We headed to st Emilion following our wine tour guide from
the chateau, he on a motorbike, we following in our trusty little car. He stopped
in a lower town carpark and we were directed to find a park higher up…20 mins
later, over the other side of town we find one, only to realize we have no clue
where our guide is or how to get back to him! Half an hour of smoking, swearing
and trudging later, we finally find our guide sitting casually on a bench…now
we walk back up the hill to a little wine shop and garage distillery for wine
tasting…worth every step!! We bought some beautiful wines.
We the set off on our solo town tour and headed for the
Kings keep….its impressive, a very big tower….why not head to its top we thought??
How hard can it be? Holy sh$#% it’s the longest tiniest spiral stair case I have
ever climbed followed by huge steps going almost vertical to the top of the
keep. Only on reaching the top the realisation hit that we also had to go down
this death trap! I had visions of the three bottles of red we had bought and
bev cascading down the spiral staircase before me or worse, plunging straight
off the middle! ( later I found the keep in a guide book with the words “
caution: La Morte” and I agree totally!
We did though, bev cruising down on her bottom most of the
way and me white knuckled holding my wine and finding nooks in the wall to
stabilize myself! A bit like a rock climbing waiter with no tray.
A near death experience is all you need to feel alive!! Speaking
about death experiences the Bordeaux experience was just that! Having left the
motorway by mistake (damn signs) we headed into the centre of the city….NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Several circuits later we managed to find an exit thru Pissec…I was soo busy
watching the road signs I forgot to give way to the angry Mercedes on my left…horns
blaring….I didn’t know whether acceleration or breaking was required, wanted to
scream, closed my eyes a second and sped on…..missed my millimetres….eeeeeeeek.
On the way to Biarritz and another wrong turn later,
meandering through the small city of Anglet we reached Biarritz and turned down
the steepest windiest two way road I have ever driven on…footpath driving
essential!!
We found our Hotel by accident…small blessing!
Biarritz is a beautiful wild Atlantic sprawling French/ Basque
town with tall cliffs and sandy beaches. At first I panicked thinking all the
beaches had been washed away as all I could see was cliff and rock walls…high
tide here is huge!! It’s also very fast…surfing is only possible on the Cote Basque
at low tide!
First real morning and voila, 2 ½ foot, tide just right and
no wind.. Sun is out, amazing…score!!
Looking across at ville Belle, shots in movies come to mind…such
a famous beach especially since the introduction of surfing in ’56. Surf
schools with striped tents still run along the plage, the oldest having been
there since 1965. I rented a board…a big thick down railed monster showing a
lot of history! In the line-up there’s lots of Bonjours and Pardons…a very
polite cool vibe! This bay has always been a long boarding favourite. It’s a privilege
to be getting waves in France! After an hour and half the later was soo cold I
thought my toes were going to fall off…this may be the reason for booty
wearing!! Sooo stoked, soo much fun!
With the tide rushing in the cliff in front seems to loom
bigger with its incredible switch back stairs leading back up to the promenade…it
all seems so surreal! If this is a dream then it’s a damn good one…vive la Mer,
vive le serf……
To say this place is beautiful is an under exaggeration….there
seems no end to amazing vistas, photo ops, buildings, history, street cafes,
food, wine, snug streets filled with terracotta clad dwellings, shops and restaurants
from end to rustic Basque tapas…. I feel culturally over stimulated!! Nothing
to do but dive right in!
The moments you hold
to your heart as dear appear so seldom, when things line up and you are there
with the one you love, walking thru illuminated parks at dusk…that hour of
magic when the city shines for us through streets of reflected cobbled stones,
empty café chairs, waves playing in their rocky orchestra pit…….and us
meandering to their song….it seems all is possible because everything is here
now!
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