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Published: September 4th 2011
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Le Grande Plage - Biarritz
Our first view of Biarritz's main beach. Not too inviting but surf school must go on! If you have never travelled on Ryan Air, do yourselves a favour and experience it at least once in your lives for it is quite the experience. It kind of reminds me of catching the school bus when I was a kid and having to give up my seat if a lady was standing. Fortunately there are enough seats for everyone, just, but that's where the luxury ends. Having said that, it's a reliable and cheap means of travelling in Europe and has a proud record of arriving on time, evidenced by the cavalry charge music and announcement played upon landing to celebrate another on time arrival.
So, this is how we ended up in Biarritz, France to start the next part of our adventure. When in Biarritz you are in Basque Country, an area that encompasses the south west of France and north west of Spain. Biarritz, and adjoining coastal towns are becoming very popular with holiday makers and are competing with the Mediterranean as they can offer good weather, sandy beaches and one added bonus, surf. It's full of beautiful people, but to me that's basically anyone under thirty! We only spent one afternoon and night there before
moving slightly more south to the idyllic little town of St Jean de Luz where we were to spend a week. It was a good night though, dinner in a superb and reasonably piced restaurant before we decided to have a crack at the famous Biarritz Casino. Everything was going to plan until a minor hitch at the entrance where we were required to show ID and in this case that meant passports. Of course none of us were carrying them and were refused entry. Mike thought that this went against every basic human right and contravened the Geneva Convention so decided to make a complaint at a higher level. Unfortunately, the cloak-room girl couldn't help either, but offered a sympathetic smile and we were out on the street again within minutes, probably much wealthier than had we been let in.
St Jean de Luz is only roughly 10 kms south and although no surf has one of the better beaches in the area. We all agreed that it has been the pick of our locations thus far. Our flat is on the 3rd floor of one of the more recent buildings, circa 1926, and is literally a 2
minute walk to the ocean, and one of those minutes is taken up descending the 6 flights of stairs to the street. By midday, the streets are packed with all sorts of interesting people making for a vibrant atmosphere. If it's tranquility you're after, simply venture before 9 and you virtually have the place to yourself. At 7:30 one morning, I was the only person in the water and one of 3 on the entire beach. Perhaps the highlight for me was on our first night when on leaving a restaurant we thought we heard music coming from the town square. On investigation we found thousands of people, of all ages, listening to a band playing a mix of French & Anglo rock n roll. The kids, and there was heaps of them, were having great delight in bombarding every adult within range with confetti. There was no respite when they ran out, either, as they simply scooped up all the stuff on the ground and let us have it again. I didn't know who was laughing the most, us or them.
All in all, it has been a splendid week with blue skies every day and temps in
St Jean de Luz Beach
Great to see the kids playing with the oval ball more than the round one! the mid to high 20s. We have ventured out for some day trips including San Sebastian and Bilbao, home of the Guggenheim Museum. Now there is an architectural masterpiece, not too sure about the exhibits we saw inside but, as they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We were fortunate enough to have climbed La Rhune a mountain not too far from St Jean de Luz which is 900 metres high and offers 360 degree views of real Basque country, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pyranees.
Trace and I arrived in Paris yesterday and things didn't go exactly as planned, but that is a story for another day. Suffice to say that we have got up, shaken ourselves and ready for the start of our cycle tour later today. I don't think that I will get internet access for the next couple of weeks but am looking forward to sharing what we hope will be great adventures.
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Jenny
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Looks like you are having a great time!! Thoroughly enjoying reading your Travel blog-very entertaining.Can't wait for the next entry! Keep safe!Love Jenny