It’s time to say au revoir to Nice. We’ll fly from Nice to Madrid, then from Madrid to Los Angeles. It’s been a great trip, getting to know Basque Country, then hitting the road for the South of France. Here’s a trip summary.
Two weeks ago, we flew into Madrid and spent one night near the airport in the little town of Barajas. The next day, we flew to San Sebastián, where we rented a car with the intention of driving to St. Jean de Luz, just across the border in France.
It was a rough day. We rented a car that was too big for maneuvering in the ancient centre villes where we’d be staying. Won’t make that mistake again!
Home Base #1 – St. Jean de Luz
St. Jean de Luz turned out to be the perfect home base for exploring Basque Country. The hotel was nice. Our balcony faced a wide beach and further out, the Bay of Biscay.
The next day, we drove to Bilbao, where we explored a bit, checked out the Guggenheim Museum, and had a Basque pintxos lunch. “Pintxos” is the Basque word for tapas. The Basques invented ‘em, and they’re still a big part of Basque life.
That evening we drove to San Sebastián for a pintxos foodie tour. We hit 5 or 6 places, learned a lot about Basque culture from our Basque guide, and had a great time. Who knew the Basques were huge foodies? Not I. But they are.
We spent the next two days taking it easy in St. Jean de Luz. Even though it’s across the Spanish border in France, it’s still very much a Basque town. It’s small enough to walk from one end of town to the other, but large enough to have everything one might want.
On the Road Again
With our batteries recharged, we got back on the road and drove toward the South of France. We stopped in another Basque town, Pau, for lunch. From our table, we could see the snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees mountains.
We spent that night in Carcassonne, just outside the walls of the medieval city. The hotel’s restaurant was excellent. I had a local specialty – cassoulet. Mmmm.
This trip, so far, had been one of the best eating trips that I can remember – and we hadn’t even reached Provence.
We reached our next destination, Antibes, the next day. It’s on the Mediterranean coast in between Cannes and Nice. Even though Antibes is in the neighborhood of the super-rich, we found it to be laid back and low-key.
Home Base #2
Antibes’ “old town,” or centre ville is the perfect walking destination, full of narrow lanes, flower boxes, shops, and bistros. Anywhere you look could be the quintessential post card from France.
One day we walked along Antibes’ sea wall leading to the marina. It’s easy to forget that you’re in a hotsy-totsy neighborhood until you get to the marina and see the mega-yachts moored there. Sure, those guys are rich and have their mega-yachts to cruise around in. But are they happy? I’m thinking yes!
From Antibes, we made the short drive to St. Paul de Vence for lunch, and then on to Nice, where we stayed two nights before coming home.
St. Jean de Luz and Antibes exceeded our expectations for home-base destinations. Basque Country, too. All in all, a great trip.
But on the next trip, I’d like to go someplace a little more exotic.
To be continued…
