{"id":6378,"date":"2024-10-02T17:21:40","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T15:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travesiapirenaica.com\/?p=6378"},"modified":"2024-10-02T17:21:42","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T15:21:42","slug":"baztan-bidasoa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travesiapirenaica.com\/en\/baztan-bidasoa\/","title":{"rendered":"Touring the valleys of Baztan-Bidasoa: Navarre overlooking the sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atlantic Navarre, the humid, evergreen valleys and lush forests. A land of noblemen, of shepherds, of Indians who came from overseas; a frontier land, a kingdom of smugglers. When the high peaks soften and the rock gives way to a landscape of meadows and forests dotted with farmhouses and small villages.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

The river Bidasoa flows towards the Bay of Biscay, in an apparently calm course, which could be the perfect metaphor for these valleys. To the east, the Baztan, to the west, a corridor that opens up to the north in the Regata del Bidasoa. Valleys that invite peace and quiet, idyllic green landscapes and colourful villages.<\/strong>. Dotted with small villages, most of which have no more than 200 inhabitants. Elizondo, Lesaka and Bera are the villages of reference, with less than 4,000 inhabitants, and a multitude of farmhouses amidst meadows where the latxa sheep graze. Mikel Albisu, geographer and historian, who decided that his life was in these mountains, welcomes us at the tourist office of the Bertiz Park as a guide and has been running the Beintza Hostel, Orbela, since 1990. \"The Navarre that looks at the sea, the humid one\".<\/strong>he tells us in front of a model of the whole region. Mikel describes a region that knows no frontiers, where the boundaries are defined by the river - the Baztan, as far as Oronoz-Mugaire, and Bidasoa, as it will be called from there onwards.<\/strong>- which rises at the peak of Astat\u00e9, near Erratzu, and flows into the Bay of Biscay via the Bay of Txingudi, between Hendaye and Ondarribia. The Baztan-Bidasoa region is formed by Baztan, Bertiz, the border valleys of Xareta<\/strong> (Zugarramurdi and Urdazubi\/Urdax) and the Bidasoa regatta <\/strong>(Malerreka, Bidasoa and Cinco Villas). \"The mountains act as a barrier to the humid sea air\", massifs crowned by peaks such as Larhun (900m), Autza (1306m), Mendaur (1131m) or Aiako Harria (832m) form a perfect funnel that justifies the eternal green and rainfall of 2000 litres per year.<\/strong>. A mild climate, very changeable, from tropical heat in summer to mild snowfall in winter. Meadows, bracken, beech and chestnut forests<\/strong>. Man and ecosystem come together in a humanised, moulded landscape, in which traditions and uses have found shelter. Beeches, the remains of charcoal kilns, the \"kisulabe\" - kilns for making lime -, the farmhouse, the house as a farm and a means of subsistence in a hostile environment, its organisation, shepherding, smuggling, carnivals, gastronomy, everything is proof of this. The traveller will be immersed in customs, local history and legends -or all intermingled-, nature, seasoned by products and gastronomy that are born from this chimera.<\/p>

\"Bazt\u00e1n-Bidasoa,
Bazt\u00e1n-Bidasoa, the eternally green valley \/ Photo: Eduardo Azcona<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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