I just got back from a few days in the Basque Country. It seems the people there are very keen on Lord of the Rings…
If its a hobbit theme they were going for, then I would have went with “There and Back Again Tours”.
By chance, did J.R.R. Tolkien have anything to do with this area (perhaps during his WW I service)?
Funny it is in a boat, since Hobbits can’t swim.
Oh, so it is in Bilbao…did you go to the Guggenheim Museum? I LOVE museums?
It’s to do with the main city of the Basque region, Bilbao - which, in Basque, is written “Bilbo”. Hence “Bilbobus”.
But on a more serious note, Basque is an extremely ancient language. Older than any existing European language. Older than Latin or ancient Greek. Probably older than ancient Egyptian.
Tolkien was a philologist, and a Professor of Anglo-Saxon. He studied ancient European languages all his life. He must have been aware of the status of the Basque language and folklore. I don’t believe it was an accident that he named his main character “Bilbo”.
Yes, we went to the Guggenheim. As a Brit, I found it a little odd - like it can’t decide whether it’s a museum or a theme park.
There’s a bridge on the river side, that has fog generators installed under it. Every now and then, the visitors disappear into artificial clouds. It was fun. There’s no rule saying galleries have to be serious.