Saint-Jean-de-Luz has one of those sunny, shimmering, colourful harbours that you’ll see in guidebooks and think: Now that looks really lovely. That’s how it got onto my itinerary anyway. This wonderfully-quaint old town has a lot of water. Various rivers meet the sea here and the view of the sea from the sandy bay stretches […]
France
Beach Time at Biarritz
Our next stop was further south along the Atlantic coast. Biarritz is a popular seaside and beach town on the Atlantic south western coast of France. Just about 30 kilometres from Spain, Biarritz is known as one of the best surf spots in Europe. On the day I was there, it was really flat though. The area has a […]
Exploring Beautiful Bordeaux
After exploring Bayonne, Espelette and the biggest sand dune in Europe, our next little outing was to the beautiful city of Bordeaux! In 2008 I had lived in Bordeaux for about a month or so and I sort of got to know my way around. I just had to go back to this charming French city […]
Europe’s Biggest Sand Dune, Pyla
Arcachon is a town facing a basin of Atlantic sea, on the western side of France. It’s about fifty kilometers south of Bordeaux and easy to reach by train. The town is relatively new. It was covered by the pine trees of the Landes forest and little wooden huts just 150 years ago. A chilled sea-side town Today […]
Hiking to the Passerelle d’Horzarte
I saw a photo of this beautiful gorge and cool-looking suspension bridge in a travel book, and thought “I’ve got to go there!” And we did! Finding the Passerelle d’Horzarte wasn’t easy. Horzarte is a strange word, and not very French sounding. That’s because it comes from the Basque meaning for “between walls”, holtze arte (referring the […]
A Quaint Basque Town, Espelette
After a day trip to Bayonne, we decided to venture onwards to check out more southerly places like Espelette. If you read my Bayonne post, you’ll know that a paste made form the peppers is used in the curing of delicious Bayonne ham! This is a foodie adventure. A little Espelette history You […]
Bayonne, Enter Basque Country
After leaving Paris and stopping over in Tours for an aimless wander around, we camped over in the town of Dax. From there we took a 40 minute drive south to check out Bayonne. This is pretty much Basque Country. I had been to Bayonne years before and remembered it as being a cool […]
Tours, Where the Real French Accent Comes From
Tours is a strange name for English-speakers because, well, its English meaning is just the plural of tour (as in, “I went on a tour of France”.). Although to be understood in France you have to pronounce it with an “oo” sound rather than the natural English pronunciation. There we go. Now you also have a […]
Free Things to do in Paris
A trip to Paris? That feels a little extravagant. If you feel like you may need to reach just a little deeper into your pockets to enjoy your time in this marvellous city, here are some pointers that could prove you wrong. In the heart of Paris there is always a lot going on and a lot […]
Sunset at Sacré-Coeur
The full name of this well-known landmark is… The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris (the Sacred Heart part of it refers to Jesus’ heart). A little further out of the way than most of the central attractions in Paris, this popular Catholic church is situated at the highest point of Montmarte in the 18th arrondissement. Receiving millions […]