Returning to Gernika

When I walked through Gernika last year in the Camino del Norte I made a decision to come back and see the town properly and in particular to visit the Peace Museum. I returned to Gernika today. In between times I saw Picasso’s Gernika in Madrid’s Reine Sofia museum.
Today it’s a peaceful green place, impossible to imagine it’s almost destruction by German and Italian airforces at the request of Franco, the choice of projectiles aimed to cause the greatest number of civilian casualties. The Peace Museum, with its excellent English guidebook, was a salutary experience.

Afterwards I walked along the river Oka which eventually led me to the Urdaibi Bird Centre overlooking marshes, it was once a fish canning factory. The observation tower, which was very quiet, had several telescopes, I could have spent most of the day there. A good selection of birds and helpful young staff/volunteers pointing things out, including a fine purple heron, a spoonbill and bizarrely a straying sheep which caused some excitement.

Back in Gernika I returned to the storks nest in the Inglesia Santa Maria, still no activity. I was just in time to catch an Euskotren back to Bilbao. The warmer weather seems to be returning, late afternoon it was creeping up to 30.

Extra, the permanent exhibition outside the Peace Museum in the Foru Plaza.