The famous Pasajes maritime festival, or Pasaia Itsas Festibala, will take place from May 9 to 12. A stone’s throw from Hendaye, nestles the Pasajes Fjord, a port well protected by the Ulia and Jaizkibel mountains. Its natural setting, everything…
The famous Pasajes maritime festival, or Pasaia Itsas Festibala, will take place from May 9 to 12. A stone’s throw from Hendaye, nestles the Pasajes Fjord, a port well protected by the Ulia and Jaizkibel mountains. Its natural setting, as much as its historical heritage, gives it every legitimacy to be for four days the epicenter of maritime culture with the third edition of the Pasaia Itsas Festival.
This biennial event brings together thousands of passionate visitors, with Chile being the invited country this year. The program includes activities on water and on land. More than 100 boats, of various sizes and origins, with sails and oars, will sail in the bay. The highlight will obviously be the boat parade which will open the festival on Thursday May 9, at 6 p.m. Then there will be musical shows, gastronomic tastings or exhibitions of local crafts for all tastes and all ages.
Traditional boats
One of the main attractions is the traditional boat exhibition, which will give visitors the opportunity to admire both small boats and impressive sailboats. This is the case of the “Phoenix”, 34 meters long, which took part in the film “1492: The Conquest of Paradise”, by Ridley Scott, and which can be visited during these days in Pasajes. In addition to the ships “Phoenix”, “Grayhound”, “Recouvrance” and “Le Biche”, the humanitarian maritime rescue ship “Aitamari” can also be visited because after completing its twelfth mission in the Mediterranean, it will dock at the San Pedro quay .
If visiting Pasajes is a unique opportunity to understand and immerse yourself in the close relationship between the Basque people and the sea, in the neighboring municipality of Errenteria, the Atlantikaldia festival takes place every September. The event celebrates the music and cultures of the peoples of the Atlantic, and it aims to recover and promote the maritime past of the city, by placing it facing the sea. The 11e edition of this festival will take place from September 19 to 22.
