Iratxe and Txema should be sponsored by the municipality of Liendo. They absolutely love living there and will tell you exactly why: the peace and quiet, the space, the green, it's proximity to a variety of beaches and mountains, hiking and biking trails...and it's only ten minutes from beach-town Laredo, and 30 from Bilbao! Their friends and family thrive on the convenience of city-living and therefore think they're crazy to live "in the middle of nowhere". City living in the Basque country means the butcher's, the baker's and the candlestick maker's all within walking distance from your house, and daily afterwork get-togethers at bar on the corner for catching up over a wine and a pintxo. Unless you're a farmer, why would you want to live in the country?
But from a North American perspective, they live no farther from the major amenities than most drive-to-get-a-loaf-of-bread suburban communities. Except, well, you can buy fresh bread everyday at the general store in the centre of the village (this is Spain, after all). I'm all about city living myself, but at the end of an idyllic weekend at their place, I was ready to move into the spare bedroom and stay put.
My visit coincided with a mid-winter warm snap, and we sure took advantage of it. We biked around the winding roads of the valley, up the mountain, down to a secluded rock beach. We saw houses built in the medieval stone houses, expansive hilltop views of the Atlantic, and at different moments had to stop to let a donkey, and a herd of sheep cross our paths. They showed me various beaches, parks and lookoffs around Laredo. Sunday it was even warm enough to eat lunch outside on their patio.
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