Since time immemorial the Basques and the sea have had a special relationship. The Basques have always fished the waters off their coast. However, the search for more and better fishing waters led the Basques to become reknown not only for their shipbuilding techniques (to this day there is a thriving shipbuilding industry alonf the Basque shores of the Bay of Biscay) but also for their exploration. Having experience as well-traveled fishermen and whalers, they were sought after by many explorers to guide them or lead their crews. There are four examples of well known Basque maritime expers: Juan de Lacoza, who was Christopher Columbus' navigator and cartographer; Bolivar, Columbus' first officer, both from Biscaya; Juan Sebastian Elcano, born in Getaria, Guipuzcoa, who was Magellan's first mate and the first navigator to circumnavigate the globe after Magellan's death in the Philippines; and Andres de Urdaneta, a navigator that successfully used the Japanese Kuro-Shivo current to cross the Pacific, a technique that would not be studied untill several centuries later. It is this seafaring nature that leads modern day scholars to believe that the Basques were fishing the waters off the coast of America long before Columbus's arrival in 1492.

Festivals...