St. Jean Pied-de-Port

  

  

We have now spent 2 days in St Jean Pied-de-Port.  It's a very touristy little medieval town at the foot of the Pyrenees.  The main souvenirs here seems to be Basque Linens -  table cloths, napkins, towels.  The good stuff is linen and beautiful bright colours.  It's also possible to buy a length of the material to make your own tablecloth.  I have resisted mainly because of  the price.  However, we have been busy while we have been here.  We have now arranged for 4 days in an apartment in St. Jean de Luz over on the Atlantic coast.  We have been to the train station to get our tickets - it's 1 1/2 hr to Bayonne then 1/2 hr to St. Jean de Luz.  We have also got our clothes washed at the laundramat and have both had our hair cut.  Neither of us could stand the 7 week mops on top of our heads!!!

The 7 lines on all the Basque linen represent the 7 provinces of the Basque Region.  3 in France, 4 in Spain.  

We still haven't arranged for a flight home.  We have found a travel agent here so we might do that tomorrow morning.  It's not been possible to check anything on line as our wi-fi is very spotty.  None in this Chambre d'hôte (its broken) and so far we have only found 1 bar in town that had it as well as the tourist information which limits everyone to 20 min a day.  It's now feeling just a little stressful to not know how we will get home.  Rowing is out!!!

The food here is not as complicated or fancy as further north.  We have eaten out the last 3 nights as our Chambre d'hôte only does breakfast.  On the menu is veal, trout, coquille st Jacques, scallops, sheep cheese of the basque area and a wonderful cake called Gateau Basque with a crumbly butter crust and an almond cream filling.  Nummy with cafe glacé which I had last night.  (Coffee ice cream).  

We know it's time to leave as there is no one else here we knew from walking.  All have left.  We did meet a young Canadian family (him from Ottawa, her from Saskatchewan) living in California but here in France for a year.  Their little girls are in a French school. What a great experience for them all.

And on we go to St Jean de Luz over on the Atlantic coast.  Our host said it is the most expensive real estate in France so it will be fun to see it.  And this time we get to go on the train instead of walking, very exciting!

Wendy holds up Basque flag outside local souvenir shop