Before the borders of modern Europe hardened into lines of power stretching across the Pyrenees, the Basque people lived with a quieter kind of authority—rooted in land, language, and community. Since the Middle Ages, they governed themselves through local councils that gathered beneath the great oak of Guernica. That tree was more than a landmark; it was a living symbol of continuity. Its branches offered shelter, its trunk a place of assembly, and its roots a reminder that identity, like nature, is sustained through interdependence and preservation.
Category: Spain
Looking Up in Madrid & Portugal
It’s early fall in Spain & Portugal, the grape leaves are beginning to turn stripey red, the flowers are past their prime, but everywhere I look, something marvelous is in view. In Portugal, along the Douro River, terraced vineyards cover the hills. Olive trees grow in a line marking a border from the top of the rolling hills down to the river.