Pasaia Maritime Festival
Pasaia Maritime Festival
Pasaia, one of the most beautiful and best-kept secrets in the Basque Country, will pay tribute to its maritime tradition and history by hosting the 2018 Pasaia Maritime Festival in its spectacular bay, an event which will be held from May 17 to 21. This first meeting of traditional vessels will feature L’Hermione at its first edition, a replica of the great eponymous French vessel built in 1779, which became famous for taking the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States, to help in the struggle for American independence.
The original warship was in service between 1779 and 1793. Its reconstruction began in 1997 in the naval dockyard of Rochefort and was launched on September 7, 2014. After its maiden voyage to the USA and subsequent return to France in 2015, L’Hermione will dock in Pasaia in 2018 and will be the last stop on an international tour that will include the ports of Barcelona, Sète, Marseille and Monaco.
The five-day Maritime Festival, which will be held every two years, will be one of the most important events that will take place this year in the Basque Country, as it will bring together historical and traditional vessels from different parts of the continent. For five days, the waters and fishing districts bordering the Bay of Pasaia will offer visitors a cosmopolitan ambience and a full programme of cultural, gastronomic and musical activities. This picturesque fishing town will, therefore, be the meeting point for different European maritime cultures.
Pasaia is located in one of the most spectacular natural bays on the Basque coast, just a few kilometres from San Sebastian. Looking at the narrow estuary that gives access to the most important port in the San Sebastian Region, it seems unbelievable that large ships have docked here since time immemorial. The fact is that Pasaia was the main whaling port in Europe, from where the great Basque expeditions set sail to Newfoundland for centuries.
Albaola, the Basque Maritime Factory
It is precisely because of the seafaring roots that the town of Pasaia has that Albaola, the Basque Maritime Factory, was located here, on the side of the beautiful canal, where for the last three years an exact replica of a 16th-century whaling nao has been under construction in front of the public.
Albaola is a champion of the great value that maritime heritage has for this region, which, back in the 16th century, began to build the first transoceanic wooden vessels that crossed the Atlantic, due to its strategic location between San Sebastian and the French border and because there was a good supply of raw materials for shipbuilding.
San Sebastian Region
