052 France: Basque region + a bit of Spain

France: Pyla de Dune; Bidart, Biarritz, Anglet, Bayonne, Saint Jean de Luz, Saint Jean Pied de Port, Mt. Rhuae, Sare
Spain: San Sebastien

We went to the largest sand dune in Europe. It was huge.

It went on and on into the distance.

On the way down there were some steps, where my feet just went from underneath me, but I was so relaxed I kinda bounced. A nice guy helped me up. It didn't hurt but the bruise on my bum was massive, beautiful colours and lasted well over a week.

On our first night we had a beautiful rainbow and then the storm hit. OMG it was huge. I've never been in a storm like it. The lightening was followed immediately by the thunder and the house shook. Lasted about an hour. Very little rain.

Biarritz was very different from what I had imagined. I thought it was somewhere 'posh' people go. It was o.k. but nothing special

 

The church in Bayonne

and the cloisters.

In one of the streets there were three Rugby shops, one called Otago and another shop called Alice Springs - just a bit spooky/weird.

Saint Jean Pied de Port was wonderful. The shops were real craft shops, owned and run by the artist who produced the goods. I really enjoyed the place.

It was a walled city and you could walk the ramparts.

We are in the heart of the Basque region. There are independence slogans on many barns. We go to see the local sport of Pelote. 3 guys each side hitting/hurling a ball against a wall with their 'mit'. It was fascinating but 10 mins of watching the game was enough to work it all out. Not really a spectators sport.

Announcing the players was quite funny. EVERY one of them was a champion of either a team or a year.

We took a quick 'dip' into Spain. In the café we tried to order lunch. The waitress got a bit cross with us and said "So what will it be, French, English or Spanish?". After so long in France we are using French words. It was a funny moment, although I don't think she saw the funny side.

San Sebastien was a great place. We met a really funny English family on the funicular up to the theme park and then by pure coincidence ended up in the same carriage on the way down.

Too funny. Is this plagiarism? or breaching copyright laws?

We got up very early to catch the train to Mt. Rhuae. We visited the day before but the nearest free car park space was over 2km away and there were hundreds of people about.
Our early start got us a great seat and we could watch the train driver and see the engine.  The trip was 35 mins almost straight up. There were loads of wild horses.

Each train held about 150 passengers. There were six trains. They were running about every hour. That's a lot of people.

We went to a bull fight. It was surprisingly good. Gone are the days when they stab the bull. All the other photos either have the matador blurred or the bull blurred as they move so fast. This was not tacky, it was a serious professional sport and we were in awe at their skills

 

The Basque region is unique.