Easter in Basque Country

I just got back from a great road trip up to Basque country in the north of Spain. The Basque country ("País Vasco" in Spanish and "Euskal Herria" in Basque) is an amazing place! It's lush and green and looks more like a cross between Ireland and the California coast than like the rest of Spain. I spent time in Bilbao, which houses the new Guggenheim museum. As well as San Sebastian, a few coastal towns, and the lovely beach town of St. Jean de Luz in the French Basque region.

Basque is a cool language. While not much is known about its origin, it seems to be derived from the extinct Aquitane language which was spoken in the Pyreenes and southwestern France during Roman times. It is otherwise completely unrelated to any other known world language. While not as common as Catalan in Catalunya, Basque is spoken by as many as 600,000 people, and most of the road signs in Basque country are written in Basque (often times with the Spanish translation crossed out by Basque nationalists). It's also spoken in parts of France as well as in the Navarra region of Spain, further south.

I was fortunate enough to be there during Easter week (Semana Santa) and witnessed some of the grand parades and festivities that took place. Throughout Spain this is an important holiday and worshippers dress up in hooded outfits that that represent religious brotherhoods (hermandads) that originated in the medievel church. Check out some of the photos I took of the processions.



The Guggenheim museum was well worth the visit. Currently they are showing an exhibit of Russian art that is the largest collection ever shown outside of Russia. It ranges from early medievel iconographic paintings to modern works from contemporary artists. It's especially strong in 19th and 20th century Russian art and offers a fascinating glimpse into the art of Russia.



The Guggenheim was definitely one of the highlights of my visit, but overall I really enjoyed my time in Basque country. It's a unique place with a special feel all its own that is very distinct from the rest of Spain - one might even say it's "magical". It's also amazingly beautiful area with lush green hillsides studded with shaggy herds of sheep and beautiful beaches. It was a pleasant surprise, I'll definitely be going back.

My First iMix on iTunes

Just created my very first iMix on the iTunes store. This one is called "Electric Blues" and features some of the best blues guitar players jammin slow and hard.

Playlist Description:
Deep, Bluesy, Electric guitar sounds from some of the greatest guitar legends. If you like gut-bucket Blues with an electric twist, this is your mix. Click here to listen.

Playlist:

Leaving Home - Son Seals
Now You're Gone - Buddy Guy
Somebody's Sleeping In My Bed - Buddy Guy
Cotton Picking Blues - Son Seals
Laundromat Blues - Albert King
Electric Church Red House - Jimi Hendrix
Born Under a Bad Sign - Jimi Hendrix
Once I Had a Woman - Jimi Hendrix
Herbert Harper's Free Press News (Electric Mud) - Muddy Waters

Mozilla Web Developer Extension

Lately I've been working on a redesign of my main publishing site NoEnd Press, using CSS. I bought the excellent book Professional CSS Cascading Style Sheets for Web Designto help me get a better grip on CSS. This book cost me 55€ here in Barcelona, but it's worth it, probably one of the best CSS books around. One of the best tools I've found so far, thanks to the book, is the the Mozilla Web Developer Extension from Chris Pederick. If you use Mozilla/Firefox (and you SHOULD), this extension is a must for any Web Developer. It adds a menu and toolbar to Mozilla with some seriously useful features (screenshot above).