After the quiet and relaxed lifestyle of a very small village in the Dordogne, we were slightly taken aback at the hustle and bustle of St Jean de Luz.

It was a 4.5 hour drive from Beynac-et-Cazenac with the GPS taking us through small country lanes, villages and eventually a highway.  We arrived at 4pm quite hungry, not wanting to stop at a restaurant for a full 3 courses, so settling for a sweet pastry and bag of potato chips (don’t tell anyone!).

St Jean de Luz is a fishing port and a beach resort in the Northern Basque region, a region which straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.  We are still in France but everything here is Basque.  It almost feels Spanish but with a difference. The Basques have their own language – Basque!  The Basque language predates Latin (both French and Spanish are based on Latin) so it’s very, very old.  Children are taught only the Basque language in school until they are 8 years old when the French language is introduced as well.  Because St Jean de Luz is so close to the Spanish border, the locals also pick up some Spanish.  Confusing for visitors for sure.

It’s still cool but there’s plenty of beach activity.

The architecture has a definite Spanish influence combined with the French stonework.

Our apartment is on the top floor of a house owned by a widow whose husband was an artisan cheese maker.  There are photos and awards in the stairwell.  The 3 story home is located on the main shopping street of St Jean de Luz which luckily is pedestrian only.  She is lovely but doesn’t speak one word of English, so we communicate by text message – she sends us a text, we translate through Google Translation and then reply in French – it’s a laborious method but works well.  The apartment is very comfortable and we are also comforted by the crucifixes hanging in every room 🙂

Three flights up to our apartment – phew!

The view from our window.  It’s this busy plus more most of the day until around 7.00pm when the stores close.

Food also combines both cultures with tapas bars alongside traditional French cuisine.  There’s a vibrancy to this town and it’s a very popular holiday destination.

Local Markets

You know how much we love outdoor fresh produce markets, well St Jean de Luz has an excellent one every Saturday and Tuesday (so we got to go there twice) with so much seafood on offer.  How good does this Chicken, Prawn, Mussel and Chirizo Paella look!  It tasted amazing!  We got chatting to the chef who had spent 2.5 years in Newcastle, Australia at cooking school.

Fish on a hash brown with tomato and a big chilli (we think)

Basque Takeaway

As we found in the Loire Valley and the Dordogne River, the local butcher provides homecooked meals for takeaways.

At last we have chilli – we haven’t seen a chilli since Australia and you know how much I love them.

We love our spices too.

Biggest asparagus ever.

This vanilla stand smelt amazing.

St John the Baptist Church

Situated right in the heart of St Jean de Luz, this is the church that celebrated the marriage of Louis XIV and the Infanta Maria Teresa in 1660.  It’s very opulent and has extraordinary acoustics and hosts many concerts and other musical performances.  Our landlady is in the choir and was singing there over Easter.

See Mum – I did go to Church at Easter 🙂

Artists displaying their work in the Town Square.

Fort de Socoa

It was about a 3.5 km walk around the bay to Fort de Socoa, through the commune (suburb) of Ciboure.

Half way round, we couldn’t go past this little beach restaurant.  It was lunch time and Jeff was open for business 🙂  There’s nothing better than sand between your toes while eating seafood accompanied by a local Rose wine.

Basking in Basque on the sand 🙂

More restaurants!

The defensive fortress was built in 1627 with a circular tower and views of both the Atlantic Ocean and the bay.  You can look across the bay to St Jean de Luz on the opposite side.

I found the changing direction of the rock patterns on the ocean side fascinating with low tide showing the extent of the layered rocks.

A Quick Dip Into Spain

We took a quick car trip across the border into the mountain area for a look, ending up in a town called Ergoein, heading deeper into Basque territory.

By 12.30pm we were looking for lunch, thinking of small tapas dishes washed down with a local beer, well, we were in Spain!  Apparently, the locals eat late with kitchens not open until 1.30pm.  I guess that’s because they don’t have dinner until really, really late in the evening.  Anyway, we found a pub serving Basque food that seemed open, but were only able to get bar food after considerable conversing in sign language (no one spoke English except one lovely girl who tried very hard but was limited to around 10 English words).  We now know the menu was in Basque (which was why we couldn’t make out what the dishes were).  In the end, we pointed to the first two dishes on the blackboard and took our chances.

Here’s lunch – where’s the salad???

Botanical Gardens

It was a cold and windy day for a visit to the botanical gardens on the headland but the walk there was brisk and felt good.  The gardens have only been there for 11 years and is still being established but well worth the look.  It’s well set out and I particularly enjoyed the herb and aromatic plant gardens.

Leading me up the garden path….

After our windswept visit to the botanical gardens, a warming lunch was just the thing in a restaurant overlooking the main beach:

The longer we stayed in St Jean de Luz, the more we loved it.

Jeff and Catherine xx