Vamos a la playa! Yup, I just spent an entire wonderful weekend on the beaches of the Bay of Biscay…I took a trip up to San Sebastian, up in Basque country, right by the border to France with Megan, one of the BG grad students, and met up with our mutual friend David. This little vacation was a bit more needed than I thought, at first. 3 days on a beach with some great company made for a fantastic, relaxing, and all out fun time. Well day 1 consisted of getting to know the city and one of Spain’s most famous beaches, Playa de la Concha, named so because of its shell-like shape.
In the evening, we took a stroll around the entire beach and found ourselves some amazing views of the entire beach.
Day 2! Went of to get to know yet another beach…in France! St. Jean de Luz was our destination that we reached by train. Before we got to St. Jean de Luz, though, we had a little train layover in the border town of Hendaye (pronounced kind of like Hyundai, the cars). Nice little French town to stroll through...Where did we go to in Hendaye you might ask? Well, first we stopped by a couple markets to buy our picnic supplies for later: a supermarket, a boulangerie (bakery), and a choclaterie!! Delicious stuff! But after that we headed back to the water.
That right there isn’t actually France. That is Spain, or Basque country depending on who you ask. We asked a man walking by if we were looking at Spain or France and he answered Euskadi, the name for the Basque country. These people are intense about getting their independence for whatever reason.
After a bit, we made it to St. Jean de Luz and had our amazing picnic. I’d never felt more Mediterranean! Ham and cheese baguettes with grapes, pears, and oranges, mustard flavored chips (that were the best thing EVER!), and chocolates from a small shop in Hendaye. Seriously, couldn’t get any better, especially when all I have to look at is this:
Life sure does stink some times no? hehe…Well, the final day started off with a swim in the ocean! A little ocean bath never hurt anyone, just the sand in my shorts afterwards. The water was kind of cold but this was totally worth it. After preparing for another picnic, we took a hike up this hill at the end of the beach with a big statue of Jesus. It was a bit of a tough hike up the mossy steps but it was still sweet. The view from up top was breathtaking!
Still, unfortunately all good things must come to an end. I had a ridiculous grin slapped on my face the whole rest of the day until it was time for our goodbyes…Megan and I had to get back to Madrid and Dave back to the village of Bazas. But there is always time for one last picture…
What a great trip…
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