A fun day among cows, mushrooms, horses and cliffs

Have you not been able to go on vacation or have you already returned and are a little depressed?… It will be because you have not considered the number of options you have to spend a few different days. Holy Week and Easter offer a world of nearby possibilities for those who are lucky enough to have days off. Facing adults or going with the kids. We present four activities close to home that will make you forget the dreaded return to work or class.

Mushroom picking sounds more like autumn, as it turns out that this time is also ideal for going out in search of them. It is time, therefore, to sign up for a
exit through nature to distinguish the varieties available in this season and classify them… don’t think about culinary binges. You will do it just twenty minutes from Vitoria by car, through the Gorbea, the mountains of Vitoria, Opakua… accompanied by an expert mycologist who will talk about each finding. «We will look for, for example, the morchella esculenta, which has the peculiarity of having a honeycomb shape, hence it is also called morel. You have to be careful with it because it is doubly toxic, a risk that disappears when dehydrated. The other is thermolabile, that is, it is eliminated with temperature. That is why it is possible to collect it for sale once it is dehydrated, although there is always some toxic left when rehydrated, which is reduced when cooking, nothing dangerous in any case”, comments José David Fernández.

You will look for verpas, a genus of slightly warty ascomycete fungi, which are distinguished from others because the union between foot and cap is formed at the end of the latter, leaving it practically free in its entirety. Helvellas, fungi also ascomycetes, strange mushrooms with a flute-shaped structure and a hairy lower surface. Or the marasmius oreades, the senderuela, which grows in the shape of a circle, an arch or forming a circle that is usually called a circle of witches. And the calocybe gambosas, the perretxiko of all life, which emerges in March “and is used during the San Prudencio festivities, to savor it with snails, here in Álava for example,” Fernández concludes.

Take the family and get to know the life of the baserritarras, the hustle and bustle in the garden and the care of the animals. The project
belaze shows this trade in the Zenitaldekoa farmhouse, in the Zenita neighborhood. “We base ourselves on ecological and sustainable production, respecting nature and its diversity. We try to transmit these values ​​to those who are close, because we love what we do and we like to share it with others”, specify its promoters. The idea is to complete an active tour of the house, the plantations and the stable, to feel and enjoy the rural routine through all the senses.

“The little ones in the house are always excited to see the animals up close; the cows are our protagonists, since they give rise to the star product, the yogurt, which they will be able to taste at the end of the activity”, they promise. Nature and flora adorn the environment; they will encourage you to respect it. Zenita is also distinguished by old buildings, mills, stone farmhouses, laundries, even the Uratsa sulphurous water source and the Argiñeta necropolis, one of the most important funerary monuments in the Basque Country. «We will give the opportunity to learn about both the dairy project and the animals that share space in the farmhouse. Together we will be able to verify the differences between the life of the farmhouse before and the current one”, they assure.

«Turks, Mongolians and Germans reign in the international competitions of this very famous discipline outside of Spain. Emulate a
ancestral activity, used almost since the beginning of time, or at least since we humans managed to tame horses». The phrase is pronounced by Jose Miguel Larrinaga, who will accompany you on this adventure in Barrika. He takes the opportunity to try it since there are only four clubs in the entire country that offer it.

Attentive to the development, because it extends an hour and a half in an intense appointment. The first 30 minutes will serve to familiarize yourself with the bow and shooting, standing and sitting. The next 30 you will practice riding on the back of your equine, you will learn to communicate the orders. “It is important to know the correct position of the body both when aiming and on the horse, to handle it with the feet, because then the participant will have to shoot without reins, directing the animal only thanks to legs and feet”, he assures.

There is half an hour of activity left to combine what has been learned and try aiming on three targets. «It is very safe, it takes the horse at a walk and, although the arrows are real, instead of ending in a point they have a suction cup. It is about hitting the shot during the line movement, the curves only serve to reload the bow. It gets complicated at that point, but it’s a lot of fun », he emphasizes. You can sign up on Saturdays from 6:00 p.m. and on Sundays from 4:00 p.m.

Many of us are excited by a boat ride, it makes you feel that you are really on vacation. The one-hour visit starts from the Txomin Agirre wharf in Zumaia and shows, from the Bay of Biscay, a different perspective on the great book of evolution on Earth that is the
Costa Vasca Geopark. The place was declared a UNESCO World Geopark in 2015; In this way, they marked its special relevance at the international level in terms of geological landscape of exceptional value. Why? Because in the strata of the coast from Deba to Mutriku and Zumaia there are traces of the extinction of the dinosaurs and other key moments in the history of the planet.

The guided tour covers the maritime part of the protected biotope. “We will get to know the spectacular flysch cliffs, with a history of more than 50 million years, large landslides over 100 meters high, hidden coves and one of the largest tidal flats in Europe,” the organizers explain.

You will contemplate the harmony of green pastures and forests that follow each other from the coastline to inland, although the important thing is what their entrails tell. As the weather in the area is capricious, in case of cancellation of the appointment if it gets ugly, they offer the possibility of making the outing on foot, to get to know in depth the natural and geological heritage with a short walk on the cliff. “We will go to the famous hermitage of San Telmo, where we can enjoy the incredible landscape offered by the imposing cliffs”, the scene of ‘Eight Basque surnames’ and the ‘Game of Thrones’ series.