It's Getting Boring by the Sea #2

I don't want to talk about it. Instead, let's continue on our adventure into the mysteries of the Spanish pensuila, and it is Spanish, forget it Portugal.

The Basque Country

FAMOUS FOR: Competitive Wood Chopping, Mullets, ETA
FAMOUS PEOPLE: Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits), Leopold Eyharts (Astronaut), Xabi Alonso

The fiercly independent Basques are survivors, whether it Romans, Charlemange or Francoists the Basques are still here. They are an ancient people who were here long before there was anything like a Spain, but for some reason they never spread happy to live in the mountains and by the coast in the north. They speak the mysterious Euskara the oldest living language in Europe and possibly the world with no links to any other langauge. Despite this they haven't been independent since the Romans. Some want this to change with a minorty resorting to violence in the form of ETA, who now are a largely defeated organisation. Most are happy to be left to govern themselves and for the Spainish to keep their noses out. Everything is political in the Basque country. They have a national football team which plays unofficial friendlies but they are unable to get a team together as they are in dispute with the Spanish FA over the name of the team. The Basques want to use a name that implies that Navarra is Basque, the Spanish want them to use the name of the three areas that currently make up the Basque country which would mean by definition that Navarra is Spanish. Nothing is simple. Its also the only place where metal is actually the most popular type of music, which means theres a frankly unacceptable amount of mullets.

Andalucia

FAMOUS FOR: Bull Fighting, Flamenco, Oranges, Being Insanely Hot
FAMOUS PEOPLE: Pablo Picasso, Hadrian (of wall fame), Federico Garcia Lorca (Poet and icon of Civil War)

Andaulcia is actually what we think of when we think of Spain. The heat, the bullfights, flamenco dancing, sleeping all afternoon. Andalucia is where you can see the biggest remaning influence of the centuries of Islamic rule in Spain. Andalucians have a reputation for being friendly but when trouble comes they disappear and for being a little lazy. It is now home to thousands of British people who have moved out to enjoy the benefits of drinking their own body weight of Stella in the sun rather than the pissing rain.

Aragon

FAMOUS FOR: Being Seiged, Crab Paste, Not being as good as Navarra
FAMOUS PEOPLE: Katherine of, Jose Maria Escriva (founder of Opus Dei and most recently deceased Saint), Ferdinand II and Isabella.

Navarra and Aragon have a rivalry that goes back centuries. Being next to each other means that whenever Aragon wasn't under siege from the French they were squabbling like children with middling to large armies. Ferdinand II and Isabella united the Spanish regions into the Spain we know and love today and drove out the Muslims at the same time. In Spanish history terms thats pretty important, you win that round Aragon. Ferdinand and Isabella were Katherine of Aragons parents and also parents of the unfortunately remembered Joanna the Mad. Being the birth place of the founders of the Jesuits and Opus Dei few can doubt Spain's contribution to the world of secretive Catholic institutions. Pamplona has the highest ratio of Opus members to population in the world. Opus have their university here too.

Knowledge is the bomb

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