Pages

Showing posts with label St.-Jean-de-Luz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St.-Jean-de-Luz. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Visiting Biarritz and St.-Jean-de-Luz: Touring the French Basque Country's Ritzy Oceanfront Towns by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget


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

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books





Ruth Paget Selfie