A trip to Cantabria and Asturias reveals Green Spain, a little known secret worth exploring, writes Rita de Brún.

Glad to be back: I was in northern Spain for a few days last week — the Basque Country specifically, and San Sebastian to be precise.

Far from the madding crowd, deep in the caverns of the birthplace of the once great bastion of altruistic volunteerism that was the GAA, a room full of megalomaniacs congregated.

Every once in a while whenever the notion takes them, the gods decide to even up the score and divert the course of history.

This was the sort of day we feared might be beyond Irish clubs again.

Donnacha Ryan has come a long way in a very short time, from Tipperary across the Pyrenees via Paris for a crack at joining one of rugby’s rarest breeds.

For rugby in Spain, hosting the Champions Cup final will be a welcome diversion from the World Cup qualifier loss to Belgium in March, says Brendan O’Brien.

It is a good job Josh van der Flier is a glass-half-full type of character. Only someone of a positive and optimistic disposition could view sitting in the stands in Bilbao this weekend as a sign of progress.

Last week was an extraordinary one for Irish sport. The rugby Grand Slam and Rory McIlroy winning in America followed a Cheltenham Festival where the Irish dominated the English in race after race, writes Paul Rouse.

A police officer has died after clashes between police and football fans before a Europa League match in Bilbao, Spanish police said.

Cork-born poet, Liam Ó Muirthile, was inspired by his journey along the Camino, writes Marjorie Brennan

Stormont’s Finance Minister has insisted he has no questions to answer over a party colleague’s controversial contact with a witness to an inquiry examining Northern Ireland’s biggest property deal.

Born in Burgundy, Antoine Griezmann left his home country to try and make his career in Spain at just 13, and is now returning, having shot to world prominence as the attacking star of Atletico Madrid’s Champions League campaign.

Joe McNamee ventures to the provinces of Cantabria and Asturias in North Western Spain where he swops the sun, sea and sangria familiar in the south of the country for some sun, sea and sidra.

Tens of thousands of Basques held hands yesterday to form a 123km chain stretching across the northern Spanish region calling for the right to hold a vote on independence.

In La Liga’s latest example of club chiefs writing cheques their teams can’t cash, Barcelona announced last Monday that its socios would vote in the new year on whether to spend 300m “remodelling” their current stadium or at least 600m on a new ground elsewhere in the city.

They may be under-represented on the airwaves here, but Irish female broadcasters have been flying the flag abroad for years. Dave Kenny looks at the women who have made an international impact

Malaga were hit by lightning and the death of coach Manuel Pellegrini’s father as they prepared for tonight’s Champions League quarter-final second leg at Borussia Dortmund.

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy secured backing for his austerity drive in a vote in his home region of Galicia yesterday, but a clear win for nationalist parties in the Basque Country could prove a headache for central government.

The number of suspected terrorists arrested in Ireland reached a new high last year.

Spanish international striker Fernando Llorente fired Athletic Bilbao into the Europa League final with a late winning goal in last night’s semi-final second leg in the Basque Country.

Moody’s has warned that it may downgrade Spain’s credit rating over the coming three months because of the country’s weak economic growth prospects as well as ongoing funding pressures.

THE outlawed political wing of armed Basque separatists ETA announced yesterday its rebirth as a new party that rejects violence and intends to contest elections.

THE outlawed political wing of Basque separatist group ETA said yesterday it would reject violence in its drive to be legalised, but the government said it must go further to be able to participate in elections.

ON the final day, The Greatest League in the World (copyright: Spanish Football Federation) ended with a whimper, not a bang.

THE Irish dream of yet another Heineken Cup perished yesterday at the Estadio Anoeta, San Sebastian, when, just like their neighbours Toulouse against holders Leinster on Saturday, Biarritz proved too good on the day for Munster, the 2006 and 2008 champions.

There is a crucial difference between talking to terrorists who are on the crest of wave, who believe they have momentum on their side, and those who have been made to believe their strategic commitment to violence is hindering their political aims

Yes, there is public feeling about the Palestinians and their rotten deal. I’ve never heard Chechnya being discussed on the DART, whereas I have heard Israel being trashed on buses as well as at smart dinner parties. Besides, who’s ever heard of a “Sri Lanka out of Tamil Eelam” march through Cork or calls for a boycott of Russia?

A CAR BOMB exploded in a University of Navarre car park in northern Spain yesterday, slightly wounding 17 people, after a warning call in the name of Basque separatist rebels ETA, the government said.

The North's Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, is travelling to Iraq today to take part in peace talks between the country's rival communities.

CONFESSION is good for the soul so, hands up, I was wrong last week. Like everyone else, I expected Barack Obama to win New Hampshire.

A book chronicling the cultural history of the Basque Country will be launched today by former Irish Times foreign correspondent Conor O’Clery.

POLICE in the Basque region said yesterday they had found a bomb in northern Spain, five days after a car bombing in Madrid that was blamed on the separatist group ETA and killed one person.

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce has had no offer for midfielder Ivan Campo from Athletic Bilbao.

The Spanish Government was urged by Gerry Adams today to respond creatively and positively to Basque separatist group Eta’s ceasefire declaration.

The Prime Ministers of Spain and France are to meet today to discuss European and cross-border issues including the thorny topic of illegal immigration.

IRELAND’S handball ‘compromise rules’ squad head to a major tournament in the Basque town of Azkoitia in Spain today.

SINN FÉIN could end up sitting where the Reverend Ian Paisley sat in the European Parliament if it wins a seat in the elections. But so could the MEPs from Fianna Fáil.

Bomb-making chemicals discovered by police in a truck driven by a suspected member of the Basque separatist group ETA were intended to explode in Madrid and would have caused a “massacre”, Spanish justice minister Jose Maria Michavila said today.

THERE were a number of Irish winners in the One Wall events at the World Handball championships at the O’Loughlins GAA complex in Kilkenny yesterday.