St Jean de Luz

We have moved over to the Atlantic coast and are now staying in a very touristy area just a little bit north of the Spanish border.  In fact we are so close we are hearing a lot of Spanish in town.  There is a school holiday in France so there are lots of families here at the seashore.  We have rented a very cute little apartment we found on the tourist info site for this town.  It's great to have our own kitchen and space.  The owners actually came and met us at the train station.  We were expecting to walk to the apartment and had told them what time our train would arrive.  Our hostess was there asking folks as they got off the train if they were the Canadians.  We were so delighted as it saved us a bit of a walk.  They brought us here and showed us the ropes, then left.  They live in a different town 10 km away. They have told us they will come back on Monday to check us out, return our deposit and drive us to the station for our train on to San Sebastion where we will spend the next few days. So kind of them; once again folks going out of their way for us. 

  

 

To get to San Sebastian in Spain we take a 10 min train ride to Hendaye at the border and then disembark, walk over the border to Irun in Spain and catch the train to San Sebastion. The Spanish tracks are a different gauge than the French so they don't connect.  I think that goes back to Franco's time.

St Jean de Luz

While here we have had a very leisurely time.  Wandering along the promenade above the beautiful beach, going to a different bar each morning for coffee, checking out the shops along the pedestrian only streets.  So many restaurants and kiosks selling waffles, ice cream, crepes and churos.  And the chocolate shops are unbelievable.  There is one called Paries and any time we go past it there is a long lineup out the door.  We finally stood in line yesterday to see what the fuss was all about. Turns put they hand out samples as you wait.  We each had at least 4 fabulous chocolates while waiting our turn. Besides their own chocolates, they sell the local nougat, marizipan, macaroons and Gateau Basque with 3 different fillings, the usual cream, the old style with cherry filling and the new one with chocolate.  We had to buy one of those to do a taste test so we could answer with some authority as to the best one.  Wendy still wants to try the cherry so we can then say "Of course we have tried all 3"!  So far the creme one is winning.

 

Lunch at "home",    Wendy checking out wood pigeons at the grocery store.  What would they taste like?

This morning we heard loud music from the promenade along the beach and when we went to investigate we found hundreds of runners warming up along the sidewalk (also dealing with last-minute needs by peeing in bushes and grassy slopes beside walkway. French men are not shy!)  We could not understand any of the signs as they were all in the Basque language which includes many Ks, Ts and Xs.  But our guess is that it was a long distance run. At 11 am they went off and we could see them running along the road that goes way around the bay. They did not come back so we are assuming it was to another town.  

And so we are heading off to Spain tomorrow.  Neither of us have spoken any Spanish for 10 years so this is going to be very interesting.