San Sebastián. Friday and Saturday

It was farewell to the lovely villa at Doazon yesterday, set the GPS for San Sebastián in Spain, about 1.5 to 2 hours away. We were lucky enough to be able to watch the footy at Doazon, except the reception dropped out with 5 minutes to go!  We managed to get an audio just after the siren.  Little did we know how dramatic the ending was.  Just as well as there were 2 Hawks fans in the room.  Well done Cats.

Our drive was good, Jess is doing a great job driving and Russell navigating.  Jan and I just enjoying it in the back seat.

Our apartment in the centre of town is great.  Location is fantastic too. Easy walking distance to everything.

Window view of the street below.

The drive into the city was quiet, strange for a Friday afternoon.  We found out from the booking agent that it was a festival day, so most things closed, but not the Old city.  It was alive and pumping.

Much of this city was burned to the ground in 1830, with very little salvaged. Much of the old quarter has been rebuilt to try to recreate the setting.  It is a vibrant area of pintox bars, and night life.

The style of eating is all about small bites.  Order a drink, get a plate and choose from the array of platters on the bar. Show the waiter what you have and he/she puts it on your tab.

Amazing array of food.  Lots of fish, vegetables.  Stunning.. Helen and Russell, you must come here!  You will love it.  The usual thing is to have something at one place then move onto another.

At our second place, which was busy, we could hear a commotion.  A celebration of something was taking place tonight.. Along comes the cavalry in traditional costumes, drummers etc.

Everybody was out on the streets cheering them.

Dancers followed, pipers, just about everybody. Great spectacle.  They congregated in a square and danced the night away.  Fabulous to see people passionate about their culture.

The old quarter is rows of narrow streets Criss crossing.

Crowds were crazy at times.

It was amazing that we didn't get lost.  But the old quarter isn't that big really. In fact the city is very compact, which we found out this morning when we did a guided walking tour.

A Cathederal at one end of the new city and 1 km in a direct line in the other direction is the old church at the end of the old city.

New

Old, with a sculpture of San Sebastián below the clock.

The walking tour gave us a good overview of the history of this area which is very loyalty Basque. Whilst part of Spain, they consider themselves Basque, not Spaniards.  There is even a different language.  Streets are named in Spanish on one side of the road, on the other in Basque.

It is a most beautiful beach area right in the city.

Rod, Yvonne, and Jenny drove over to have a late lunch with us. They hadn't been here before so it was nice to show them around.  

A beautiful city with an amazing food culture which we have enjoyed immensely. 

Tonight we walked up to Mt Urguel to overlook the city.  Fantastic views.  Photos tomorrow.

Doazon

Wednesday was always going to be a very hot day so, not a great deal was planned.

We started with a leisurely walk around the lake.

The lanes and pathways are covered with blackberries.  They aren't sprayed over here on public land. Only on private land.  They were are beautiful.

A fascinating spider web on our walk.

The view across the lake back at the villa, the one on the left.

A swim in the pool was required after the walk. Perspiration was pouring off us.  

A casual lunch followed by a drive to a local village.  It is like many villages in France, but a bit more modern than some.  We did manage to get lost more than once , much laughter at our predicament at times. A beautiful view in the village of the valley of Artez de Bearn.

It was another swim on our return, about 36o. A few leisurely hours in the pool followed by a relaxing dinner.

Today, Thursday, we went for a drive into the Pyrenees.  Our plan was to go on a gondala and then a mountain train near Lurenz. Unfortunately the weather was quite ordinary. The train wasn't operating and the gondala only had visibility to 50m from the start.  It didn't seem worth it as we wouldn't have seen anything.  Oh well.

We had some lunch in a village and drove around the countryside.  On the tourist route, we found several wineries.  We stopped at one, we were greeted by a little old man, about 90ish.  He spoke no English, and our French is not much better. But he managed to work out we were happy to try his wines, communicated to us that their wines were organic.  Very nice wines and cheap, so we obliged and bought some.

A pleasant day with some memorable comments.  One being from Jess, who was driving, and had been on the same route on Monday with Rod and Yvonne.  When asked were we on the right route, Jess replied, yes, he recognised the house with the flag from Monday.  Only for the road to end abruptly in 50m. Jan's comment was, all the houses have French flags!

Dinner tonight is in Pau, where we will have a look around the old town.

Off to San Sebastián tomorrow.  We aren't leaving till the afternoon as we can watch the footy here.  It will be 12 pm here when it starts. San Sebastián is only 1.5hrs away.

Go Cats.

Farewell Paris - Hello Doazon

Hi all.  It was a full day of travel with a few trains to contend with to get to Orly Airport.  The weather was cool, but comfortable.

Our plane took us to Pau, south of France, near the Pyrenees. Jan and Jess met us at the airport.  It's about a 20 min drive to the villa owned by friends of Jan and Jess.  Rod and Yvonne were at Uni with Jess.  They bought this villa about 18 months ago and restoring it to former glory.  What they have do so far is impressive.  

Our room

Yvonne's brother and his wife are here, with their daughter from London and her two young children,

Yvonne's sister, and another couple of their friends from Sydney as well as us.  Just as well it is a big villa (6 bedrooms/bathrooms). 

It was pretty hot when we arrived, so a dip in the pool, overlooking the lake, was very welcome.

Rod and Yvonne have been very keen to engage with the locals since buying this place.  So last night was a BBQ for neighbours, the mayor, and the couple who manage the place.  I think 22 people in all.

Some of the locals could speak a no/little English, some a lot, including young Claire (17) next to me at dinner, who had a remarkable likeness to Nicola at that age.  She was quite keen to practise her English.

Needless to say I didn't get the blog done last night.

I'm laying in bed this morning completing it. The view.  Needed to sleep with window open all night.

 Sun has arisen, so time to get up, it's going to be a hot one 36o.

Paris- Monday

Last night, we did a dinner cruise down the Seine River. It was a train ride to get there, a change of trains as well. Some of the stations require lots of walking to get from one platform to another.  Comfy walking shoes are always required.  We have managed to navigate the Metro pretty well, but a map in hand and reading glasses at the ready, to check whether we are on the right train.  So far so good.

The river cruise was very pleasant. It's a bit touristy, but you know what, we are tourists!

The food was good, fois gras pate to start was really yummy. 

Chicken or salmon on pearl couscous next, followed by chocolate bites for dessert.  Bordeaux red to wash it all down while taking in Paris by lights.

Our departure point was right near Notre Dame Cathederal.

We caught the train back, getting off at the Eiffel Tower, just in time to see the hourly light show. A five minute sparkling spectacular.  Photo doesn't do it justice, but we have a short movie which isn't bad.

The nightly power bill may be significant but it is grand.

Up bright an early to get to the Louvre museum.  It was a dreary looking day, in fact drizzle by the time we caught a couple of trains to get there.  The quiet entry rejected us, only for groups etc.  over to the "plebs" queue to stand in the rain for 30 mins.  Not too heavy though.

Almost, but not quite!  The pyramid is a recent addition and gives light to the below level info, ticket area, cafes etc.

It is a massive building, with thousands of collections of art work, sculptures etc.  Much of it plundered from all over the world.  Italy, Greece, Egypt, Iraq, just about everywhere.  Although we didn't spot anything from Australia or NZ.  Maybe in one of the many areas we didn't see!

Mona Lisa, famous for being famous.  A bit like Kim Kardashian!

Tiled mosaic floor.  Fantastic.

450 BC. Not very old!

Magnificent tapestries. About 7m by 6m. A room full of them.

A flash camping toilet!

There is only so much you can take in. A fantastic collection preserved for ever I suppose.

Out of the Louvre, back to the Eiffel Tower for a lunch date. Nearly 30 years ago, we had Christmas lunch up the ET.  It was a cup of watery tomato soup and a bucket of chips. Memorable.  We did a little better this time.  The view from our table.

Our apartment is about half way between the green patch in the middle and Louis 14ths Cathederal on the left.  It is usually green right up the middle, but when the World Cup soccer was on a few months ago, it got destroyed by the massive crowds/drunks.

A gloomy day as you can see, so we decided not to go to the top.  We weren't going to see anything.

Below shows it a little bit later in the day.

After lunch, we walked back home and crashed for a while.  It was siesta time (not even in Spain yet)

About 4ish we headed out again for a stroll around our local shopping strip.  Just looking!

That's just the goat cheese section.

A further stroll took us to Louis 14ths Cathederal. So we went inside.  Unlike just about every other Cathederal I have seen, this had no area for parishioners.  It was Louis's private church, not for the people.

The tomb of Napoleon 1

A bit over the top with marble and gold!

The Invaladies is behind the Cathederal. We didn't realise yesterday that they were attached.  The Invaladies is now a Military Museum.

We had an hour to do the Cathederal and Museum. The museum had a great collection of military history from the 1500s through to 1945.  Everything in Europe is so old. It is easy to become blaise about the age of things. 

We could have spent the whole day here. It's a bit like the War Memorial in Canberra.

A busy day today so time to stay in for dinner tonight.  Local supermarket had lots of salads/prepared food so it was easy.  

So it is farewell to the beautiful city of Paris.  We have really enjoyed our time here, partly due to our location.  Anyone out there coming to Paris, stay in the 7th district.  It's fantastic. So much to see.

Off to Pau in the south of France for some quiet time with Jan and Jess.  The pool at the villa looks inviting.