WHAT TO SEE
Amalurra/Mother Earth – Route around La Galea headland
Photograph on loan from Getxoko Liburutegiak - Getxo Municipal Libraries
The deapie Amalurra route pays tribute to Mother Earth, the matriarch of all amas (mothers in Basque) and the all-powerful source of life. Mindful of the respect with which we need to treat our environment, we kindly remind you that you will be passing through conservation areas that must not be altered. Please feel free to take photos, make drawings, create memories...of the local fauna, flora and fossils, but please do not take any of them away with you. When you next visit this area, you are bound to be pleased that everything is exactly as you remember it.
Over the course of this route you will be constantly hearing the name "Galea". It is used to refer to the cliffs, the headland (Punta Galea), a surfing championship (Punta Galea Challenge), and to an extensive flat area that begins here and stretches up to a private golf club, Real Sociedad de Golf de Neguri. Until the 19th century, these were common lands used for grazing cattle from Andra Mari.
Would you like to know why the Aixerrota windmill was built, walk along the axis of the syncline (sloping rock strata) of Bizkaia, find the 'golden spike', and discover how some of the most beautiful beaches along the Basque coastline were formed? You would? The let’s head for La Galea!
AMALURRA, 4,530 Ma
According to Basque legends, Amalurra ('Mother Earth' in Basque) is the supreme matriarch, the goddess who created the natural world.
Amalurra is the one who breathes magic into the eguzkilore (the silver thistle or carlina acaulis - 'sun flower' in Basque). In rural areas in the Basque Country, it is traditional to place this flower on the doors of farmhouses, the caseríos, to ward off witches (sorginak) and evil spirits. The eguzkilore casts its own spell that distracts these malignant forces by making them count the hairs on their heads until they are startled by the dawn without having performed their dastardly deeds... This is how Amalurra provides protection during the night.
Caves and mountain peaks are said to hold the doorways leading into the depths of the Earth, where Amalurra guards its treasures...Considering the spectacular landscape this route passes through, you might well come across some of those entrances here...
1. La Galea.
Millions of years ago, La Galea and the sea were on the same level. Can you imagine that? The sea level began to fall due to the increase in the volume of water stored in the ice caps.
2. Aixerrota Windmill (1726).
Aixerrota, a veritable symbol of Getxo, was built because of a devastating drought at the beginning of the 18th century. During the 60 years it was in operation, it ground both fine flour for making talo (a kind of tortilla made of corn flour) and ordinary flour for cattle feed. Today, it is an art gallery and bar/restaurant.
3. Basalt rock, "geology in full view".
A stone monument that marks the promenade’s importance as a geological route. This rock symbolises the relationship between territories through shared geological features and the interdependence between all the species that inhabit this planet.
4. Woodlands, a habitat for flora and fauna.
The promenade is flanked by rows of tamarinds. This is a species of tree that is commonly found beside the sea because it can withstand strong coastal winds. Together with the pinewood on our right, they are home to guillemots, razorbills and other sea birds
5. La Galea Fort (1740).
Also known as the Castillo del Príncipe, or Prince’s Castle, it was designed by an engineer called Jaime Sycre to protect the coastline against the threat posed by the English navy. It is a historically strategic emplacement for keeping watch over the sea: in the Middle Ages beacons were lit here to guide seafarers... and now in the 21st century the clifftop is the perfect vantage point for looking down on the Punta Galea Surfing Challenge
6. La Galea Lighthouse (1933).
Since 1933, this lighthouse owned by the Bilbao Port Authority has still served it original purpose. It has an aerobeacon lantern (thanks to the glass dome the flashes can also be seen by air traffic) with a range of 27 miles (approximately 43 kilometres).
7.Bizkaia Syncline, Punta Galea-Oiz.
We are walking over one of the tectonic features that define the major structures of the Basque-Cantabrian Basin: the Punta Galea-Oiz syncline. This geological formation is like a millefeuille cake, with the most recent strata occupying the middle part
8. Tunelboka Beach.
Tunelboka -tunnel mouth- is the place where for years sewage from the Bilbao area was dumped into the sea. The materials on this beach contain numerous “techno-fossils”: glass, bricks... Furthermore, in the 1950s it was used as a quarry (stones and sand) for building houses.
9. Flysch rock formation.
The tidal erosion that smooths the surface of rocks is called “rasa” in Spanish, giving rise to the term paleorrasa, or flysch formation, which can be seen at Barrika-La Galea. It is a flat surface that was formed during the Quaternary, and the seafloor rises above sea-level. It can be seen at the foot of the cliffs at low tide.
10. Fossil bed.
The central axis of the syncline is made up of calcarenites, loams and fossils. The ones you can find here may look like molluscs, but they are in fact plankton! These are single-cell organisms with a spiral-shaped shell that look like several sizes of lentils. Please remember not to collect any, as you are in a conservation area.
11. Gorrondatxe-Azkorri Beach.
The sand on this beach has been hardened in part by the carbonate deposited here in the waste from the nearby steelworks, the now defunct Altos Hornos de Bizkaia. There are another two factors that make this beach such a special place from an environmental perspective, namely, its ecosystem of dunes and the natterjack toad. What’s more, it has a golden spike, an internationally recognised geological marker.
Have any of the landmarks on the route conjured up a memory?
Or perhaps a building, a landscape, an image has caught your eye...
Share your #Getxodeapie experience on social media.
¿Ganas de saber más?:
You still have another 13 routes, with the following being the closest:
