{"id":708,"date":"2012-06-17T19:08:09","date_gmt":"2012-06-17T18:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=708"},"modified":"2025-11-23T05:51:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T05:51:27","slug":"biarritz-and-basque-bits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2012\/06\/17\/biarritz-and-basque-bits\/","title":{"rendered":"Biarritz And Basque Bits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday started off a little cooler, but soon warmed up, despite being a bit breezy all day.\u00a0 After breakfast, we toddled off down to the beach again and, as the tide was out, we walked out on to the rock jetty.\u00a0 From the end you can see Biarritz and quite a long way down the coast towards Spain.\u00a0 We finally settled on a nice spot to spread out our towels and read for a while.<\/p>\n

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Ilbarritz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back at Eileen, we cooked up a pasta lunch and then after a bit more reading we locked up and stepped outside the campsite for our first bus ride in France.\u00a0 It was a tiny little bus with about 10 seats and it arrived exactly on time.\u00a0 We hopped off in the centre of Biarritz and took a turn around all the posh shops in town, before sitting down for a drink at a caf\u00e9\u00a0above the beach.\u00a0 At 6:30pm it was still 30 C and the beach was packed.<\/p>\n

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Biarritz at 6.30pm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Walking back through town we sat outside a\u00a0tiny caf\u00e9 and ordered crepes; lemon and sugar for me, Grand Marnier for Rodney.\u00a0 They were very nice, but too small, so I think I\u2019ll whip up some bigger ones of our own sometime.\u00a0 We slowly plodded back to Eileen past full bars and empty bars, past youngsters sitting on the beach and in parks anywhere that music was playing.\u00a0 Friday night in Biarritz buzzes.<\/p>\n

In the morning we packed up and left Biarritz, but as we drove round this roundabout, with the most amazing sculpture in the centre, we spotted a guy flat out on his back fast asleep, obviously recovering from a big Friday night on the town; it made the departure more …….interesting\u2026.<\/p>\n

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Fancy sculpture on the roundabout near Ilbarritz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our route took us though Bidart to St Jean de Luz.\u00a0 This is another lovely town and although it\u2019s only 15 kms from Biarritz, it is completely different.\u00a0 The Basque style of architecture is very prominent and the long beach is set within a curved bay with a fort at one end and a harbour in the middle.<\/p>\n

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St Jean de Luz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Being a Saturday morning, the shops were busy and the caf\u00e9\u2019s were fast filling up.\u00a0 People were painting and selling pictures in the \u2018Place Louis XIV\u2019.\u00a0 We ate churros and drank hot chocolate in \u2018La Pergola\u2019 on the promenade above the beach and then strolled back to Eileen with our French stick, this time presented\u00a0in a very posh bag.\u00a0 I whipped up some French stick sandwiches and we walked down to the nearest stretch of beach to eat our lunch and sunbathe a bit.<\/p>\n

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St Jean de Luz beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unfortunately, as we finished eating, the clouds started to build and when it started to feel like the rain was imminent, we headed back to Eileen and drove her to the nearest supermarket to stock up, as tomorrow is Sunday.<\/p>\n

So, decision time again.\u00a0 As it was no longer feeling like beach weather, we consulted the maps and our now numerous collection of camping books and decided to head through Ascain, (pretty), Sare (wedding happening) and on to Ainhoa.\u00a0 The turning in to the campsite in the centre of the village looked like a car park for the church so we missed it and had to drive a bit of a way out on the other side of the village, before finding another road that took us over the hills and down dirt tracks to the campsite.\u00a0 It\u2019s very much the foothills of the Pyrenees and there are sheep to be seen at last;\u00a0up until now,\u00a0we\u2019ve only seen cows everywhere.\u00a0 Unfortunately the rain kept falling as we set up Eileen for a night at \u2018Camping Harazpy\u2019 and a quiche salad dinner.<\/p>\n

This morning we woke to a misty view outside, which slowly cleared a bit.\u00a0 The grass around us is the lushest we have seen for quite a while; there’s no mud and there\u2019s a nice path up to the amenities block.\u00a0 There is only one other couple in the campsite, and they\u2019ve parked up the top, so it feels like we have this whole place to ourselves.\u00a0 After the crowds in Biarritz, it feels lovely and peaceful.<\/p>\n

Rodney is cooking up a bacon, egg and tomato breakfast with the Rolling Stones playing on the iPod.\u00a0 Suddenly the opening bars of \u2018Brown Sugar\u2019 have just peeled out and I\u2019ve had this vision of Rentacrowd in Sydney all leaping into action on a dance floor somewhere\u2026\u2026.\u00a0 Then I looked out of\u00a0the window at this lovely view and I\u2019m not home sick.\u00a0 We are having the most amazing experience.<\/p>\n

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Camping Harazpy, Ainhoa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

A short stroll around Ainhoa was all that was needed, it is a very small village, but filled with the rather unusual Basque style of buildings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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The Pelota court in Ainhoa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Ainhoa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We then followed the Michelin Guide \u2018scenic route\u2019 through Espelette, St Jean Pied de Port, Larceyveau Arros Cibits, it was lovely to see mountains starting to build in front of us.\u00a0 At one point I asked Rodney \u201cWhich village is this?\u201d\u00a0 \u2026\u2026and his answer had me in giggles again\u2026. \u201dI missed that one. Is it the next village after the one before?\u201d\u00a0 Apparently he meant that he couldn\u2019t remember the name of the last one, but this was the one after that\u2026. I think !!!<\/p>\n

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On the D918<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
The view at lunch stop near Musculdy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Our stopping point for lunch had the most beautiful view and we followed it up with ice creams in Maul\u00e9on Licharre and also a quick stop at L\u2019 Hopital St Blaise and finally we pulled in to Camping Gites du Stade in Oleron Sainte Marie.\u00a0 This town is supposed to have some very attractive parts, so we\u2019ll have a look around in the morning and then head north towards Auch and then on to Gazaupouy to visit our friends Dave and Jane Barrett on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday started off a little cooler, but soon warmed up, despite being a bit breezy all day.\u00a0 After breakfast, we toddled off down to the beach again and, as the tide was out, we walked out on to the rock jetty.\u00a0 From the end you can see Biarritz and quite a long way down the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8158,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/708\/revisions\/8158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}