Gernika

Lots of tourists who visit Gernika find it a somber or intense experience. The city's best known as being the site of a huge bombing in 1937, when Franco got his pal Hitler to drop a bomb on what was then the traditional Basque capitol, destroying almost everything accept a gorgeous old church and an oak tree.

But I chose to visit on the last Monday of October, which may be one of the most festive days on Gernika's annual calendar. Gernika's well-known for it's weekly Monday farmers' market, but El último lunes de octubre combines an extra-large market with music, drinks and festivities as part of the town's fiestas.

It was grey, cold and raining hard, but that didn't stop the party. The whole town centre was filled with stands and stalls selling local cheeses, vegetables and fruit, flowers, honey, and even tractors and clothing. Sagardoa, or alcoholic apple cider, is a local speciality, and most stands would sell you a bottle and pour the whole thing into plastic cups for you to drink while wandering around the market ( or to chug with your teenage friends while huddling under an awning.)

I tried txakoli, a Basque sparkling white wine, and lots of local cheeses. I really wanted a talo, which was a sausage wrapped in this hand-pounded dough tortilla thing cooked over an open fire. But after waiting 30 minutes in line at the food table, listening to old people yelling at the young server boy in Basque about how bad a server he was, and him yelling back at them how if you wanted a hand-made talo you'd have to be patient, and them yelling back at him that young people these days have no respect for their elders, I decided to opt for more cheese and cider.