-Mungia Tour

MUNGI TOUR

• Lauaxeta: It is the school where we study. This building has the name of a famous poet who was killed in the civil war.

• “E”-> Euskararen ikurra: This monument is in honour to the Basque language, Euskera. It changes its position, it is always moving with the wind.

• Torrebillela: Torrebillela is a castle in Mungia. It is one of the oldest buildings in the town and it was built in the 14th century. Nowadays, it is a public library and inside it, it has a small cinema too.

• San Pedro Church: It was built in the 12th century. Nowadays, the front of the church is the only part of the church that hasn't changed.

• Andra Mari Church: It is the oldest church in the town. It was built in the 14th century. Nowadays, it has been refurbished and it is used for important events.

• Plaza “Alkartasuna”: This fountain was built in 1983 and it is situated in the middle of Mungia. Next to it there is a big “M” which presents Mungia´s first letter. There are two squares: “Foruen Enparantza” and “Matxin Enparantza”. The market is held in this place.

• Agirre Jauregia: This palace is a historical building from the 18th century. Inside it, there are some Town-Hall offices and it is a music school nowadays.

• Town Hall: It is the town council of Mungia. It was made in 1900. This building has Basque characteristics and it also has the pelota court inside.

• Fronton (pelota court): It is a very big place with lots of seats where you can see pelota matches. When the town's festivals are celebrated, some famous pelota players come and play here. It was refurbished some years ago.

• Olalde: In this building a lot of different kinds of culture activities are held, like dances and concerts. There is a café too. Outside the building there is a place where you can play some Basque sports.

• Railway station: The old train went from Mungia to Erandio, another town in Biscay. We only have this wall to remember the station. Nowadays it is also used to put rides on festivities.

• Olentzeroren etxea: Landetxo’s family built in the 1510 the first farm of Basque Country, so it's the oldest farm house of Bizkaia, After that, they lived there more or less three centuries. After four centuries of that occurred, in the 1999, Mungia’s town hall, decided to broke down the building. Finally, they built again the house and nowadays, it is cultural center of the mythology of Basque Country which tell stories and legends of the Basque mythological characters.
• “Idi-probak”: They are a typical basque sports. They are part of Basque tradition and they are still famous. They consist in a veeeeeery big cow carrying a huuuuuuuuuuge, enormoussssssssssssssssss and bigggggggggggggggggggggg stone. This “floor” makes them it easier to carry it. In front of here we can see a typical bar of the Basque Country.

-"Sea invaders" Workshop

Blue Jellyfish 

 Conger Eel

 Starfish

  Orange Jellyfish 

Sea Cucumber

 Fish

The street artist Space Invader visited Bilbao years ago. He put up mosaics inspired in the old video game all over the city.

More information about Space Invader:

http://spaceinvaders.nirudia.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0b90YppquE

-Ilargia

-Basque recipes

TALO.........................................................

WHAT IS TALO AND  HOW TO MAKE IT:  

      Talo is a omelette made using flour from various native varieties of corn in the area of Mungia (Biscay), Basque Countries. For many years, particularly in the post-war period, talo and white beans had been staple foods in the diet of rural people in this region. It was the main element of every meal, from breakfast to dinner.

        The local varieties of corn used to make talo produce small cobs with very small compact grains, and have short growing cycles. They are usually sown together with white beans to benefit from the ability of beans, as a leguminous vegetable, to fix atmospheric nitrogen. 

          Associating these two crops has enabled minimal quantities of fertilizer to be required (traditionally manure provided by cattle from the same farms). Another feature of producing the corn flour for Mungia talo is roasting the cobs, which is done at low temperatures in wood-fired ovens at farms. After the cobs are roasted, the grains are removed and stone ground in watermills. 

         Formerly there were about a hundred of these mills, a proof of how important the activity was in the Butrón river basin of the Uribe district. Only four still operate.

The grinding process is very thorough and produces a low volume of excellent flour. 

The flour is kneaded with warm water and salt to make talo, a thin disk about 15 centimeters in diameter which is cooked on a hot steel plate. 

Talo is now mainly eaten at holidays, accompanied by chorizo sausage, bean soup, dried salted cod or, as a sweet treat, chocolate.

At village festivals talo is often prepared in a txosna, a stand containing cast-iron electric plates.

STUFFED PEPPERS..............................................

INGREDIENTS:

-MILK

-MINCE MEAT

-FLOUR

-RED PEPPERS

-OIL

-TOMATO SAUCE

HOW TO MAKE IT:

1) First, you clean the red peppers. 

2) Then you start making the white sauce. To do it, in a pot, you put a little bit of oil and you beat it with flour while you add the mince meat and the milk.

3) Then, when the white sauce in thick, you put it in a plate and you leave it there for about ten minutes. 

4)Then you start stuffing the red peppers.

5)Finally, you make the tomato sauce. In a pot you put the tomato sauce and flour (not much) and the stuffed peppers. You cook them for 6-8 minutes.

MUSHROOMS....................................................

INGREDIENTS:

-MUSHROOMS

-OLIVE OIL

-GARLIC

-HOT SPICES, if you want

HOW TO MAKE IT:

1)Clean the mushrooms, cut them in any shapes, whatever you want.

2)Heat some oil in a pan, and cook it between 20-30 minutes with a bit of garlic.

3)When you see it looks like you can eat it, take them and serve on a plate.

OMELETTE.................................................

INGREDIENTS:

-EGGS (6)

-POTATOES (4)

-SALT

-OIL

 HOW TO MAKE IT:

 1)First you must peel the potatoes and chop them in small pieces.

 2)Then beat the eggs and fry the potatoes in oil.

 3)Later, when the potatoes are fried, drain them well and mix it with the beaten eggs.

 4)Then add the salt and put it in a frying pan.

 5)Finally turn the omelette and it´s finished. 

“MARMITAKO”: TUNA CASSEROLE...........................

INGREDIENTS:

-POTATOES

-FRESH WHITE CLEAN TUNA

-OLIVE OIL

-ONION

-GREEN PEPPER

-CARROT

-PAPRIKA

-WATER

-WHITE WINE (1 GLASS)

-TOMATO SAUCE (3 SPOONFULS)

HOW TO MAKE IT:

1)Chop the vegetables

2)Fry a little with olive oil the garlic, pepper and onion

3)Lower the flame, add the carrot

4)We let the ingredients get soft

5)Add white wine and leave the alcohol evaporating

6)Peel potatoes and cut into pieces

7)Add the potatoes to the sauce and add paprika (leave 30 min to soften the potatoes)

8)Cut the white tuna and remove bones

9)When the potatoes are soft we add the tuna and we leave it with the flame off, to cook it with the heat of the pot.

10)After 5 min of rest you can serve it.

Urban Coast

        Bilbao port was built in 1300. The Port of Bilbao is on the eastern side of the Bay of Biscay This privileged geographic location allows the Port to act as a link with the main international ports and it has especially good connections with both the American continent and the north of Europe. 

      Over 200 regular maritime services link Bilbao with 500 ports worldwide. As in the Basque Country there was a lot of iron ore, it was very industrial some years ago, but it is more a shipping port. 

   Bilbao’s pre-Guggenheim era was dominated by steelworks, yards and other port activities. But when they built the Guggenheim museum the city started a touristic era.

Sea Sports

 TRAINERA (Rowing)

       A trainera is a traditional boat of the Cantabrian sea coast at the southern end of the Bay of Biscay, propelled by oars.. Traineras were dedicated to the catch of anchovies and sardines. Today, this historical tradition has become a major racing sport. These races called “estropadak” are popular in the Basque Country, Asturias, Cantabria and Galicia.        

        

       The most importat competition is Kotxako Bandera and there is a premier league Liga San Miguel. A race normally covers a distance of 5.5 km. 

SURFING

         Surfing is also a popular sport in our shores. Some good surfing beaches in Biscay are Mundaka, Bakio and Sopelana. Billabong Mundaka Challenge and Sopelana’s Roxy Girls Champ are some competitions held here.

SNORKELING

             When there are not waves for surfing and the sea is calm, snorkeling is a good option. The clear and oxygenated waters of the Basque coast host a wide variety of sea animals. Remember they are not souvenirs!

Biodiversity

        Gaztelugatxe is a peninsula near Bakio with a hermitage on top. The peninsula and the surrounding waters are a sanctuary for sea plants and animals.

         The first marine reserve in Gaztelugatxe Protected Biotope can be found within the line drawn by internal waters and the coastline.

          The high quality of its waters, transparent, well oxygenated and without the presence of industrial and urban waste, favours biodiversity.

Here are some animals that you may see in the area.

Hermit crab

Mussels

Sea cucumber

Moray   

Horse-mackerel

Conger eels

Anemone

Limpets 

Sea bass                                                                                

Octopus

Sea urchins                                                                 

Spider crabs

Fish Dishes

Txipiroiak (baby squids in their ink)

Ingredients: 

baby squids, onions, olive oil, squid ink.

Pil pil cod

Ingredients: 

cod, olive oil, garlic, red pepper. 

 Kokotxak (cheeks of hake)

Ingredients: 

cheeks of hake, olive oil, garlic and parsley.

 Txangurro (spider cab)

 Ingredients:

 spider crab, onion, green pepper, white wine, olive oil.

 Marmitako (tuna casserole)

Ingredients:

 fresh tuna, potatoes, onion, green peppers, tomato, olive oil, water.

Basque Whalers

          If there is one animal from Basque tradition that is linked to the world of myth and magic, it´s undoubtedly the whale.

          From the Middle Ages to the 19th century, one of the main activities of Basque sailors was hunting the whale in the Bay of Biscay, Iceland and later Canada, especially Labrador and Newfoundland.

           

         A man would watch from a tower and alert the sailors, who would row towards the whales and hunt them with harpoons. The most expensive product was the fat, which was used as lighter fuel as it burned without giving off smoke and was odorless. 

Bizkaia Bridge

         The Bizkaia Bridge is a transporter bridge that links the towns of Portugalete and Las Arenas in the Biscay province of Spain. People call it the Puente Colgante (literally "hanging bridge").

         The 45-m-high bridge with its span of 160 m, merges 19th-century ironworking traditions with the then new lightweight technology of twisted steel ropes. It was the first bridge in the world to carry people and traffic on a high suspended gondola.

         It is the world's oldest transporter bridge and was built in 1893, designed by Alberto Palacio, one of Gustave Eiffel's disciples. The service was only interrupted once, for four years, during the Spanish Civil War, when the upper section was dynamited. Palacio saw his masterwork partially destroyed just before his own death.