Bilbao; safekeeping in parking lots; and Basques (including food)

Bilbao Museum, Frank Gehry, back

This is the back of Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum of Art, design by Frank Gehry. See www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/ingles/home. There are surprises wherever you look.

In the front is a two-story huge puppy form, covered with live impatiens plants. We liked the spider.

The guidebook says to beware your belongings in any car left in the lot there, locked or not. Best to park elsewhere and walk, and always keep money, passport and tickets with you. If you lose stuff out of your car, just tell the police, buy more Right Guard and set up a time to meet with the airport people about your passport early, and enjoy the rest of your trip anyway. Happened to us at Blarney.
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Bilbao Museum, Frank Gehry, side
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Basques.The homes look alpine, as makes sense given the Pyrenees mountains; and the geography itself is very different from the rest of Spain.

I understand that the Basques were excellent navigators, and that genetically they match with Irish and Welsh Celts, see news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1256894. Other sources say they migrated from Eastern Europe. Their language is different, as are their customs. 

Groups that do not absorb, retain their identity: salute.  How to accommodate a drive for self that wants to live free of intrusion of others, when old territorial boundaries are disregarded.  How to address the rights of those who annex land by invasion, long ago.  Nationhood - a complex concept.

Basques and others that will not be subsumed: a long history to be checked out. 
Coming closer!

For food: try www.buber.net/Basque/Food/Recipes/.

One of our best dinners, going all out with the tablecloths and all, was in Bilbao. Fine dining occasionally is a must, and the skills needed are useful anywhere - practice which fork, where and how to cope with a huge linen napkin. See planetrjl.tripod.com/LaFraughName/id9 - fine Basque menus.