San Sebastián

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My first stop today was to the Parc Animalier des Pyrenees (see photo). This animal park has exhibits where the human visitors walk through and the animals live in areas that are as much like their normal habitat as possible. It is clear that people feed the creatures because, unlike most zoos I have visited, nearly all of the animals moved immediately toward me as I approached their compounds (see photo of me and birds). The park's most controversial exhibit is the brown bears (aka grizzly bear). The park has several young ones that I saw (see photo), but others have been purposely released into the wilds of the Pyrenees Mountains and have so far been able to maintain a tenuous hold on survival. Not everyone is happy about having large carnivores roaming the area once again. After a pleasant morning looking at "wild" animals, I drove across the southwestern part of the country to St-Jean-de-Luz. It used to be famous as a pirate town, then as a fishing port, and now it is primarily a resort destination. It is the southernmost town in France on the Atlantic Ocean and it has a carefully maintained beach. See photo of hotels, then breakwater, then beach, then ocean. I only stopped by to see the town, but am not staying there. Instead, I pushed on to San Sebastián, a similarly touristy town across the border in Spain. From here I plan to explore Basque Country.

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