Welcome to V-G

 Welcome to Vitoria-Gasteiz in the heart of the Spanish Basque country, where the parliament for the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain is located. The Basque people have a long history which predates much of Europe, and the language is called an isolate language, unrelated to any other including the neighboring latin based romance languages. They have a distinct culture and traditions which were proudly on display on the Saturday of our first day exploring the city. At every turn we would run into colorful groups of musicians and dancers waving Basque banners, wearing distinct kerchiefs and traditional Basque berets. In the main square a group marched in with enormous dancing puppets and as quickly as they arrived they marched off and disappeared.

I still have no idea what the celebration was all about. I did inquire using my rudimentary Spanish, but with the native Basque speakers I wasn’t very successful. However, one gentleman did slap me on the back and responded with “Welcome to Basque Country”.

A video clip of the Basque marching band and dancing puppets:

https://youtu.be/B5EVtFgPZpU