Thursday 11 July 2013

Bonjour, Biarritz!

After racing across France in a south-westerly direction for five and a half hours, we arrived at Biarritz, and soon found our hotel on Rue du Marechal Joffre.  Our hotel room is excellent.  The receptionist said there are many Australians in the hotel.  Perhaps they are here for the surf.  Maybe even the female surfing competition some time around now.  Although we're still in France, we are in the region of Aquitaine, and we are in Basque Country.

Our first impressions of Biarritz?  Everyone relaxed.  A surf culture.  Palm trees.  Hydrangeas everywhere to be seen.  Tourists and locals with beach towels draped over their shoulders.  Cute little alleys shaded by coastal trees.  People happy to be here.  Summer holidays.  Beach bums.  Families. A slightly more Spanish feel.  Only slight.  It reminded me a little of Cronulla, in Sydney.

We went for a walk.  We love it here.  Part of the town, like where our hotel is, is perched high above sea level.  We found the promenade that looks down the cliff face onto the beach maybe 100 feet below.  We followed the promenade, and when the cliff face curved round to the left, you could peer into the distance along the aforesaid beach, where the competition will be.  The coastline here snaked around the bend, we followed it, and soon found a little beach housed within a mini-bay of rock with part of the town abutting the beach.  You could buy ice cream, swim, or just stroll lazily along in the 6 pm Atlantic heat.  Soon, a little mini-train came chugging by, taking tourists around the town.  We followed the coast further.  All the way along, the terrain adjacent to the beach contains cliffs or small slopes.  Pathways are carved into this unlevel land, and sometimes you see people climbing a hill way over there looking like ants in procession as they climb a path with a slope resembling the bottom part of the number 7.   

Soon, we came to Virgin Rock.  We followed others onto it, and took some photos from there of the town.  We eventually arrived at the Grande Plage (great beach), and I got my feet wet in the Atlantic for the first time in many a long year.  Well after 6pm, it was hot, and the Grande Plage was packed with swimmers.  Jean and I checked out the casino, decided we'd return tomorrow night, and went nearby for dinner.

1 comment:

  1. Est que c'est vous coudrais racontelle plus des votre 'parlez de français' histoires?

    ReplyDelete