 |
| Jean-Baptiste Church in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France |
Still cruising the Bay of Biscay, the MS Vista left Spain and entered French territory on the morning of the 17th of May. That morning for the first time in a month, the ship dropped anchor and used its own tenders to approach the harbour in St. Jean-de-Luz. The author finds it funny that he could have walked here from Spain when they were in Hondarribia and could have met the tenders coming from the ship the next morning. And yet, after leaving Bilbao on 16th the ship sailed around all night long to travel about a hundred km. The Captain must have been burning donuts in the Bay of Biscay all night because he could have made it there in a few hours, tops!
That morning Gym and his fair bride had chosen to stay close to the storybook little French-Basque town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz but still wanted to get in a bit of exercise. So they met a local guide named Cathy and hitched a ride out to about 4.5 miles from the centre of town. From there they would hike back to town through the beautiful Basque countryside. The weather was perfect that morning, not too hot yet and the visibility was clear out towards the sea where many surfers were setting up to catch the first big waves of the day.
Set back from the sandy bluffs are the architecturally-protected Basque farmhouses that today are all human homes but in the past centuries were house and barn, all-in-one building. The animals were housed at night on the ground floor and the upper floors were for the Basque farmers and their families. These houses come in three colour combinations; white with red trim, white with green trim and white with blue trim. All have red-tiled roofs that are slanted side-to-side or front-to-back. Today they go for 600K - 4M euros on Rightmove.co.uk.
The trekkers hiked past Lafitenia and Erromardie Beaches and eventually found themselves climbing up to the viewpoint on La Colline Sainte-Barbe. From this hilltop there was a stunning view of the Saint-Jean-de-Luz waterfront. Continuing down the hill into town they walked along the seawall overlooking the great golden sand beach, reminiscent of the ones they had seen in San Sabastian, the previous day. Cathy then led them into the centre of town where they checked out the ancient Saint Jean-Baptiste church. This church is where in 1660, King Louis XIV of France married a cousin, Maria Teresa of Spain. This union ended a nasty war between Spain and France, but it was a short-lived peace because they went to war like clockwork three or four times per century for a whole bunch of silly reasons. In any event, the church is very nice inside.
After doing a bit of shopping our hero and his lovely sidekick then boarded a tender to go back to the ship for a nap. As he settled into his seat on the way out to the Vista, Gym was finally able to remove the gravel from his sketchers.
That night a legitimately long sea voyage was to be undertaken by the Captain to Bordeaux France.
Pics to follow
No comments:
Post a Comment