Human grocery store

To most of the world Guernica is a Picasso painting or a place that was bombed during the Spanish civil war -- or else something they've never heard of. (The painting was only sort of a result of the bombing: The Spanish Republican government had commissioned it and Picasso had started making sketches before the bombing actually happened. And, the commission was originally offered to a Basque artist, Aurelio Arteta, but he turned it down to be with his family in exile in Mexico.) But to the Basques, Guernica (Gernika, in Basque) is home to their laws, The Fueros, which are about as important to them as their language is. And that's pretty damn important.

Historically the Basques made laws and decisions and agreements under an oak tree in Guernica. I don't know how often things happened literally under the tree -- I imagine more got done in the round fancy meeting room next to the tree -- but a tree is a much better symbol than a conference room. It wasn't that the Basques' Fueros were so different from the laws of whoever most wanted to take over the Basque country at any particular time, but they were their laws and not someone else's. So anyway, the Germans and Italians were helping the Fascists/rebels/Franco's side during the civil war and they bombed the hell out of Guernica. But they didn't hit the tree, and it went on to die a natural death in 2004. (It hasn't always been the same tree -- they don't live forever -- but it's always been a descendant of the original tree.)

There wasn't a lot to do in Guernica today because the museums were closed, but it was market day. The bombing happened on market day, anyway (easier to kill more people if they're all shopping in the same place), so that felt kind of historical. And it also meant lots of free samples of artisanal cheese.

To be honest, I don't love Guernica the painting as much as I'm probably supposed to. But still, if I ever come to rule the world, I'm getting it the hell out of Madrid and moving it to Guernika. (Unless the Basques would rather have it somewhere else.)