1. Basques are a close fitting type of lingerie worn by women to accentuate their curves, and give a sexy silhouette. Apart from their allure, they also have a practical side as they give support, can be strapless for wearing with a range of outfits, and often have attachments for stockings… Err… Oops…
2. Typing ‘Basque’ into Google’s search engine can lead you into a whole world of pain when trying to research an article on the Basque Country. But the saucy underwear does take its name from the region.
3. The Basque country is a proud corner of Spain (and a smidge of SW France) and is culturally, ethnically and dialectally distinct from the rest of Europe. Basque (Euskaldun) means one who speaks the language (Euskara), and the country (Euskal Herria) is where the language is spoken. The language is unrelated to and pre-dates any other Indo-European language.
4. The origins of the Basque people are shrouded in mystery and history. They are genetically distinct from the rest of Europe. They are believed to have been hanging out in the same area since pre-historic times and maybe descendants of Cro-Magnon man. So science boffin types say anyway.
5. In a bit of a self-defeating move Spanish Primera Liga football fellows Athletic Bilbao only allow players born in the area to play. Imagine the devastation that would cause to the English Premier League- most teams would have no players. Bizarrely (and more on that word later) the team do pretty good.
6. San Sebastian is famous in surfing circles as being THE place to go out on the piss when wanting a change from the Dicks Sand Bar/ Rock Food / Napoli thing in Hossegor. Home as it is to great bars, big measures, endless pinxtos (tapas) and great restaurants- fact: it has more Michelin starred eateries than any other city in Spain. Another fact: the brothel popular with pro-surfers closed years back.
7. Guernica is the last town of any size you drive through on the way to Mundaka. It now thankfully has a bypass. Guernica is also a famous painting by Pablo Picasso- inspired by events in the Spanish Civil War when the Spanish gave the Nazis a big thumbs up to test their new fandangled dive bombing Stuka planes on the joint. They flew past Mundaka on the way up the river to carpet bomb the place. Nice.
8. Bilbao was renowned as a polluted, industrial shite-hole. It’s been spruced up in the last 20-years and now ain’t so bad. It even got used in one of Brosnan’s Bond films. The famous Guggenheim Museum is the symbol of the town; the awesome building by architect Frank Gehry is considered one of the architectural wonders of the world.
9. Mundaka is the best river mouth wave in the entire world. It breaks a lot in the winter, sometimes for weeks on end, when it’s not winter scoring it good is about as rare as fresh unicorn dung. When it does break there are about 150-people in the water… and they are all in front of you in the queue. Not that there is a queue. Drop-ins are common (as are beards), fisticuffs happen, the sand bar is packed like concrete and the wave will tear you a new one if you stuff it up but it is still one of the top-10 waves on the planet.
10. The word 'bizarre' comes from the Basque word 'bizar' which means beard. So beards are literally bizarre. Weird eh?
