
When the process of exploring your minute of latitude line around the world commences, the temptation is to hone in on the bigger places- for me that would be Bilbao, Spain, which is just a few kilometers to the North of 43.10- the exact latitude of minute which includes Manchester Center, VT.
And there’s nothing wrong inherently with excitement about bigger places. Bilbao is a major international destination of arts and culture, and it is exciting that it shares basically the same latitude as Manchester, VT. When I am in that area of Northern Spain, I will most definitely check it out and spend some time there.
But if we stick to our minute, we hone in on the places that a traveler might miss- places such as Arrankudiaga and Uriondo, just to the south, a fifteen minute drive from the heart of Bilbao. These places would most certainly be overlooked with a typical trip through Northern Spain. This kind of zooming in to the small places along a minute of latitude reveals a world we may have missed entirely.
The Latitude Movement honors small places- towns and villages often out of the spotlight, or specific parts of larger cities.
Uriondo is known for its wine, apparently celebrated for its complimentary notes for tapas.
Arrankudiaga is notable for its wikipedia entry, all of one sentence. Surely there is more to discover, but this is a key indicator that the town is off the beaten path, certainly for travelers to Northern Spain, just as most of every minute of latitude will be around the world, with notable exceptions (downtown Manhattan for BIG instance, 40.44 N, although even 40.44. N goes through smaller places like Forrest, Illinois).
The goal is to connect these small places around the world, all sharing the same day-length and latitude line.