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In Georgina's Words

“I highly recommend the experience to others who are wanting a walking holiday / retreat in an area that is memorable, beautiful and different, with a host who is all the same and more.” Niven. Johannesburg. International Coach. 2015

Blog

In Georgina's Words

Topics related to our Basque Country self-guided and guided walking holidays based at our farm near the Baztan Valley in the Spanish Pyrenees.

5 Ways Not to Speak Spanish in Spain

Sunday, 09 January 2011 by Georgina Howard

1. Make a bee line for Spanish resorts full of other British people. Here, you will often find impatient English-speaking shopkeepers and waiters who find nothing amusing in waiting half-an-hour for you to mumble your order in broken Spanish, when a two-minute conversation in English would suffice. 2. Head for the large metropolises full of busy

Published in Learning Spanish in Spain

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Forget the Brits who don’t speak Spanish what about the Brits who don’t speak Brit?

Wednesday, 05 January 2011 by Georgina Howard

Relaxing in the afternoon on farmhouse terrace

My beautiful friend from Manchester (with the equally mancunian name of Zosia) has lived in the city of San Sebastian for the past 25 years. As an English teacher she always complains about the X-pats in Donosti (the Basque name for this most beautiful sea-side city) who, after years married to Spaniards/Basques, and totally integrated

Published in Basque Lifestyle, Learning Spanish in Spain, Spanish-English differences

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Spanish language course and Walking holidays – Green (and Blue) Exercise Boosts Mental Health

Monday, 02 August 2010 by Georgina Howard

John, Paul, Sonja and David after a dip in the river near Arizkun

In defence of the Spanish language and walking holidays we run in the Pyrenees I remember an article on how living near green spaces can be shown to improve mental health. Thanks Paul for routing it out for me! Add these findings to those of a previous article on my blog on how exercise is shown to aid mental agility and memory and it therefore makes

health language learning Nature Pyrenees Spanish language Spanish school teaching walking

Published in Exercise and Learning, Learning Spanish in Spain, Walking in the Pyrenees

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Basque Rural Sports

Monday, 02 August 2010 by Georgina Howard

Another guest post from Veronica of La Recette du Jour. Being in a country where you don’t speak the language well enough to understand everything that’s going on gets you into some odd situations where you can discover all sorts of interesting things you would never have guessed the existence of otherwise. Yesterday was one

Basque Country Basque Culture Basque history basque traditions

Published in Basque Culture and Tradition, Visit the Pyrenees

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Home-made Basque cheese

Thursday, 10 June 2010 by Georgina Howard

A guest post from Veronica of La Recette du Jour. We took the opportunity of living a few months at Iaulin Borda in Ameztia in the Navarran Pyrenees. It is next door to a sheep farm run by Sagrario and her husband, Ignacio, so we to went over one day to find out how our neighbour makes

Basque Culture basque traditions Gastronomy

Published in Basque Culture and Tradition, Basque Food

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The Humble Origins of the Pyrenean Experience

Monday, 07 June 2010 by Georgina Howard

Me at my mobile office in the early days

(Here is an except from Corporate Woman Magazine 2003 on the first humble origins of my company, ´Pyrenean Experience’). Re-edited in 2016. The Humble Origins of the Pyrenean Experience At 34, I left my Danish lover, determined to make a few changes in my life: firstly my sense of direction – I had always intended to

Georgina Howard language learning Spanish school walking

Published in Basque Lifestyle

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Language & Walking – and Science

Monday, 07 June 2010 by Georgina Howard

Learning Spanish as we walk the Pyrenees

When I started our Spanish Language and Walking holidays 12 years ago the combination seemed to make good common sense! Not only would I, at least, get to do two things I loved, but the walks appeared to add another dimension to language learning all of their own. Walking immediately put people at their ease – they could hang

language learning Spanish conversation Spanish courses Spanish language teaching walking

Published in Exercise and Learning, Learning Spanish in Spain, Teaching Spanish

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Smuggler Friend – Koikili (part 1)

Friday, 28 May 2010 by Georgina Howard

Koikili and my daughter, Marion, 6, at our Pyrenean mountain home

Ask Koikil what he does for a living and he will say that he is an unemployed smuggler. Like many of the people here on the Basque/Spanish – French border Koilki was a very young child when he first accompanied his father on his night smuggling missions over the Pyrenees into France. Born in 1955, Koikili’s family had a tradition of horse breeding and so he has

Basque history comet line Pyrenees smuggling

Published in Basque Culture and Tradition, Basque Lifestyle

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Cultural Awareness …. or Not. Kissing the Danes.

Friday, 28 May 2010 by Georgina Howard

Words are not the only tools of communication, and failing to be aware of the differences between cultures, their traditions and values, can sometimes cause far greater misunderstanding than any linguistic shortcomings. Living in France and Italy I adapted effortlessly to the tradition of greeting each other with kisses on the cheek. In some places

Published in Spanish-English differences

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Farming by the Moon

Friday, 28 May 2010 by Georgina Howard

Amatxi in the vegetable garden of Zubialdea in Ameztia

One of the striking things I have learned in this Basque farming hamlet of Ameztia, is just how much of daily life is affected by the moods of the weather and the cycles of the sun and moon. Amatxi, (our adopted grandmother of 83), always says that the full moon heralds a change in the weather. Yesterday there was

Basque Culture basque traditions farming

Published in Basque Culture and Tradition, Basque Food, Basque Lifestyle, Wildlife of the Pyrenees

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The Romance Languages

Friday, 28 May 2010 by Georgina Howard

Similarities between the Romance Languages The similarities between all Romance languages are striking, even to the novice. The Spanish and the Italians, and the Spanish and the Portuguese do not have great problems understanding each other. Having learned one Romance language you have an excellent basis for learning the next, not only as far as

language learning Spanish courses Spanish school teaching

Published in Learning Spanish in Spain, Teaching Spanish

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Griffon Vulture Nesting Grounds in Itxusi

Wednesday, 19 May 2010 by Georgina Howard

Vultures coming to rest on the rocky crags of Itxusi

One of our most spectacular walks is to the protected area of Las Peñas de Itxusi where we walk along the clifftops of the most northern, ‘natural’, Griffon Vulture breeding grounds in Europe. Itxusi is the Basque word for ‘ugly’, a name given to the area by the shepherds who dreaded loosing a sheep to

Birds Nature Vultures walking

Published in Basque Country Walking, Walking in the Pyrenees, Wildlife of the Pyrenees

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Spanish Courses in Spain. One good reason to learn Spanish with the Basques!

Tuesday, 18 May 2010 by Georgina Howard

The Costas Spain is wonderfully diverse; not only do its foods and fiestas change tantalisingly from one region to the next but so too do its accents! So where best should you look for Spanish courses in Spain? The ´Costas’ can be struck off the list pretty quickly. They are so full of

Basque language Spain Spanish conversation Spanish courses Spanish language Spanish school

Published in Learning Spanish in Spain, The Basque Language

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Spanish-English Bi-cultural House Parties

Wednesday, 12 May 2010 by Georgina Howard

Bi-cultural Spanish/English Pyrenean House Party 2000

In 1999 my first ´bi-cultural´ house parties gained coverage on national Spanish television. They were bizarre, great fun, hard work, a fascinating show case for cultural differences between the Spanish and the English (and a nightmare in parallel marketing!) The farmhouse hosted a roughly equal number of Spanish and English-speaking guests and, during this 10-day

Published in Spanish-English differences, Teaching Spanish

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Carnivals in Ituren. Recognised by UNESCO.

Tuesday, 20 April 2010 by Georgina Howard

The Basque Carnivals of Ituren, Zubieta and Lantz in the tiny mountain villages of the Spanish Pyrenees have now been officially recognised by UNESCO as an invaluable part of Europe’s cultural heritage!* (The mysterious nature of the Basques, their inscrutable language and impenetrability of the Pyrenees has long kept the prying eyes of the 21st

Basque Culture Basque history Carnivals Ituren ituren carnivals Joaldunak Pyrenees

Published in Basque Culture and Tradition, Basque Lifestyle, Ituren carnivals

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