Southwest France: La Vie Est Belle, or, Un Baguette et Deux Croissant S'il Vous Plaît, or, Around and Around We Go

After our usual breakfast of fresh squeezed orange juice, cafe cortado, and a croissant/ yogurt and fruit, we leave San Sebastián, and drive north for about a half an hour before we reach the border to France. It seems like just another toll plaza, except that the signs begin to switch to French. No one checks your passport or really pays you any attention at all. I suppose because we are in the European Union. It is quite a beautiful drive through rolling hills spotted with houses with terra cotta roofs. And we are in France! Just like that. My first time here and not Joshes, although he has only been to Paris. This time, we are going to the southwest coast of France, and going to stay in Biarritz. 

We arrive there in the early afternoon, check out the town, and decide to drive north to Hossegor, a famous surf break at which contests on the ASP world tour are held almost every year. It is a beach break, and since the swell in this part of the world is huge right now, the waves are massive. The town is dead this time of year, something like home (Martha's Vineyard) in the winter I suppose. All of the windows of so many people's summer homes are boarded up and most of the businesses are closed, which makes for a pretty depressing-looking place, but you could imagine how in the height of the summer it would be a very beautiful, and buzzing place. 

Hossegor beach 

Hossegor beach 

Hossegor 

We luck upon a small local surf contest, with a handful of guys out in the massive surf. Maybe double and a half overhead?  It's something else entirely to witness huge waves- pretty awe inspiring. It was fun to watch. You could see a huge rip current that had formed heading out from the beach next to where the waves were breaking- some guys familiar with it use it to get out to the surf quicker, though most of us would be wise to keep our distance. 

Big waves, Hossegor 

In the late afternoon we headed back down to Biarritz, to look for somewhere to stay the night. We looked at a couple of places, and settled on a beautiful old renovated chateau, called Hotel Edouard VII, once home to the mayor of Biarritz, and once where Napoleon III received medical care when he visited the region. It was a beautiful hotel. It had character, French character, which was what we were looking for, and was charming in an antique way but had modern comforts as well. It was clean and our room had nice high ceilings, and the hotel receptionists were very friendly. The bed was huge and long, a plus for Josh who is 6'4. We had a pretty little balcony overlooking the street. We totally fell in love with it!

Entrance, Hotel Edouard VII

First moments in Hotel Edouard VII 

Our room in Hotel Edouard VII

Balcony Hotel Edouard VII

After getting settled, we went to stroll around town for awhile, down to the Grand Plage, the main beach, and stopped by a local bakery, one of many, to get a croissant and a baguette for a snack just because, we are in France. It is so amazingly good. Nowhere in the world does bread and pastries quite like France, it's true. We both love the town, and decide to stay for a few more days. 

Town beach view, Biarritz 

Bakery window, macoroons, Biarritz 

Josh, breakfast, Hotel Edouard VII

Dinner that night is at a French/ Italian fusion restaurant called Il Giardino, recommended by our receptionist. Alas, I took no pictures, but it was good! The appetizer that we got was tomato and herb seasoned ricotta wrapped in spinach with a mint sauce, and olive oil, an unusually good combination. For dinner, I got puttanesca sauce with linguine, and josh got lasagna, one of his favorite things. We both enjoyed our dinner although it wasn't truly exceptional in any way. 

The following day we went back to Hossegor to check the surf but the wind was on the water and conditions weren't good. It was a beautiful day though and we enjoyed the scenery, and some baguette with salami and olive tapenade from the local boulangerie for lunch. Then back to Biarritz, where Josh went surfing for a bit just to get in the water even though the conditions weren't the best. 

I checked out the local architecture and landscapes and store windows. The chateaux are all very quaint with their little gardens and various colors. 

Front gate, Biarritz 

Flower shop, Biarritz 

Flower shop window, Biarritz 

Private Residence, Biarritz 

Chateaux, Biarritz 

Biarritz 

That night we tried out a little local hamburger cafe called Bonheur: La Maison Du Hamburger. Josh got the classic cheddar beef burger with caramelized onions and I got a fish burger with house aioli and arugula. They were both really, really good! We weren't sure what to expect, and whether the burgers would be similar to those at home, but I would definitely recommend this place as an inexpensive option for dinner in Biarritz. To those who are wondering, yes, the burgers are just like a regular American hamburger but more delicious! We each got a tasty little beer called Mannekin Pils, from Belgium, which was nice and light but with a good flavor, and went nicely with our burgers.

Bonheur 

Beer at Bonheur 

Fish Burger, Bonheur, Biarritz 

Burger! Bonheur 

The next day we took a long walk around the city, down to the harbor and around to the break wall. They have a big bridge that goes out to a kind of fort, where we could observe the huge swells smashing into the rocks. The climate is really temperate and pretty comfortable. 

Café Du Commerce, Biarritz 

Beeakfast, Café du Commerce, Biarritz 

Breakfast Café du Commerce, Biarritz 

Breakfast Cafe Du Commerce, Biarritz 

Biarritz 

Biarritz

Biarritz

The people in Biarritz are pretty friendly and most of them speak a little bit of English, but being here really makes me wish I could speak more French! I remember a little bit from my high school french class but not enough to keep up with the people here. As soon as you even try to speak a little bit of broken French, most of them respond in English. I'll have to brush up on my French before I return! 

The bakeries here are truly unbelievable and we have been eating plenty of baguettes and croissants. Just the smell wafting outside of them and growing stronger as you walk inside is the most amazing thing. It is such a warm comforting delectible smell. If it were a color it would be the most cozy shade of ochre. Our favorite pastries have been the apple ones of all types- stuffed with apple and apple tarts. For lunches we have just been getting some salami and olive spread and fruit at the store and buying a baguette and having picnics.

Boulangerie, Biarritz 

Boulangerie, Biarritz 

Homemade lunch, Biarritz

One note about grocery stores in Europe so far (Spain and France) is that they no longer automatically give you a plastic bag with you purchase... you have to ask. A step forward for environmentalism, as there is so much plastic in our environment it is pretty much ubiquitous. It is slowly making its way into all ecosystems of the planet, and into the digestive systems of many animals. Any small effort to lessen the amount of plastic used is a step in the right direction which is good to see. I know that in some areas of the USA bag bans are in effect, but it really should become more widespread!

While we're on the subject of environmentalism, it is also important  to note that the majority of the cars over here in europe are very small, very fuel efficient vehicles. It is seldom that you spot an enormous gas guzzling SUV like the ones so common back home. 

Dinner our last night was a fancy one, and we tried another place recommended by our hotel receptionist called Le B2, a typical French restaurant. It turned out our waiter's (French) parents had a house on Nantucket. Small world. We got a great bottle of French wine with our meal, which is very different from Spanish wines and good in a different way. I wish I knew how to talk about wine better! As a starter we got scallop carpaccio- really good and light, and for a main, Josh got a beef filet with fries  and a salad, and I got fish (I guess that's getting a little repetetive, but I can never eat enough fish!). I think this time though it was one of the best of our trip! True to european style, the steak came as rare and rare can be. The fish came with skin on, but de-scaled, and on a bed of roasted veggies. 

Dessert was amazing too. We had to get the creme brûlée of course, and a small, beautiful and delicate pear tart. Both were insanely delicious. 

Scallop carpaccio, Le B2, Biarritz

Wine, Le B2, Biarritz

Fish, Le B2, Biarritz 

Filet, Le B2, Biarritz 

Pear tart, Le B2, Biarritz 

Creme brûlée, Le B2, Biarritz 

A digression: while we were in France, three days of terror happened in the Paris region, led by an Islamic extremist group who identified themselves as members of a branch of Al-Qaeda from Yemen. A manhunt ensued, ending up in a small town on the outskirts of the Paris region.  Starting with a massacre at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on January 7, to a policewoman being shot to death on the outskirts of Paris, to the killing of four hostages at a kosher supermarket, the attacks left 20 people dead, including attackers.  It was all over the news during our time there, a pretty crazy thing to happen while we were in the country, and very sad and scary. 

A couple more notes about France (or I guess I should say southwest France because I have never been anywhere else in France!)... There are dog poops everywhere! A lot of people have dogs and I guess they are too proud or lazy to pick them up, I don't know which, maybe both, but you better keep an eye out as you walk down the street because they are everywhere!

There are also a plethora of roundabouts in this country. They have rotaries everywhere in the world, but I think I've seen more roundabouts in France in the four days that we were here than anywhere else in my life! It starts to make you a little bit dizzy after awhile. 

Anyhow, we really fell in love with the little town of Biarritz, and will love to come back some day. 

The Spanish Basque Country: Scoping Surf, Drives Down Winding Roads, Plenty of Pintxos

Heading from Madrid in the center of Spain, to the north coast, or specifically el Pais Vasco in our case, is at first not a very beautiful drive. It is dry and barren and relatively flat, as the urban infrastructure and sprawl spreads outward from the city. There is low, bushy growth among the dry landscape. As you slowly get farther from the city, the mountains begin to rise in front of you with snow capping their uppermost peaks. I suppose it is beautiful in an open expansive way. In a barren way. The further you get from the city, the more life you begin to see, and it becomes more beautiful the farther you drive, and more lush the further north you get.

We took the highway most of the way, and had to pay a toll as we got close to Bilbao- it was almost 22 Euros! We were definitely not expecting that! Come to think of it though, the roads were definitely well maintained and clean, and we passed through a bunch of tunnels and over many bridges on our way, so that must be why. It takes a lot of work and engineering to build and design all of those bridges and tunnels!

We didn't have a good detailed map, or any help from cell phone GPS as neither of our cell phones work here, and so we had a somewhat hectic drive through Bilbao. We had to stop and ask a couple of women on the side of the road, one older and one younger with bright pink lipstick, who were very friendly but couldn't help us, and then another very friendly man at a gas station, who pointed us in the right direction. It was long past lunch by the time we got through Bilbao, and we stopped at a restaurant on the side of the road for some Cocido- very different from the one we had at Magali's house in Madrid- richer and with red kidney beans instead of garbanzos, and with the addition of more fat and Murcilla, blood sausage. More like a stew than a soup. Very tasty but a little heavy.

Driving over the hills to the coast is really a breathtaking experience. The first town you hit is Bermeo, a larger fishing town, at the very edge of the Atlantic, that you reach after winding down from the mountain roads toward the most picturesque view you ever did see, and to top it all off, it was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to set which always produces the most beautiful light. 

After driving through Bermeo, you hit Mundaka. One would never suspect that this town is home to a world class, world renowned surf break- it is very unassuming and humble. There are only a handful of bars and restaurants and hotels in the town, and more than half of them are closed this time of year. There isn't even a gas station or convenience store. There are, however, two shops selling surf gear and clothing open.

We stayed in Hotel El Puerto- chosen largely because the other hotels in town weren't open at the time of our visit, and also because of it's location- right at the edge of the harbor or port. It was nice! We had a small, simple room, but it was clean, and downstairs had a little bar to get coffee and breakfast in the morning. It was very modest, but it was all we needed, and it was close to the surf, and restaurants. Overall we had a pretty good experience there.

Mundaka, first sunset 

We went out to dinner both nights there, and went to lunch once- all of the meals were good, but our second night was the best. The first night we went to Asador El Bodegon, in the bottom floor of a large building located right next to the main square next to the port. We had Merluza a la plancha (Grilled Hake) which was good if somewhat unremarkable. The people at the table next to us however, had some great looking cuts of beef and had a mini grill at their table that was used to cook the meat. Had we known that it was an option we would have ordered it! 

Beef from El Bodegon in Mundaka

Merluza a la Plancha at El Bodegon Mundaka

Next day for lunch we went to a restaurant called La Fonda, which was good as well. We got fish soup, one of the dishes that is supposedly a specialty of the town, and an Ensalada mixta, mixed salad. The salads in Spain usually have iceberg lettuce, cured tuna, tomatoes, hard boiled egg, onion, and sometimes white asparagus. Something like a Niçoise salad I suppose. There are not a whole lot of veggies eaten in Spanish cuisine, which is always something that's a little hard for me to get used to. Of course if you have a place with a kitchen there are plenty of veggies to be found at the local markets, just not at the restaurants. The fish soup tasted nutritious and salty, and consisted of fish and fish broth, nothing fancy.

Veggie stall at a Madrid market 

Second night we went to a restaurant upstairs in the same building as the night before, called Casino de Mundaka. Josh had a tenderloin with fries- impeccably cooked, and I again had the Merluza a la Plancha which was better than the night before.

We had fun walking around this pretty little town and checking out the surf... Josh surfed a couple of times in surf that was not the best ever but was definitely pretty good compared to what we're used to. There were definitely a lot of people in the water though which made it a less enticing. Even though it was the off season there were a handful of tourists and you could definitely feel the excitement that the wave creates among its spectators. 

Foggy morning, Mundaka 

Morning surf, Mundaka 

Next day we drove along the winding coastal roads towards Donostia-San Sebastian, the next place on our agenda. Wow. We passed some of the most stunning scenery that I have ever seen. Rolling hills and lush vegetation everywhere. It is very green, and the ocean is visible almost the whole way. The drive is definitely a little bit treacherous though and the roads are very narrow and windey, not to mention the spanish drivers constantly tailgating. We had to pull over a ton of times to let people go by, even though we thought we were going as fast as safely possible. 

Hills on our coastal drive

There are a handful of little towns along the way, nestled between the hills and hosting in most cases hundreds of little boats. The main source of income in this region is fisheries. Every harbor is shielded by an enormous break wall, looking like a big fort, which is necessary to block the harbor and the town from all of the winter storms that bring huge surf to this part of the coast.

We passed through a handful of memorable towns along our way, one of which was Gernika-Lumo, the town that Picasso's famous painting Guernika was named after. Inspired by the April 26, 1937 bombing of the town, one of Nazi Germany's first bombings by the Luftwaffe (German Air Force), the painting depicts a scene of the suffering and tragedy of war. The Germans attacked the town during the Spanish civil war, in support of Francisco Franco and his efforts to overthrow the basque government. Now, it is a flourishing, quaint little town at the entrance to an estuary. 

Another town we enjoyed was Lekeitio, whose narrow cobblestone streets and harbor we wandered through, checking out the old Spanish architectire and the mostly red, blue and green painted little fishing boats, safely sheltered behind the break wall.

Lekeitio harbor 

Basque coastal views 

Break wall in the distance, Basque Coast

Our rental car

We arrived in Donostia-San Sebastian in the afternoon, disoriented as to where we were going at first. Cities are always the hardest to navigate. After some stressful driving around and some argument, we figured it out and found a nice hotel on the river and the ocean that would allow us to park our rental car free. It was called Hotel Parma. Again, nothing too snazzy, but nice and clean with an ocean view, and in a great location. It was an easy walk to both the city center and the Parte Vieja, or old town, which is the part of the city that's more lively, vibrating energy at almost any time of day with tons of tapas bars. 

San Sebastian is a beautiful city. There is a big open bay with dark blue water and a curving yellow beach, a beautiful old cathedral and churches dotted around it. Accross the river on the eastern side of the city, connected by a bridge, the part our hotel looks over, is the surfing beach, playa Zurriola, and the Gros, another part of the city. It is a relatively small city, with the center, gros, and parte vieja  all within walking distance. 

Church, Parte Vieja, Donostia-San Sebastian 

The first night, we went out for Pintxos! San Sebastian has some of the best, and the greatest number of pintxos bars in Spain. It is a little bit overwhelming at first, to attempt to figure out where to go. We looked some up online, and also decided to wing it. First one was just OK.... I guess we didn't realize that we could have our pintxos warmed up! It was also not as crowded as some of the others which was nice cause there was no waiting involved, but perhaps a bad sign as the busiest also tend to be the best. 

One of many pintxos bars in San Sebastián 

The second one however, was one that came highly reccommended, and lived up to the hype! La Mejillonera, a mussel bar (as in, the shellfish). Super crowded, but worth fighting for a spot at the bar. Such a fun experience. They have few items on the menu, and four sizes of beer. The menu included Calamari con pimientos, Calamari a la Brava, Patatas Bravas, Mejillones al marinero, mejillones a la brava, pimientos de padron, mejillones al tomate. You order from one of four guys working, and then the guy you ordered from shouts out the things you ordered in a very particular shout. I'm not sure how else to explain it! It is a small place and even though crowded their shouts rise above the noise. It crossed through my mind what training for the job must be like.

La Mejillonera, pintxos 

La Mejillonera , Donostia-San Sebastian 

Once you order, they give you a basket of bread and your beverage, and shortly after, bring you your order. Not the healthiest food, but very tasty, and obviously fresh and good quality. This place is a must try if you enjoy seafood and are San Sebastián. We were full after this one though, and didn't have the appetite to try any more pintxos bars!

The next day was el 6 de Enero, a holiday, los Reyes Magos, or Epiphany. The shops were all closed but many of the bars and restaurants were still open. We spent the day going for a lengthy walk around the cliff on the south side of the river in the fog, which was a beautiful walk, although probably nicer in the sun! (I'm sure the whole city, in fact this whole coast! is different in the summer). We were craving some more familiar comfort food, and went to eat at an italian restaurant, and had some of the best pesto pasta I have ever had, and some carpaccio with this crispy bread. The pizza looked great too. It was a much needed break from the rich spanish food that however good, is not what we are used to eating.

Walk along the river, San Sebastián

Beef carpaccio, San Sebastián 

Before I forget, and we are about to leave Spain for a few days, one of our favorite parts of our day in Spain has been the morning coffees (Cafe Cortado, usually, espresso with a little bit of milk) and the fresh squeezed orange juice, available at whichever cafe you choose. It's amazing how such a simple thing as a glass of fresh squeezed juice can immediately brighten your whole day! And yes, we have had this every morning in Spain!


Another thing I should mention before leaving Spain, is how great is it for me to be able to speak the language, even if I'm not as fluent as I used to be. I can pretty much understand everything, and although my speaking is slower and less fluid than it used to be, I can still communicate what I need to. And it gets better every day that I spend in Spain! I don't know if I realized how great it was, or how much I took it for granted until our next chapter, France!

Last morning in San Sebastián