241 steps
...36...37...38
Arg! Too much txuleta [steak]!
Bacalao [codfish]!
Idiazabal cheese!
Txistorra [Basque sausage]!
Cider!
Buenos dias, egun on, good morning!
¿Como estamos? How's everybody doing?
We're doing great. Where are we?
We are in Mundaka, basically the heart of surfing in the Basque Country
right here in the Urdaibai estuary, that nature reserve where we started this whole series
It's going to be a fun day
Mundaka is one of the best waves in Europe, It's a left point break,
but unfortunately - there are no waves. It's completely flat today
So instead of hoping on surfboards , we're going to make the best of the situation
and go grab some stand-up paddle boards.
We're going to meet up with Craig Sage who owns a surf shop in town.
He's one of the Australians who brought surfing here a couple decades ago.
So let's go do it. Let's go.
When you start surfing, and you become obsessed with surfing,
you get the stoke
and the surf stoke tends to dominate your life.
All you think about is surfing
thinking about the next board you're going to buy.
And then once the board collection starts, it can get
kind of dangerous......I mean, check this out.
Craig, how many boards do you have in here, man?
9, 6,8,2,down to down to 7,4,7-footers.
Apart from this, I've got another seven boards in the garage downstairs.
The beauty of Mundaka is that it is a point break
that also has a super heavy barrel.
That's a "grower." It started out about 3-4 foot
and just started growing like a grower.
This is just so amazing you guys.
This is the most beautiful river estuary I've ever been to
Home to an incredible wave
down-low rural little village
This place has got to be one of the top places in the Basque Country.
I love it. It's also an UNESCO bio reserve.
It's important because there are migrating birds that stay here.
Little waves coming in.
By no means is it real Mundaka.
Nice one.
Oh.. so fun.
Now to Gernika
All right guys.....well...always a fan
to start in the morning with a bit of salt water.
But now we're changing gears.
We are back in Gernika.
In Episode 1 we came here to show you how this was a symbol of Basque democracy.
The tree of Guernica
Most foreigners probably recognize this city from the Pablo Picasso painting
which a lot of us pronounce "Guernica"
which is about the city's destruction during the Spanish Civil War
So we're going to meet up with Paul Rios, who is a peace activist
and learn more about that fateful day.
Kaixo [Hello in Euskera]
A lot of foreigners don't really understand what the Spanish Civil war was about
and that's because it was overshadowed by the First and Second World War.
It happened right in the middle - in the 1930s
and the world was distracted by the rise of fascism in Italy with Mussolini
and Germany with Hitler
In Spain, Francisco Franco was a Spanish general.
He was a fascist who took over the government in a coup
and it plunged the country into a bloody civil war
that pitted brothers against brothers
Monday morning, the 27th of April, 1937
a number of German and Italian bombers came through the town of Guernica
and targeted a civilian population for the first time
on this scale
and destroyed all of the town.
The only thing to survive the attack was this building - the parliament building
and the tree of Guernica,
the symbol of Basque democracy
So we're here with Paul Rios.
He's going to tell us a bit more context
about not just the civil war and the bombing,
but the pain that followed.
I am a peace activist
here in the Basque Country
During the Franco dictatorship
we also lost our self government
and also the right, for example, to speak Basque
and to express our culture publicly
It was a very hard moment for the Basque people
and during that time there was a reaction
against the Franco dictatorship
made by the armed organization called ETA
that started a campaign of terrorist attacks
I was the trainer of a basketball team.
One father of a player was killed by ETA
I decided to start working for peace
and especially to create a space for dialogue
and for agreement inside the Basque Country
So I think that the most important thing is to engage
with Basque people
I know that it's very difficult because we are quite closed
But at the same time we are ready
to talk about our history, our culture
our identity.
Thank you for everything! Eskerrik asko! Agur!
This painting is intense.
Obviously, it's abstract art so there's a lot going on.
But, it's pretty easy to see what the message is.
There's dismemberment; there's death
there's fear.
When you look at the details of the painting,
you can see that it's something that's timeless.
You can't really tell the story of the Basque Country
without talking about the bombings of Gernika
and all the pain that followed.
I think that's why we came here in the first episode,
but we decided to talk about this later
after we had given some context to what
the Basque Culture is.
Alex and I came here as teachers shortly after
the peace had arrived in the Basque Country.
I don't we'll ever understand what everyone
went through on both sides of the conflict.
I've been very encouraged by seeing the
younger generation who speak Spanish, French,
English and also, of course, Basque.
So we're going to switch gears again.
Tonight we're going to be staying in Bilbao.
We're taking the long road to get there.
We're going to go around the peninsula, past
one of the most beautiful places on the Basque coast.
Stay tuned.
This is me. This is Alex.
That's the viewpoint.
And then this is where we are going.
And that is two kilometers down,
and two kilometers back up.
What's it called?
San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
I think it's Gaztelugatxe
Say that five times.......
Wow
We're quickly realizing that this is no small undertaking.
It's like a fat hike.
I think that's why they did it.
They built it so that it was hard to get to.
Apparently, it was a target for Sir Francis Drake
who raided it when at war against the Spanish.
To get there, tradition says that you ring the bell
on the little chapel 3 times
and once you do that, supposedly your wish is granted.
There's been a ship wreck.
We don't know where it's gone.
Why are you speaking like a Scotsman?
Probably because it's my preferred accent of choice.
241 steps.
36....37 ....38.
My god, guys. Look at where we are!
We made it.
Supposedly the legend is: if you get up here,
you've got to ring the bell three times
and your wish comes true.
All right. Let's go ring the bell.
Hecho. [Did it]
All right, Bro. Let's go.
All right guys. If you enjoyed that video,
you know what to do......give it a thumbs-up,
share it with your friends,
subscribe to Vagabrothers for new travel videos
twice every week.
Stay tuned. Tomorrow we head to Bilbao.
In the meantime, stay curious,
keep exploring,
and we'll see you guys on the road.
Agur.