Visiting Biarritz and St.-Jean-de-Luz: Touring the French Basque Country’s Ritzy
Oceanfront Towns by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
After
a good night’s sleep in the Basque city of Bayonne, my husband Laurent and I
drove down the Basque Coast.
Our
first stop was at the resort town of Biarritz.
There is a dramatic oceanfront there with big waves smashing rocks. The beach exists for surfers.
There
is only a small section of beach reserved for swimmers at Biarritz.
My
favorite story about Biarritz concerns Eugénie de Montijo and Emperor Napoleon
III. When Napoleon III was courting Eugénie,
he asked her what was the shortest way to her apartment.
“Through
the church,” she answered to her future husband.
The
setting of Biarritz awes you with its hotels and apartments built up on
rocks. The fortress affect is softened
by mauve hortensia flowers cascading down the fronts of buildings.
Biarritz
reminded me of Deauville with its lush landscaping, designer clothing stores,
and Swiss watch and pen stores.
The
next town we visited further down the Atlantic Coast was the port town named
Saint Jean-de-Luz. Louis XIV married the
Spanish princess Maria Theresa, the Infanta, of Spain here in a pink and white
building on the port.
We
bought boxes of chocolate as souvenirs and read that the Spanish Infanta
brought her love for chocolate to France.
We
ate mussels steamed with white wine and chopped shallots with crème fraîche
added at the end in Saint Jean-de-Luz for dinner before going back to Bayonne
with a beautiful sunset to end the day.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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