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Published: July 17th 2015
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Beach at BiarritzSaturday 11 July San Sebastián
Settled into our apartment and awoke on Saturday to an overcast and mild day for a change. We are here for three days so a good chance to catch our breath. We walked along the promenade at the main beach of playa la concha. Not much happening in town. Did some washing and looking forward to some relaxation time after a pretty hectic 10 days in Spain. We were also pleased it was a bit cooler. Julie not feeling great so she was resting and I decided to spend a few hours catching up on the blog. Phillip and Julie walked the town and also spent some time relaxing and reading. Quiet drink and dinner.
Sunday 12 July San Sebastián
The weather was fining up and Julie felt a lot better so we planneed a day trip. Our choices were to see the Guggenheim museum by Frank Gehry in Bilbao or take the shorter trip up to Biarritz on the French coast. We chose Biarritz and headed off for a 45 minute drive to the south west corner of France. It was very busy being a Sunday and there were locals and tourists
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Palais de Royale hotel at Biarritz everywhere. Finding a car park in these European towns can be difficult and we had to walk a fair way to the centre of town. We walked to the main surf beach which is a beauty and there were quicksilver and rip curl shops along the main beach. It is clearly a big surf town. It is also quite ancient and interesting with a rocky coastal walk to the south of the main surf beach. There is a typical walled marina for the local fishing and pleasure boats and restaurants and cafes around the headlands and coves. There are also fortifications around each of the headlands. heading back into the central town we enjoyed a coffee with the other tourists and wandered around the main shopping strip. It reminded me of Sorrento on the Mornington peninsula with exclusive shops and expensive stuff. I was going to buy a t shirt but baulked at 39 euros. Around lunchtime we headed back to San Sebastián and the weather had waned up and we all decided to have a surf. There were hundreds of others at the beach and families and kids with grandparents all having a good time, swimming, learning to surf,
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Biarritz from the cliff walk kicking a ball or playing racquetball on the beach. I enjoyed it and had a couple of swims. There were some great waves and it was fun to have a body surf. It was also fun to watch the European trend for women to sun bake topless. Phil and I could have stayed for hours. What wasn't fun were the older women in bikinis that may have fitted them 30 years ago waddling around the beach. We enjoyed an evening drink in the local square and watched as the residents and tourist gradually filtered out into the evening. We decided to go back to the tapas bar we went to on Friday night and I sampled the local pintxos. It was fantastic. A slice of baguette with a crab salad on it and then covered over the top with a slice of salmon. Then we ordered a steak each for main course! Not very brave.
Monday 13 July San Sebastián to Jaca (in the Pyrenees) via Pamplona
This part of the trip was beautiful and scenic as we made our way around the foot of the Pyrenees. The running of the Bulls festival was on in Pamplona and
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Hole in the rock at biarritz we had seen it on the news. It was on the road to our next stop so we found our way to a parking spot and walked in to the old town of Pamplona. Everyone, except us had white pants, shirt and a red bandana or waistband. It was amazing. the bulls had run at 8am and we got there around 10.30 so the main action was over. But the vibe was still there. We walked with the crowds to the start point where the bulls are released and walked the length of the course to the plaza de toro. The first part of the run is a significant incline and this must exhaust bull and runner alike. It is only about 800 metres for the whole course but it is narrow, twisting and rough. We also watched as the children ran in front of plastic Bulls on wheels pushed by adults so we saw the kiddie run! Took some photos of us all hanging over the rails and I bought a couple of t shirts. We had a coffee in the square and watched the tourists continue their drinking and decided it was time to go. The Pyrenees are
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Pamplona very rugged and there were many tunnels and interesting rock formation along the way. Our destination of Jaca Was really just an interlude on our way to the Costa brava on the East Coast of Spain. It is essentially a ski resort but it was very hot today and we all headed for the pool when we arrived. It was a very nice hotel with not much business during the summer off season so we got a very good deal. Jaca was a nice little town that wouldn't see many off season tourists and we found the old town to be interesting and vibrant in the early evening. We went to a lovely bar near the old church and had a drink and some tapas. We decided to stay for dinner and enjoyed a lovely meal plus sweets made by the owners mother (or so she said).
Tuesday 14 July Jaca to Begur on the Costa Brava
Again the start of the drive was delightful as we headed around the mountains and down onto the plains heading east. The drive then became a busy freeway as we headed on the main drag into Barcelona. We turned off before
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Kiddies bull run in Pamplona then and headed north up the coast towards the costa brava. More freeway until we approached the town of Begur where we descended a winding and steep road along the cliff tops to our hotel. The Agiublava hotel is a fine example of old world opulence. We had decided to stay here and spoil ourselves despite the cost as it looked like a lovely location in the Internet. Indeed it was. We had booked the cheapest room which was a garden view hotel room. When we checked in this had suddenly become a large one bedroom pad on the beachfront. Our front verandah opened up onto a small cove with a sandy beach, albeit only about 20 metres wide, but the Mediterranean was about 10 paces from our front door. What a fantastic stroke of luck. The hotel was a series of small buildings terraced down the cliff top and my description won't do it justice so I hope the photos we took will illustrate this and how beautiful it was. First up was a swim as it was still pretty warm. The water was clear and refreshing. there was also a lovely saltwater pool with sun lounges and a
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On the course bar. We all had a swim and soaked up some sun. After all this strenuous activity we needed some drinks on the terrace overlooking the sea and the coves up and down the coast and thanked our lucky stars to be alive and in such a fantastic place. Drinks led to dinner and we went to bed pretty happy with ourselves.
Wednesday 15 July Costa Brava
Breakfast was included in our rate so we enjoyed the views from the terrace and filled up on fresh fruit and the usual breakfast stuff. We decided to jump in the car and exlore the wider area a little. The geography of the area means there are no roads around the cliff tops and no views to be had from the car, so we drove to a small beach suburb called platje de Palafruggel. This was a small grainy sand beach with a designated swimming area in a cove surrounded by local flats and houses but with a big hotel on one point. It was full of locals and holidaymakers and it was just magnificent. At one end were kayaks etc for rent but essentially just a small local beach. The water
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Platja de Palafruggel was clear and refreshing and the chance to mix in with the locals and others was a pleasure. We all swam and enjoyed the sun for a while. There was no commercialisation of beaches like in Italy, no sunlounge rentals or sections of the beach closed off. Just all comers doing whatever they wanted. The sun got a bit much so we reluctantly set off back to the hotel after buying some drinks and lunch at a local supermarket. Some relaxation and reading was followed by a swim and some more time around the pool (under the umbrella) and pretty soon it was time for a drink. Gin and tonics on our deck overlooking the sandy beach was very nice and a perfect way to finish our day and the stay at Agiublava. We adjourned to the terrace restaurant for dinner and soaked it all up for another hour or two. The little cove at our doorstep was a working Fishermans stop and each morning during our stay a little fishing boat would pull up at the small concrete landing and three old men would start unravelling the nets and collecting today's (meagre) catch in a large white bucket. It
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On the fence of the bull run took them about two hours to do this and the return would have been minimal but I guess they had been doing this all their lives and it was worthwhile for them.
Thursday 16 July Costa Brava to Avignon
As we enjoyed another lovely breakfast on the terrace we soaked up the views and decided that this was definitley a highlight of the trip and somewhere we would love to return to. As I mentioned whilst the roads are close to the coast there are few opportunities to view the water or the seaside areas due to the nature of the geography and the cliff top homes. So it was back on the freeway and into France. We had loved everything about Spain and some of the highlights of the whole trip were here. Barcelona was beautiful, but busy, Valencia was fabulous and modern meeting old, Granada was just the Alhambra, Madrid was a fantastic modern and vibrant city, but noisy and busy. San sebastian was totally different because of the basque influence, Jaca was different again due to the Pyrenees. And the beautiful Costa Brava just topped it off. Spain we love you. So into France and
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View from our beach pad in Costa brava some serious tolls to pay. We need to find out who owns Vinci motorways and get some shares. On the way to Avignon we stopped in Narbonne which is the town where some Australians, including my friend Chris own the local rugby team. Rocky Elsom is a part owner and coach. So for Chris's sake I wanted to stop there. We parked and wandered around the Thursday markets and note the canal running through the centre of town had a lot of canal barges parked there. We had coffee ear the canal/river and soaked up a bit of French provincial scenery and market day activity. In to Avignon around 3pm and checked into our hotel located across the street from the entrance to the old walled town. Avignon is on the Rhone river and is the central town in the north of the Provence district. It is a massive wine growing region and also home to spectacular scenery and food. Th week is the Festival d'Avignon and there are thousands of people visiting here for this three week arts and theatre festival. The whole place is going nuts. After check in we battle the crowds to walk to the Pont
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Our beach pad in Costa brava d'Avignon (as in frere Jacque). Too late for a visit up to the pont so we walk around it and take some photos then head of for the place of the popes. Avignon is famous for being the home town of 7 popes in a period when the French ruled the Catholic Church. It too is closed so we head off for some drinks and dinner amongst the madness of the festival crowds. That's all I can write tonight, more to come on the last 10 days of this marathon.
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Steve Montgomery
non-member comment
Jeff and Julie,
Hi Jeff and Julie, Yes!!! I have finally worked out how to comment on your BLOG. You probably have all my other tempts but to recap. It is great to hear about the fantastic time you are having. You will obviously have many shared experiences with Phil and Julie, Brian and Sue and Bill and Lyn that will go to the retirement village with you. Please keep the BLOG coming. Selfishly it means i do not have to join FACEBOOK!.Very envious. Cheers Steve