The contradiction lodged immediately: tourists sheltering beneath an 'INDEPENDENTZIA' banner while the door below it read 'NO SE ADMITE PROPAGANDA.' Basque language surrounded the scene — red-star banners hung between Old Town buildings, graffiti on waterfront concrete blocks, ikurriña flags above wet alleys. The waterfront held it too, tags and tags. Then there was Monte Igueldo's amusement park, stopped mid-decade, weathered gnome figures beside an empty ticket hall — a space that had nothing to do with either independence or tourists, just time.
