Basque Country

Papa and mama are here, or at least my papa and mama are here (Bel)! They drove from their vacation in France to us in Pasaia Donibane. It is very nice to be able to spend some time together and to show them our new life a bit better.

But before they arrived we first sailed from Hondarribia to here, Pasaia Donibane, our first Ria. We were finally able to really sail again which was wonderful. The coast is even more beautiful than it was around Hondarribia. We went were getting close to Pasaia Donibane it was very difficult to see where we had to enter the Ria because of the rocky coastline. Eventually we saw the entrance, gorgeous. The harbour is very small, up until our last day our Nimrod was by far the biggest boat in there.

We discovered the town a bit on a little stroll on our first evening. The town itself, mostly a fisher and old whaling town, is very cute. The next morning a large Basque rowing regatta took place right in front of our boat. The weeks that we are spending in Basque Country turn out to be weeks full of Basque pride festivities. The boats all represent their hometown and over the week the race each other in the different participating towns.

On day two my parents arrived. Since it was going to be a veeeery hot day, high 30s possibly 40 degrees, we left the harbour and cruised, fished and swam a bit around the coast.

Around 20:30 we felt it was getting close to Spanish dinner time. Or at least so we thought. As we walked around the town we were a bit surprised by the first couple of restaurants that were closed. But soon realized that all restaurants either already had closed their doors or would do so within the next half hour... So far Pinxtos attempt two. Luckily we usually have plenty of food on board to make a nice dinner😋Read more