June 2020
For the first time in 7 years (!!) of this blog we are up to date with the current year travels. Moreover, we are even up to date with the travels from 2021, so the moment came to go back to 2020. The year of lockdowns, masks and social distancing, yet officially the happiest year of my life. At that time we were living in Pau and traveling to the coast and the closest regions of Spain seemed the most logical thing to do. As soon as the restrictions were softened, we took our new Robbie (that we bought a month before) and went to the Spanish Basque Country.
Getaria
We have been to the Basque country before in 2015 and wrote several posts about that trip, although today these posts make me cringe. This time we went a bit further than Hondarribia and pushed up to Baquio only to be back one month later. Leaving France for several days and visiting a new part of Spain together was a delight and a perfect way to celebrate Xavier’s 36 years in this world.
Mutriku
On this trip, something horrible happened. By accident I switched my camera settings and instead of RAW we took all our pictures in JPEG. I expect all photographers to moan at this point. The worst is that we didn’t notice this change for two following months. Once I realized it, I was devastated. Still, these photos deserve their place here, even if processing them was slightly more difficult. Also, we tested two different film rolls, which explains the chaotic colors of the images on this page. Fortunately, we are totally fine with chaos as the concept. ;)
Ondarroa
Several moments I want to remember: sex in this forest, rivers of sangria and tapas, a camping night under the bridge in Mutriku, radio station Cadena Cien and dancing to its songs. Checking gradfather’s Polaroid, changing film on my old Kyiv camera, swimming in the waves. What I don’t want to remember: trying to find a parking space *sweating emoji*.
Lekeitio
Even if our next trip to Basque Country in Spain will be much longer, it was enough to notice an interesting difference. Whereas Pays Basque culture in France feels more like a touristic landmark people come to look for on purpose, Basque country in Spain is just… Normal life? It feels like “just another region” of the country and not a commercialized tourist attraction. I apologize in advance to French Basques if my impression seems hurtful.
Getaria
In 2022 seeing those pictures with the mask already seems crazy and soon we will all struggle to believe that not so long ago it was impossible to enter any public space (or even going outside!) without a mask. I’m glad this time is over (for now) but I would be happy to bring it back if it could stop this horrible war.
The last stop on this small itinerary was Bakio or rather Gaztelugatxe with the San Juan monastery. Unfortunatelly, it was closed for the holidays but recognizing Dragonstone Island from Game of Thrones was easy enough. What can I say, they did a really good job in making this place look gloomy and scary. In sunny Spain it didn’t look so menacing.
Bakio
I am very happy to finally bring these articles online. As I said, the year 2020 was the happiest one of my life and I was looking forward to finally putting its highlights on the blog, even despite this camera format fiasco. More posts about Basque Country are yet to come, in the meantime why not checing our old articles and die from cringe?
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