After leaving the Pyrenees we decided to travel to a ocean-side city called Biarritz, located in the western corner of France. Biarritz is a beautiful city with glamorous clothing stores, trendy restaurants and gorgeous beaches to stroll along.
There is an elegant feel to the city partly due to the prestigious hotels and the classy mannequins staring back at you through the shop windows. In particular, the Hotel Du Palais is a very impressive hotel that sits right on the beach with restaurants overlooking the crashing waves. The hotel was the summer residence to Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, so you can imagine how impressive this hotel really is. Although, this hotel is out of most travellers budgets costing more than 500 Euros a night (basic room) and with the top suite listed at over 1900 Euros a night! Perhaps a nice picture of the impressive building will be enough then.
My favourite part of Biarritz was strolling along the golden beach and looking back at the city nestled along the coast. I found the beach to be particularly beautiful because of the mix of sand, cliffs and rocks sticking out from the water. I find myself preferring beaches with character over flat, resort style coastlines.
While walking along the seawall you can also watch the talented surfers ride the large waves, sometimes coming very close to rocks! Biarittz was a fantastic city, very different from the rest of France where you can go to enjoy the sun and water. A day-trip from Biarritz that I would highly recommend is to take the train to a small fishing town South of the city called Saint-Jean-De-Luz.
This village can also be reached by foot if you walk along the coast and highway, although after walking the distance I would recommend to take the train as it is a very far walk! Needless to say, we ended up hitch-hiking after walking for nearly four hours. Saint-Jean-De-Luz is also nestled along the coastline with beautiful boats dotting the ocean and unique Basque homes.
This small village is located only a few kilometers from Spain and everything about the town has a Basque feel including the food, homes and flags. A fantastic local specialty of the region is the Gateau Basque which is an almond flour based cake filled with pastry cream. The Basque culture is very unique and I would recommend reading about it more as they have so many interesting traditions unique to the region such as sports and language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_culture#Culture
Well, I must move on to the next city now...the part of blogging I seem to struggle with the most. We travelled to Bordeaux, land of the wine and food. There is an Auberge de Jeunesse located conveniently downtown that is not easily found when searched for...but it does exist. It is not affiliated with HI or FUAJ so it does not come up on the hostel websites. Instead, search for Auberge de Jeuness Bordeaux located at 22 Cours Barbey, 33800 Bordeaux. The city was such an interesting shape because the old part of the city creates almost a wall, and when you reach the river you look back and there is literally a wall behind you. It's funny because a few people we met in the hostel actually said they were leaving early from Bordeaux because they didn't find the city interesting...I still find that confusing. The city is extremely interesting between the endless cafes, wineries, architecture, flea markets and people watching. The city is alive with energy due to the large amount of university students. Saint Catherines Street, the main shopping street of Bordeaux, is a bustling street lined with every store you could imagine. Even on the dreary day we were sightseeing, the street was filled with people and shopping bags.
The street tram in Bordeaux is very convenient as well and will take you to about anywhere you need to go.for 1.40 Euros. At some points the sleek tram crosses over grass which I found to be very different as I've only ever seen tracks on cement. We visited a restaurant deep in the heart of the city called L'Oiseau Cabosse.
There was a sticker outside noting it had been recommended by TripAdvisor so we decided to check it out. (Sometimes finding a sticker such as this is very helpful as there are so many restaurants that it is often hard to choose one). The interior was decorated with artsy posters and cute birds with homey jars of jams and stickers at the front. It reminded me so much of a restaurant I would find back home in the Kitsilano neighbourhood. The menu was printed on a chalkboard with offerings from the tiny kitchen in the back and I chose the Cake Roquefort avec raisins et noix, Mousse de courgettes au chorizo et petit epi de mais grille au safron and salad (11.50 Euros). My lunch was fantastic, especially the chorizo mousse and moist Roquefort cake. The restaurant was very popular and people were even ordering plates to go (literally took the plate and went to eat down the street).
Since I was in Bordeaux, I really wanted to see a vineyard. Being a huge fan of wine I felt it was important to visit a vineyard and learn about the Bordeaux region. The problem is, when you are on a very tight budget the price of the tours can really break the budget with half day tours ranging from 60-100 Euros! We felt discouraged after reading these prices and even more so when the booking agent told us all the vineyard tours had already been booked weeks previously. However, when we were about to leave she pulled a pamphlet out from the shelf and told us about Chateau Luchey-Halde Vineyard. She told us it could be reached by city tram, there was a tour and tasting and best of all it was only 9 Euros! I was so excited that there was an easy to reach vineyard that was definitely within our budget. The vineyard was great, a little hard to find from the tram stop, but once reached it was wonderful. The sprawling rows of grape vines stretched in front of us upon arrival and in the distance I could see the winery...where the magic happens.
The tour was very informative with a guide native to Bordeaux who spoke both French and English. We were able to see the grapes up close, learn about the soil, wander through the processing room and even see the aging barrels.
The barrels are purchased for 700 Euros and are only used for three cycles and then sold for 40 Euros (Quite often to Australia).
The tour ended with a tasting of three wines...a 2007 & 2009 Cab Franc-Cab Sauvignon-Merlot blend and a 2009 Sauvignon-Semillon blend. Surprisingly, the white ended up being my favourite! The reds were both fantastic as well but the white had a wonderful finish that I really found outstanding. Chateau Luchey-Halde was a fantastic winery at a very reasonable price that I would recommend visiting...you even get to keep your wine glass for that price!
Content with two days of wine we moved on next to the port city of La Rochelle located mid-way up the western coast of France. This history rich city has been involved in every major French military action since the 10th century. The impressive towers of La Rochelle lead you into the vieux port (old port) where you can wander through the old architecture of the city.
You can tour the Saint Nicolas Tower, Chain Tower and Tower of the Lantern and learn more about the history such as how the Tower of the Lantern is the only remaining medieval lighthouse on the Atlantic and was even a prison for a period of time.
Les Minimes Marina is another impressive site to see in La Rochelle with 3500 boats moored making it the largest pleasure boat marina in France.
The FUAJ hostel in La Rochelle was not among my favourite hostels with some the highest prices (23 Euros/person) we have encountered, no free wi-fi, no kitchen to use and slightly run-down facilities. It was not a bad place to stay but not a favourite for sure. I must mention though, the bar/restaurant in the hostel was surprisingly good with creative dishes and good prices (6 Euros/person).
As we neared the end of our travels up the coast we headed inland to Rennes. Instead of taking the train we used the Covoiturage program to make the two hour journey. Covoiturage is a car-pooling program within France (and many other places in the world) where you can go online and arrange rides with local people. It is very affordable, at half the cost or more of a train ticket, and you get to meet some wonderful people while practicing French. We had used Covoiturage twice before the journey to Rennes, and both times were very pleasant. The first man had a Volkswagen van and had been in the program for years and I think fancied himself to be a professional coach driver. He did not speak too much to us but when he did he was very nice...he even had scheduled bathroom breaks on the two hour journey. The second driver was a young woman with a sporty little Peugeot who we learned had Canadian dual citizenship. The driver to Rennes was a man in his early thirties who spoke french with us the entire journey and shared a passion for cars with my fiance. I'm so pleased we heard about the Covoiturage program because not only is it significantly cheaper, it's also a great way to practice French and meet local French people.
Rennes was a pleasant city with many university students. I couldn't help but feel a little sad when I watched all the eager, young students, knowing that with the unemployment being so high in France many of these students will find themselves jobless at the end of their education. I though about this quite often while travelling through France because we have seen so many universities on our travels and heard from so many people that work is becoming more and more difficult to find. It's a very sad reality for people here in France (and many other countries as well) that is quite evident when you speak to people. The buildings in Rennes were noticeably different from the more southern regions of France.
The post and beam style of building is predominant as well as bricks.
It's very interesting to see how the style of architecture varies so greatly from one region to the next. The Place de la Republique is worth looking at as well, being probably the most famous landmark of Rennes.
Browsing through the traditional Breton Culture stores is interesting as well and you will soon learn that the Breton culture is very unique to France just like the Basque culture is. They are very proud of their heritage, their Breton language and you will see the Brittany flag throughout the city. Rennes appeared to be a city for the young...a city where I was told can 'party hard'. Visiting the capital of Brittany got me excited to see more of the unique region in the new year.
At last we had made our journey up to Northern France where we would begin our next Wwoofing in Saint-Aubin-sur-Algot. Once again we stood at the train station awaiting our pickup from a complete stranger to go and live in a new home for 10 days. Instead of anxiety though, this time we felt excited...excited to start another adventure.
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