On the Bay of Biscay: the legendary Mundaka

As an indissoluble part of that immeasurable Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, the small coastal town of Mundaka is, however and paradoxically, a fascinating universe to discover.

Legend has it - and let's never forget, that in every legend there is always a real fund - that Mundaka was founded by a Scottish princess, who arrived at these shores in the 10th century, presumably, that dragged her fragile ship by a storm similar to the one that dragged towards the Asturian coast and the fishing village of Tazones - and this is already history - to which it would be one of the most powerful monarchs in Spain: Carlos I of Spain and V of Germany, father of the no less powerful and Catholic Philip II.

The legend affirms, in addition, that by the special characteristics of its waters, they determined to give it the name of Mundaka, which in the Basque language means ‘clear waters’.

But the legend would not be complete, if it did not include a lineage - as in the fantastic story of the fairy Melusina and the Lusignan - that would maintain its relevance, from time immemorial: that of the Lords of Biscay.

Indeed, the Scottish princess, it seems, had a son named Jaun Zuría, who later became the first Lord of Biscay.

Off the coast, sharing prominence also with the neighboring village of Bermeo, a spindle-shaped rock, protrudes from the spine of a metaphorical dragon that was eternally submerged in the mysterious waters of the Bay of Biscay: it is the island of Ízaro.

His name is a complete enigma, well understood, because according to the mythology Ízaro was a reckless character, who dared to drive the Car of the Sun, without being prepared, and was about to produce a terrible catastrophe in the world.

In this sense, it attracts attention, the large number of characters, both biblical and mythological, associated with the wild coasts of Northern Spain.

It would be possible to mention, for information of the reader interested in the subject, the reference to Noela, granddaughter of the patriarch Noah, who according to tradition, arrived at a certain place on the Costa de la Muerte, founding the beautiful town of Noia or Noya.

Or for example, one of the great gods of the Celtic pantheon, Lug, whose name not only served as the root for the founding of inland cities, such as the Galician Lugo, but also, to transmit a founding continuity in coastal cities and towns along the coast Asturian, like Luarca and Lugones.

As part of a modern mythology, Mundaka and its wonderful beaches, are also legendary, because they show one of the longest and highest left waves in the world, a detail that is an attraction for surf lovers and other activities related, participating, in their annual competitions, surfers from countries as diverse as the United States and distant Australia.

Of the importance of Mundaka in the past, they testify, for example, the remains of the wall of the old fort, which still survive at the entrance of the port, which they formerly protected, in the precise place where it was built, in addition, in the 18th century a small hermitage, which in neo-Romanesque and neo-Gothic styles, remains under the invocation of an enigmatic figure: Saint Catherine.

And I say enigmatic, because like that relevant Major Arcan of the Tarot deck of cards, which is called the Wheel of Fortune, it is usually represented with a wheel, metaphor of the rosette or mystical rose that also used to be incorporated in the churches and monasteries of the Middle Ages, remembering, both large and small, the turns that life gives and the constant changes that it and its situations produce in people.

Next to the mouth of the port, the parish church of Mundaka, reminds us, in the remarkable figure of its invocation, the strong roots that tradition still produces in this brave town, whose ardor and sense of justice, humiliated the flower and cream of the Carolingian cavalry cavalry in Roncesvalles: Andra Mari.

Andra Mari, still dressed in the ceremonial costumes of the Christian Mary, is the most important figure in the rich and varied Basque mythology: the Mother Goddess, her dwelling being a cave, as tradition dictates, which is located, as it could not be less, in one of the holiest mountains of Euskadi: the Amboto.

But it is Mundaka, too, that of the old taverns at the foot of the port - 'a pied de port', like that old Frenchman of the Pyrenees, where many pilgrims begin the Camino de Santiago, which, incidentally, also passes through here - pregnant of pintxos and txacolí, delicacies that serve the most curious and unexpected fraternities and leave the sweet taste of tradition in the soul.

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