Baie de Saint-Jean-de-Luz

I went to France for the day. It was RIGHT THERE so I had to. From San Sebastian, we took a bus for about 45 minutes east to the charming Basque resort city of St. Jean de Luz. It's just past the border town of Hendaye. In the a.m., the sun was out, but it was no beach weather. We did, however walk along the long, clean beach after an espresso at a seaside cafe. The buildings were distinct and definitely looked French compared to the neighbors just across the border.

In the summer, this place is packed, mostly with French tourists. But today it was pleasant and we got right into a nice restaurant for a plat du jour, the set menu of the day. I just love these. Two people can share the 3 courses each and get a great and inexpensive sampling of the regional food. Deanne's fish soup was out of this world - the best fish soup I've had probably. My first course was 3 huge prawns, grilled to perfection. Deanne then had grilled Skate and I opted for "Axoa de Veau." I got the veal part, but was surprised to find a dish of ground up veal in a delicious gravy/broth. It was really good. And for dessert, Deanne got the Panna Cotta and I opted for Goat Cheese with jam. Cheese is a traditional final course in France, and I have rarely done it before, so as a Cheesehead, I felt I should. It's a nice ending to a meal.

This town is famous as a meeting spot of sorts. First, for being the site where Louis XIV (the Sun King) married the Spanish Maria Theresa. Their arranged marriage brought a lasting peace between Spain and France.

The second famous meeting was in nearby Hendaye between Hitler and Franco in 1940. Rick Steve says that Franco came off as pompous and HItler thought he was a buffoon. And thus, Spain was not invited to be a Nazi ally, which really would have changed things in Spain and throughout WW2.

After our big lunch, we walked it off by window shopping and admiring the town, beach, and working fishing port. Direct buses aren't as common after the morning, so we opted for the short train ride on SCNF, the French rail company. At Hendaye, we walked 50 meters and got on the Euska Tren, the Basque rail network that is more like a commuter rail than a long distance rail company. It couldn't have been easier. We bought tickets at the station from machines for each. It took 1 and 1/2 hours to get back, but it was pleasant. The Euska Tren station in San Sebastian is in a different location than the RENFE (Spanish Rail) station, but it was only a block or two farther.

That allowed us to cross a diffent bridge across the Urumea River in San Sebastian and walk through a huge park behind our apartment. It's called Cristina Enea Parkea, and it's a wonderful oasis of nature right south of our Egia neighborhood. We're happy we have 4 days in San Sebastian so we'd have time to make this day trip. In the summer, rooms are booked here and in St. Jean de Luz weeks and months in advance and cost 3 times more. We prefer a little cold and rain in the off-season to enjoy the charms without any waits.

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