Guía para vivir y trabajar en Bizkaia

The Basque Country provides a top-class cultural environment in which art and history exist in perfect harmony alongside a broad cultural offering including events such as internationally famous music festivals and more deeply rooted celebrations: Jazz Festivals in Getxo (http://www.getxo.net/castellano/cultura/getxo_cultura_jazz01.asp?MNU_Id=196),

Donostia- San Sebastian (http://www.heinekenjazzaldia.com/?language=es) and Vitoria- Gasteiz (www.jazzvitoria.com/) .

We cannot fail to mention the relationship that Donostia-San Sebastian has with the cinema. This can be seen from the San Sebastian International Film Festival (www.sansebastianfestival.com/), and the no less prestigious Horror and Fantasy Film Festival which is held in the city at the end of October.

The Basque Country is also a land of great artistic richness, one in which cave paintings can be found along with a wide range of megalithic monuments and archaeological sites from different historical eras. The Roman, Gothic and Renaissance periods are all present in emblematic monuments in the three territories; without forgetting the current importance of the Basque Country in terms of new modernist architecture.

In this summary of the cultural features we must make a special mention of the interesting and high-quality museums in the Basque Country: The Bilbao Guggenheim Museum (www.guggenheim-bilbao.es/) is an international benchmark for contemporary art, the Artium, Basque Centre-Museum of Contemporary Art (www.artium.org/) in Vitoria- Gasteiz and the Bilbao Museum of Fine Arts (www.museobilbao.com/). In addition, there are ethnographic museums, various interpretation centres and the possibility of discovering the hidden secrets of the Basque Country.

• Museums

Álava

www.alava.net/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1193045487374&pagename=DiputacionAlava%2FPage%2FDPA_listadoMuseos

Bizkaia

www.bizkaia.net/Kultura/Ondarea_Bizkaia/Museos.asp?Tem_Codigo=3908&Idioma=CA

Gipuzkoa

www.sansebastianturismo.com/info/sansebastianturismo/turismo_cultura.nsf/fwCategoria?ReadForm&idioma=cas&id=T433636&cat=Museos

• Caves

http://www.turismoa.euskadi.net/s11-19150x/es/?searchGUID=r01kpd01103986d7b36deb5ab8a691a6d64a44453&newContext=contextNew

• Archaeological Remains

http://www.turismoa.euskadi.net/s11-19151x/es?r01kQry=tC:euskadi;tF:turismo;tT:h_cultura_y_patrimonio;m:documentPublicationInfo.EQ.1,documentLanguage.EQ.es,templateType.LIKE.H5,cultureType.EQ.0015;pp:r01PageSize.10

• Palaces, Towers and Castles

http://www.turismoa.euskadi.net/s11-19158x/es?r01kQry=tC:euskadi;tF:turismo;tT:h_cultura_y_patrimonio;m:documentPublicationInfo.EQ.1,documentLanguage.EQ.es,templateType.LIKE.H5,cultureType.EQ.0017;pp:r01PageSize.10

Food and drink

In the Basque Country food and drink are considered to be part of our culture. The extraordinary quality of the raw ingredients and the wide range of natural seasonal products have led to the Basque Country becoming internationally synonymous with good food.

The most traditional features are the wide range of "pintxos", traditional snacks which are ever closer to being miniature creations, the cider bars, the gastronomic societies and the food festivals which have seen the creation of the most cutting-edge dishes by the chefs forming part of the movement known as "New Basque Cooking".

Also worthy of special mention are the wines produced in Rioja Alavesa, created within the Denomination of Origin Rioja. In addition to its Rioja wine, the Basque Country has its own wines such as the Basque wine "Txakoli" from Bizkaia, Getaria and Araba, which has also received Denomination of Origin, and the cider with its many fans, particularly during the "cider season" which runs from January to May.