#basque coast

[vintagepromotions]

'Go by train to the Basque coast'

French Railways travel poster for Basque coast (1964). Artwork by Jean Jacquelin.

[beautiful-basque-country]

Flysch in the Basque coast [x].

Those lines of rock are called flysch, but how did we end up with this strange formation? We need to imagine the cliffs once were very much more inside the ocean than now. Tides and waves eroded it, making the first layer of the cliff rock weak until it eventually collapsed, leaving just its basis behind: we have our first line of the flysch.

For thousands of years, the ocean has been gaining ground to the land, that is now just a beautiful souvenir of rock layers running along the cliffs that can be seen on a low tide.

[kayl0ser]

Monte Igueldo, San Sebastián

August 2023

[chrysalistudy]

happy new year everyone 🫂

took myself on a little adventure yesterday. more pictures here 📸✨

[hopefulkidshark]

Gaztelugatxe Islet, Basque Country, Spain: Gaztelugatxe is an islet on the coast of Biscay belonging to the municipality of Bermeo, Basque Country. It is connected to the mainland by a man-made bridge. Wikipedia

[pangeen]

“ Dragons ” // Juanjo Basurto

[utkhowaga]

Gaztelugatxe is about an hour’s drive from Bilbao, on the scenic route to Gernika along the Mar Cantábrico. It’s an islet connected to the mainland by a treacherous path (the staircases were a filming location for Game of Thrones), with a hermitage dedicated to Saint John the Baptist that dates from the 10th century (at least). Even the view is worth a look—and just getting to the lookout is a hike!

[foerodens]

The Flysch coast of the Basque Country.

If you're interested in photos like this, please make sure to follow me on Instagram too, that's where I'm most active.

[silasea]

NYC —> Cotè de Azur, France —> Budapest, Hungary —> Paris, France —> Biarritz, France —> NYC

[tenrose]

I can't with this fucking rain anymore 😤

[dream-world-universe]

Sea Waves, San Sebastián, Spain: Autumn is a time for spring tides in San Sebastián, and on days of high and low tide you can enjoy the incredible views of waves thundering against different parts of the coast for an absolutely breathtaking experience. The waves in San Sebastian Bay in winter can reach 30 meters in height... San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, 20 km from the France–Spain border. Wikipedia

[thanergetic-hyperlinks]

what's y'all's BoE name

We don't fully know how BoE names work (Tamsyn said it would be a spoiler for Alecto, but I don't know if that was pre-Nona, whatever) but simply going off Crown and Wake (the only two complete examples), the structure seems to be:

Canonical literary text (Shakespeare for Wake, Aeschylus for We Suffer, a hymn for Crown)

An anthem (national?) (NZ for Wake, Ivory Coast for Crown) (possibly in the original local language, if Nona is actually hearing Crown in French)

A pop song (Eminem for Wake, The Mutton Birds for Crown).

I'm Spanish and grew up speaking Spanish, Euskera (Basque) and English, so I've chosen my BoE name to be:

His Brain Dried Up Txoria Nuen Maite How Do You Spell Epifanny

From Don Quijote: “Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up.” (“Del poco dormir y del mucho leer se le secó el cerebro.”)

“I loved the bird” from poem/song Txoria txori (The bird is a bird): “If I had cut its wings, it would have stayed by my side, but it wouldn't have been a bird anymore, and what I loved was a bird” (“Hegoak ebaki banizkion, nirea izango zen, es zuen alde egingo, bainan horrela ez zuen gehiago txoria izango eta nik txoria nuen maite”) (It's not just about freedom and consumptive urges but about the censorship and persecution of Euskera as a language)

“MANTRA” by Bring Me the Horizon, I love that the lyric is misspelled when you read it

looking this up I found some beautiful people on reddit coming up with their own

[useless-catalanfacts]

Here's a clear example of what we mean when we speak of how Spain's occupation makes the lives of Catalan people worse in so many ways every day, including the lives of those who are against independence! It doesn't matter that anyone plays the role of the good exemplary Catalan, speaks only Spanish, cries against the independentists asking for too many things, say that voting is going too far, always defend that Spain is right and we don't have the ability to rule ourselves... It doesn't matter, because the Spanish system still always considers you a second-class citizen.

For decades, Catalonia and the Valencian Country have had a problem because Spain doesn't have a working railway system for transporting goods. Barcelona and València are two of the busiest ports in all the Mediterranean, and the goods have to be taken by trucks to their destinations or to France (to be taken to the rest of Europe). This means that there is a huge concentration of trucks on our highways, and they cause many accidents, traffic congestion, and damage the roads quicker.

Heatmap of the average daily amount of trucks in the highways in the state of Spain. You can see how Catalonia is 100% in red, and almost all the Valencian Country is too. The only other red areas are a part of Murcia (right under the Valencian Country), a part of the highways leading to Madrid, and a part going towards France via the Basque Country. This map is made with data published by the Spanish Government (source).

For this reason, the Governments of Catalonia and the Valencian Country have been asking for over a decade to build the Mediterranean Corridor, a train line for goods that would unite all the busiest harbours and main cities since Algeciras (tip of Southern Spain right in front of Morocco), with all Southern Spain, the Valencian Country, and Catalonia, to Southern France, where there are already railway lines connecting it to Northern Italy and Central Europe. The Gov of Catalonia has been begging for this for over a decade mainly to bring down the amount of accidents on the road, because the regional governments have very limited power and money and don't have the permission to do infrastructure works like this (it is only the Gov of Spain that has this power). The Spanish Gov's answer has always been the refusal to make any train lines through Catalonia and the Valencian Country, and that if they ever build a railway it would go through Madrid instead. They don't care that people die here on the roads because of their national pride and dismissal/hatred of Catalans.

Now they have decided to build the railway for goods. And, yep, it will go through Madrid. It will not affect the roads, because it still doesn't go near the busy harbours of València and Barcelona. So they will still need to drive trucks to take them to the train line. Spain's hatred reaches levels of stupidity.

Look again at the map of which roads need support, and now compare it to the map posted by Spain's railways official account of where the railway will go through:

(Source: Adif, July 10th 2024)

That's not useful. Also, notice how they have lied saying it stops in Barcelona but pointing at the map where Barcelona isn't. Barcelona is much further south and on the coast (that's why it's an important harbour! Most goods are transported internationally by ship!). The city that they have mislabelled as "Barcelona" is actually Girona. And the Spanish railways has also taken a very political choice of misspelling Figueres with the Spanish spelling that was imposed during the fascist dictatorship (since Catalan was forbidden, all Catalan names —towns/cities, areas, rivers, people's personal names, etc— had to be translated to Spanish, and when place names didn't mean anything and couldn't be translated they had to be spelled in the Spanish way), spelling it Figueras instead.

Direct instances of facing discrimination for being from our country, for speaking Catalan, or for having a Catalan name or accent aren't the only ways in which Spain makes our life worse. There are many things every day from waking up to going to sleep that are decided for us, against us. This is why people who live in a place should have the power to decide how their home is ruled, and not a government far away that doesn't know our problems and which in the best of cases doesn't care about us and in the worst cases actively wishes us the worst.

[mutant-distraction]

The coast of Zumaia, Spain, part of the Basque Coast UNESCO Geopark, features this breathtaking Flysch rock formation.

Flysch formations consist of alternating layers of hard and soft sedimentary rocks. These layers form underwater from rapid changes in sea level, followed by compression and uplift, resulting in striking patterns.

Fun fact! If the coast of Zumaia and its Flysch formations seem familiar to you, you’ve probably seen them elsewhere. Zumaia has been used as a filming location for various TV shows, including Game of Thrones! It was used as the location for Dragonstone.

source: rock chasing

[greypetrel]

Fortuna che dei pazzi ha cura* 🦝🌙⛵️

Like one who in his heart has such a fire All it consumes, yet still burns the higher. - Orlando Furioso (Canto I, stanza 18), Ludovico Ariosto

*Fortune/Destiny that cares for madmen

She came late, but there she is! Second character design for the Whale no-more-an-au (I may have a title but I'm thinking on it). Her official name is Naroa, which in euskara means "Abundant", but also the tranquillity when a wave pulls back after breaking in the shore. Basque, a human disaster but a fairly successful boat raccoon, more infos under the cut! Here's Aisling

Naroa Arranomendi was born in Donostia / San Sebastián in the now Basque autonomous community, in a family that only moved in the traceable memory up to Bilbao, and for never more than a couple of days. Eldest of four daughters, she grew up on dad's fishing boat, more in love with the sea, no matter how hard a work it was, than with anything else on land. Particularly considering that her mother was trying to make a good lady out of her, and she just hated herself with a skirt on, or flowers in her hair. Or with long hair, for what matters.

When her father died, he left behind too many debts to pay, and the natural conclusion for the family was for Naroa to marry rich. After 3 suitors scared away and other 2 whom she punched, she decided that enough was enough.

"Bye mom, I'm going to Rejkjavik! :D" (Donna Arranomendi survived the news. Barely.)

Basques were the first in Europe to hunt whales for a living, and she heard at the harbour, helping out to gather some money, that they pay very well for whalers available to move up there. The only issue was that in Iceland it was technically legal to kill Basque people, ever since 1615. But it's not *that* big of a problem. She could pass as a male, cutting her hair short, she could pass for Rolando Garcia, a Spanish from castillan Spain as well.

It all worked out: she made a living as a sailor first, a harpooner later, sending every spare penny back home to sustain the family and jumping from one ship to the other, never going back.

That is, until the Hvalur met in the night a particularly vicious storm, closed between a pod of sperm whales not particularly happy about being hunted, and a rocky shore. One whale hit the hull, pushing it against some submerged rocks, and the Hvalur did a general reharsal for the Titanic 5 years later.

Naroa was the only survivor.

---

Thank you to I and Y for the help and consulence - after the enthusiast chorus of “MAKE HER BASQUE MAKE HER BASQUE”.

Also: Naroa originally means “abundant”, although it was also used in the Basque coast as a way to describe the tranquillity that is felt when a wave pulls back after breaking in the shore.

[hopefulkidshark]

Gaztelugatxe Islet, Basque Country, Spain: Gaztelugatxe is an islet on the coast of Biscay belonging to the municipality of Bermeo, Basque Country. It is connected to the mainland by a man-made bridge. Wikipedia