BSPSE Biarritz

Friday 7 October
Like yesterday

Basque village tour day. Five small villages, including Espelette where we are in search of fresh peppers for Bobby, via bus.

Arcangues, Espelette, Ainhoa, Dantcharia, Sugarramundi.

Arcangues. Suburb of Biarritz. Small village with an old church. Family cemetery from 1150, Elinor of Aquitaine time.

Espelette. Good sized village full of tourist places to purchase their products. Good to see the fresh peppers growing. We were just a few weeks early as end October is the festival there. Old houses are charming as is the town.

Ainhoa. Camino town on the Muga route. Did not pass this way. Another cute Basque town with views of the Pyrenees and old houses. QB got a gingerbread shaped pain d'epice. Again lots of pictures for Flickr.

Impressive how well kept these French Basque villages look and are kept. Red roofs, landscaping, clean streets, all houses painted white with red, blue or green shutters and doors.

Dantcharia, border town in Spain. Crossed over without seeing a frontier. Nothing but low cost shops for cigarettes, alcohol, outlet stores, supermarkets, several big ones. Heard no Spanish here. Longest stay of the trip, 40 minutes. Time would have been better spent in Espelette.

Sugarramundi in Spain, a mountain Basque village. Just drove through. Hilly of course as it is the foothills of the Pyrenees, which we remember in excruciating detail.