gardening championship

Rural boarding house in Escaroz

Main street in Otsagabia, the largest town in Salazar Valley, near the forest of Irati. Population: 400-700, depending on the season.

View of the Pyrenees from a mountain church in Otsagabia.

On the regular weekend path, Hernani

Otsagabia

 

In the forest of Irati. At about 50K acres, it's not a huge reserve by U.S. standards, but it's one the largest remaining hardwood forests in Europe. It is in the province of Nafarroa, and it is the cradle of Basque mythology.

Irati is a very popular place for mushroom hunters. This sign shows a spot where you can find them, although the serious foragers have their own secret spots. If you want to collect mushrooms here, you have to have a permit, and your backpack will be inspected as you leave. We are still talking about SW Europe here.

On a walk near the western border of Aralar Park.

Tadpoles

Back to Irati. We saw some really huge birds of prey that we are sort of hoping might have been quebrantahuesos. This area is only 2 hours from coastal Gipuzkoa and an hour from Iruna/Pamplona, but it has very serious winters, and is very wild.

   

Walking along a creek in Ataun, near Aralar.

In Ataun, near the Barandiaran Museum. Jose Miguel Barandiaran was a priest and ethnographer from Ataun who went into exile during the Franco regime. Even during the mid-20th century, he was able to record a lot of information about Basque mythology and old religious practices, which should tell you how isolated this area is.

Which one though

Near Usurbil

A lot of the floors in the entryways in the Irati area were very ornate, and it seemed to have something to do with keeping animals there in the winter.

On a rail trail near Leitzaran, near the Gipuzkoa/Nafarroa provincial border.

In a chapel in Orreaga, which you may know as Roncevaux. Basques defeated Charlemagne here in the 700s, and the Song of Roland was written to commemorate the event. It is an important way station on the Way of St. James, and the pilgrimage-related marketing is thick.

There are supposed to be relics of Roland in this chapel.

Near Leitzaran

About the Battle of Roncevaux

The pass where the battle with Charlemagne took place

Near Leitzaran

Hernani

Part of Great Week in Donostia.

Pasaia Donibane

On the Urgull Geopark route, which is just outside Donostia. 1000 people recently showed up for a Game of Thrones call for 50 people to film in Zumaia, which is on another part of this route.