Reset search
Retirement Plan - Part 2Retirement Plan - Part 2
SatelliteEdit route

Retirement Plan - Part 2

June 2017 - April 2024
An open-ended adventure by Time For A Road Trip Read more
Currently traveling
+2
  • 98footprints
  • 10countries
  • 2,509days
  • 576photos
  • 15videos
  • 28.2kkilometers
  • 16.7kkilometers
Follow Calendar Share Bucket list
Date ascending
  • TravelerRetirement Plan - Part 2
    Day 141

    French Basque Country

    October 24, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Nestled between the Bay of Biscay and the foothills of the Pyrenees, the French Basque country feels like a stepping stone between France and Spain.

    The locals are very proud and protective of their history and unique culture which includes a language - Euskara - unrelated to any other European language. Don't dare to call a Basque French or Spanish!

    Pelote Basque is a generic name for around 16 traditional Basque ball games that are still played today and every village has its own pelota court.

    Most Basque dishes seem to include Le Piment d'Espelette, a chilli pepper from the town of Espelette. The region is also known for its ham and chocolates from Bayonne.

    The main towns of the region are Biarritz, Bayonne and St. Jean-de-Luz, which will be our base whilst we explore    Read more

  • TravelerRetirement Plan - Part 2
    Day 144

    Bayonne - capital of French Basque

    October 27, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Located between the Rivers Ardour and Nive, with its half-timbered buildings, riverside restaurants and old ramparts all bursting with history, Bayonne is one of France's prettiest cities.

    A strategic stronghold since medieval times, the city is split into three; St. Esprit to the north, Grand Bayonne, the oldest and prettiest part to the west and Petit Bayonne to the east. Visiting places by motorbike is a great way to travel as there are always lots of free spaces to park right in the centre of town. We left the bike under the 11th century Chateau Vieux (Old castle) and wandered around Grand and Petit Bayonne on foot.

    The narrow, rounded streets of half-timbered buildings were a delightful surprise. Being so close to Spain, we were expecting more of a Spanish influence and yet the city could have been plucked straight out of Alsace or Normandy. By contrast, the arches of the Town Hall, opened in 1842, were reminiscent of the Rue de Rivoli in Paris.

    A visit to the shop of Bayonne ham producer Pierre Ibaialde, gave us an insight into how this famous cured ham is produced. During a free guided tour we learnt the craft of salting, curing, de-boning and tasting too! Interestingly, Bayonne ham was never originally made in Bayonne! It got its name simply because the city was a major trading centre long ago and merchants would buy ham produced in the region from there. King Louis XVI greatly enjoyed the ham and promoted it further. Today, there are tight rules on its production in order to call it Bayonne ham. The next time you eat some in a matter of minutes, think about the 12 months it took to produce.

    Having bought some ham, we then paid a visit to one of the town's premium chocolatiers, Cazenave. It was the Spanish inquisition that led to Jewish chocolate-makers fleeing their Spanish homeland to settle in Bayonne. By 1870 the city boasted more chocolatiers than Switzerland, although now only a dozen remain.

    During a final wander around, we came upon a shop selling local beers and came out with a bottle of dark beer with a hint of the famous Espelette chilli pepper with the unlikely name of Bob's beer!

    We had a great day visiting this beautiful city and came away with lots of goodies to remind us of it too.    Read more

  • TravelerRetirement Plan - Part 2
    Day 146

    Fête du Piment

    October 29, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Who would have thought that a small village in the foothills of the Pyrenees would be famous throughout France for its chilli pepper and hold a 2-day festival every year to celebrate the fact. The basque cuisine features chilli heavily in almost every dish from savoury to sweet and it is the chilli from Espelette which is the most famous. Luckily for us, this year's festival coincided with our time here and so we jumped on the bike and headed into the hills to find the village.

    Thanks to Christopher Columbus, the chilli pepper arrived from Mexico and in 1650, after realising that the growing conditions around Espelette were ideal (how they realised, we don't know!), every local farm was producing it and it became an essential part of every basque kitchen in the area.

    Today, this special chilli is the first and only spice in France accredited with an AOC-AOP (just like fine wines) acknowledging the strict controls governing its production. It is planted in the spring and then harvested between August and December, once it becomes bright red. It is then sold in different ways; as a string of 20 fresh chillies, as a puree in a jar to be used in the cooking process or dried traditionally on the front of buildings and then turned into a powder to sprinkle over a finished dish.

    We were told that visitors from all over France come to the festival and from the long line of traffic backed up into the village, they were right. Travelling on the bike made getting in and parking a breeze.

    Strolling around we realised that it wasn't only the chilli that was being celebrated, it seemed that every basque food speciality was too with stalls full of locally made basque cake, cured meats, cheeses, nougat, wine and the biggest barbecue we've ever seen! For lunch we tried a Taloak, which is similar to a Mexican tortilla, made by hand mixing corn and water before rolling out ( in our case the rolling pin used was an empty wine bottle) and then cooking on a flat, hot plate. Filled wine two types of sausages, onions and of course some chilli pepper, a simple hot-dog will never be the same!

    There followed a procession of bands and dignitaries with the Mayor announcing that next July the Tour de France will stop at Espelette for the first time, to great rounds of applause. Looks like two-wheelers are being welcomed to Espelette. We definitely were.    Read more

  • TravelerRetirement Plan - Part 2
    Day 146

    St. Jean de Luz - French Basque base

    October 29, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    In order to visit the French Basque region, we based ourselves at a campsite just outside St Jean de Luz, a few miles from the Spanish border.

    This beautiful seaside town has narrow streets, a lively harbour and large horseshoe-shaped bay with golden sand. The town grew up as a fishing port initially with large catches of sardine, anchovies and whales, but when well-to-do French, English and Spanish tourists started arriving in the late 19th century, it became a fashionable resort and tourism took over.

    We watched some local fishing boats netting large amounts of sea-grass, just off the beach. When the haul was landed, we asked them what they were going to do with it. It turns out that it was all off to Spain to be refined and used in many ways including in the production of cosmetics - not exactly what I had in mind for Crème de la Mer!

    The town's main claim to fame is that it is here that Louis XIV spent his final days of bachelorhood before marrying Maria Theresa. In addition, the composer Maurice Ravel was born in pretty Cibourne, just 2.5km west of the town. It is here too that the prominent fort was built in 1627 and later improved by Vauban before he then went off to assist Napoleon in his many battles.

    It proved to be a great base for exploring the area and one that we look forward to visiting again.

    NOTE
    Camping Itsas Mendi. 15 euros per night with ASCI card + 7=6 inc water, services, wifi. Set on hillside with large terraced pitches. On-site site shop with fresh bread and pastries. Great outdoor pool with water slide and indoor heated pool. Only downside was not enough hot water in the showers.    Read more

  • TravelerRetirement Plan - Part 2
    Day 150

    Holà, we're in Spain - San Sebastian

    November 2, 2017 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    32 miles after leaving St Jean de Luz we arrived in Spain, though there was no 'Bienvenidos' sign to tell us so, which was a little disappointing.

    The Igueldo campsite, on Monte Igueldo just above San Sebastian, was to be our base for a couple of days while we visited the town. The views from above over the surrounding countryside and distant hills was lovely, especially as the sun was setting.

    With a bus stop right outside the site, we decided to leave the bike on the trailer and take the short bus journey down into town. We did this journey several times during our stay and marvelled at how confident the bus drivers were and how unscathed the buses were being driven a high speeds down narrow, twisting roads and back again. We thought we did well driving the motorhome and trailer through part of the city centre!

    We had high expectations for San Sebastian and were not disappointed. Having been under French rule for several centuries, it definitely has a French feel and reminded us of St Jean de Luz but on a much bigger, grander and sophisticated level. With a wide, sweeping promenade around the beaches, many classical, ornate buildings all in very good condition, and hilly parkland, it has been welcoming visitors in both summer and winter since the late 1800's. Back in those days, if you were upper-class and wished to go bathing in the sea, you needed to be suitably dressed and have the assistance of your own personal lifeguard, also suitably dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and baggy knee-length shorts, nothing too revealing. The locals never went bathing at the time, that was the reserve of the upper classes only.

    San Sebastian also has an outstanding reputation for being possibly the most exciting place to eat in the whole of Spain. Tapas (or pinxoes, as they are called locally) are to be found displayed in huge abundance on the counters of the bars and restaurants in the city. It would take months to do justice to all of these exquisite eateries but we did our best in the time we had and look forward to many more tapas as we travel south.

    NOTE
    Campsite 17 euros per night ASCI inc water, services and wifi. Plenty of hot water for showers. Camber at entrance makes for scraping! Pitches tight and can be muddy after rain.    Read more

  • TravelerRetirement Plan - Part 2
    Day 152

    Medinaceli, high on a windswept ridge

    November 4, 2017 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    A weather forecast for a week of rain and cold temperatures in the north quickly made up our minds to head south. This meant foregoing a trip to Pamplona, which will have to wait until next time. Instead, we headed out of San Sebastian and travelled several hours through green and verdant valleys followed by flat, almost barren landscape to our destination of Medinaceli.

    At 3,800 feet elevation, we had sweeping​ views down into the valley and across the plains and could see the stormy weather passing by. The village itself is a delight; a mix of Roman ruins, cobblestone streets and buildings of soft ochre stone. At the entrance to the town, and which can be seen from afar, is the 1st-century-AD Roman Triumphal arch. It is the only one in the country with three arches and the best preserved in Spain.

    It didn't take us long to walk around and see the sights, the centrepiece of the village being the large, partly colonnaded Plaza Mayor (Main Square) but for such a small place, it had some surprises including a 2nd-century Roman mosaic on display and, through the cracks in the locked wooden doors of what looked like an abandoned castle, was the cemetery containing ornate marble tombs decorated with colourful flowers.

    In the village bakery cum shop, we bought some local wine and pastries, apologising for our hopeless lack of the Spanish language but that didn't deter one of the locals giving Chris the thumbs up in his choice of a tub of locally-produced pork scratchings. Even I have to admit they are tasty!

    The town has gone to a lot of effort to accommodate visitors with a great Tourist Office and a dedicated parking area and facilities for motorhomes, which were free. You just have to be able to drive up the narrow, winding road to reach it but it's worth it.    Read more

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English