Exploring the Basque country!

After an easy 2 hours' drive from Pau, we finally arrived at our holiday destination – Biarritz, where we met up with Joel and Francoise. We were staying at a kind of holiday complex owned by the VTF (an association that tries to offer affordable holidays to families). But not just any old holiday complex – this one is built on the grounds belonging to a 19^thcentury castle, built by an English sea captain (the rather impressive castle – actually a “monument historique” - is still the main building). Our apartment was very nice, with an equipped kitchen and two bedrooms, as well as a little terrace.

The action started the next day with the welcoming session by the site director. We took the opportunity to sign up for some activities (a hike, and a surfing course for me, yikes!). The intro session out of the way, we set out to explore the Basque country. The appropriate place to start the exploration is, I believe, Bayonne. Bayonne is the capital of the French Basque country, and also the soul of the French Basque country, one could say (especially during the big Fêtes de Bayonne in beginning of August – too bad we missed it!).

We started off our visit by checking out Grand Bayonne, which is the oldest part of Bayonne (there used to be a Roman settlement here), and also the most lively and commercial part. It's a very picturesque part of town as well, with traditional Basque architecture dominating (white half-timbered houses). We spent a bit of time in the beautiful cathedral, a rather important stopping point on the Santiago de Compostella pilgrimage trail, with its famous organ, as well as the neighboring cloister (which is, apparently, one of the biggest ones in France).

We then made our way across the river Nive to Petit Bayonne, also a very picturesque part of Bayonne. Apparently, it's a bit less fancy than Grand Bayonne, and also more lively. There are a couple of museums that are apparently worth visiting here (such as the Basque museum), but we didn't linger for long... We decided to take the scenic drive back to Biarritz, which gave us a pretty good introduction to Biarritz, actually. Biarritz is quite different from Bayonne – it feels much less Basque. I guess that might be due to the fact that most people in Biarritz are tourists, at least this time of the year ;) The architecture is also rather different – Biarritz used to be one of the most fashionable seaside resorts in France, as reflected by the fancy and impressive villas that dot the rocky coastline (the villas reminded me of those we saw in Dinard, in Brittany, more than of those found where we live, on the Cote d'Azur). But Biarritz surely has a kind of classy charm, and those beaches do look very inviting indeed!

On Monday, we decided to head out and explore the Basque countryside a bit. We started our tour by heading to Espelette, a famous Basque village, known for their dried red peppers, used to spice the local cuisine around here. The red peppers are very much in evidence everywhere you look, since most of the houses are decorated with them. Espelette is justly famous as a very picturesque place – all the buildings in the village are pretty much built in the traditional architecture, resulting in a very harmonious look.

After spending a fair bit of timing walking around the quiet streets, me and Mathilde made our way to the church, located a bit outside the town center. It is a rather typical example of a Basque church. From the outside, they look pretty unremarkable, in general, but the interior is quite different to churches elsewhere in France. The main distinguishing feature are the multi-story wooden galleries along the sides of the church (often built on three levels), and there is also often a model ship hanging in the ceiling. I really like the Basque churches, and in particular the one in Espelette.

We ended up having lunch in Ascain, another pretty little Basque village. We found a nice hotel restaurant with a terrace, where we tried a bit of the local cuisine, with some Basque cider to go with it (more about the cider later...). The interesting thing about the hotel where we had our lunch is that it's here that Pierre Loti wrote his famous novel Ramuntcho – a very symbolic novel for the Basque people, apparently. Mathilde actually spotted a copy of the book in the restaurant... After lunch, we visited the church that was located just next to the restaurant –another great example of Basque church architecture, it was very similar to the one we visited in Espelette.

Our short village tour done, we made our way back to Biarritz, where we took the opportunity to visit the famous rocher de la vierge at Biarritz – possibly its most famous landmark. The statue of the virgin was mounted on the rock in 1965, and a few years later a footbridge, designed by Eiffel, was added to gtive access to the rock. Can't deny it, the views from the rock towards the coastline and the Biarritz seafront are hard to match! Me and Mathilde then spent half an hour or so walking around Biarritz.

To finish off a very active day, I had my first surfing lesson (I mean the kind of surfing that's done with a board, not with a computer). It was quite good fun, although I reckon my physique and sense of balance (or rather, lack thereof) aren't really suited for this sport. Well, I did my best, and did get a few nice glides in – but the moment I gracefully tried to jump on top of the board, things went all wrong... Oh well, at least I tried it ;)

The next day, 'twas time for our hike. The hike was taking place at Panes d'Ichusi, just on the Spanish side of the border. The drive up to the beginning of the hike was quite an adventure, taking us up some pretty narrow, sometimes vertigo-inducing, mountain roads, until we finally found ourselves at the start of the hike, at Col de Mehatche. We then dutifully followed our guide though some very pretty landscapes, until we arrived at the Panes d'Ichusi, a kind of canyon, known to be frequented by vultures.

The vultures were indeed the main attraction of the hike, we were lucky enough to see literally dozens of them, either perched on clifftops, or silently gliding amongst the mountain peaks. A truly amazing experience – and I certainly put my teleobjective to good use! Our guide was also very knowledgeable, we learnt loads about not only vultures, but also about the surrounding landscapes (like how the pastures and hilltops are managed and exploited by the locals) and Basque culture in general. A most interesting way to spend half a day – and nice to see a bit of pristine nature as well!

For the evening, we had signed up for the Basque evening at the VTF. Things kicked off with a rather nice Basque dinner, buffet style, where we got to try a few Basque specialties. Things then continued with some folkloric Basque dances. Quite good fun , all in all!

The next day, it was time to explore the Spanish side of the Basque country!