25th May 2012. Summer's here! Yee-haar! Forecast is for ~28° today. Shorts and t-shirt weather. Other signs of summer? Bayonne's resident busker - I call him SaxMan™ - is back after a long winter absence! He's taken up his customary spot opposite the Monument aux Morts and he's playing the very same 10 second riff over and over again that he played last year. He must be driving the poor people in the shop behind him crazy.. Also, I dragged the plancha out of the garage, up the steps and it's now installed on the terrace and ready for action after a wipe down and general cleaning off of assorted crud & spiders etc. Here's a short clip that gives some tips about cooking with a plancha (or a flat top grill as it's called in the video):
We've just had sardines and mackerel fillets on our plancha.. eased down with some cold sangria. Mmmm.. I usually avoid mackerel as I always found it oily in England. I'd say that the ones we've just had were the best fish of any kind that we've had for a very long time, and even better with some Basque hot sauce. This Basque sauce is so tasty and piquant - Madame always adds a dash or two when sauté-ing veg and it really gives them a lift. Well worth trying and available online from the link above. If you do order some, don't be tempted to go for the mild one - the 'Forte' one as in the picture is perfect. The only thing I missed was a cup of Greek coffee - I'm completely out of it at the moment so I'm doing cold turkey. When I've asked around for it in town, all I get is blank looks.. even in the delis in Biarritz. There's an element of "This is the Pays Basque - we don't do foreign food here!" Fortunately, I found a stockist on the French ebay site so there's a package on its way.
I went for a ride along the Nive this afternoon - and like a dummy I forgot my bottle of water.. I went as far as Ustaritz which is 25+km. I was gagging for a cold drink when I returned home! It's 29 in the shade in the garden.
This weekend sees 160 rowers from all over France converging on Bayonne to take part in the annual "Trois Rivières" event. This is an arduous event - especially if the temperatures are up as high as they are today. They'll row 72 km in 3 days on the Gave, the Adour and the Nive. I did it 2-3 years ago and I was doing John Wayne impressions for a few days afterwards. In the evening there's much jollity and conviviality so, all in all, it's a great weekend.
The Fêtes de Bayonne is only a couple of months away. This is, by any standard, madness writ large. Bayonne has some 40,000 inhabitants but over the 5 days (& nights) of the Fêtes, some 1.3 million people flood in.. The rowing club organise a regatta during the Fêtes and rowing here is quite informal so you won't see stripey blazers, bow ties etc as you might elsewhere. But make no mistake - there are some extremely dedicated oarsmen and women here. We usually disappear over the days of the Fêtes and head for the mountains as town becomes unbearable.
30th May 2012. We're having a few days away now - we're taking a long lazy swing through Provence before heading up to the Jura region.. Should be back in mid June..
Meanwhile, here's a London 'Bobby' showing that failing a Riverdance audition needn't be an end to your dreams of stardom..!
23rd March 2010. One of the benefits of living down in the extreme south west corner of France is that, apart from being a reassuringly long way from Calais (!), we are close to the border with Spain. Close enough so that we can set off for Spain at short notice (as in 5 minutes) without it becoming a major logistical exercise. Travelling abroad from Britain with a car was, and still is, a pain.. There was always that inescapable feeling that we were being exploited by the cross channel operators whether it was by the ferries, hovercraft or the tunnel - especially during school holidays. I once read somewhere that it's the world's most expensive sea crossing. No surprises there - as I've always suspected that the cross channel companies operate a cartel. The thing that always wound me up was that in spite of a 5 hour journey down to Dover, followed by a rip off channel crossing, we were still only at Calais! Anyway, breathe deeply and relax.. (again!)
Living down here provides us with another welcome string to our bow. If we feel like a good strong Spanish coffee, one of their wonderful hot chocolates or just some casual strolling about window shopping, then from leaving the house to arriving in Irun it's no more than a quick 25 minute zip down the road. Sometimes it's just nice to be able to go and access a different culture.. plus Madame speaks a little Spanish which comes in handy.
On the French side, almost without exception, houses are painted white with the woodwork picked out in Basque Rouge - blood red. However, once over the border, there's a subtle change in building styles. After the all-pervading 'whiteness' of the Pays Basque, there's an indefinable hint of austereness in the style of their brown stone buildings that I find attractive. This aspect of their domestic architecture becomes more pronounced in towns like San Sebastian (Donostia in Basque).
This noble old town (pop: 180,000) is only 60km (37 miles) from Bayonne - 45 mins by car - and it's set on a magnificent circular bay known as La Concha. The development of rail travel in the mid-19th century enabled Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie to travel in comfort down to Biarritz to set up their summer residence. The Spanish monarchy followed suit and chose San Sebastian as their preferred seaside resort in order to escape the relentless heat of Madrid summers. Subsequently the Spanish nobility and the diplomatic corps opened up residences in the summer capital.
San Sebastian has a real style to it - it's a more formal, more businesslike town than its neighbours across the border in the French Basque country - even Biarritz - with its many offices and shops in addition to the numerous hotels. The arcades, streets and boulevards are lined with heavy brown stone apartment buildings in a rococo style, many with ornate curlicued balconies. Our first visit there was during one of our holidays in the Pays Basque and we were dressed in shorts and t-shirts. Very quickly we realised that the residents were dressed for work rather than the beach and after that, we always spruced ourselves up for a visit there.
The river Urumea has been canalised to flow through the town and it is spanned by some beautiful bridges. After strolling around the sea front and looking in countless shop windows (!) we generally head for the Parte Vieja (Old Quarter)- a fascinating quarter characterised by its narrow streets and an astonishing number of bars and cafes, all of which serve pintxos (or tapas as they're known elsewhere in Spain).
Entering one such, you'll find that every square inch of the bar top will be covered in pintxos dishes.. of all kinds - fish, tortillas, crab, sausage, egg, various hams & salamis.. and the ceiling space is taken up with cured hams - a feast for the eyes. These pintxos are best eased down with a glass or two of Sangria.. followed by one of their trademark black coffees..
Overheard in an English pub (probably apocryphal!):
Customer to waitress – “That was inedible muck, and there wasn't enough of it."
And, coming in from the car park to complain again: "And frankly m’dear, once I've eaten a thing, I don't expect to see it again."
An old favourite of mine - Judi Collins singing "Send in the clowns".. This song could have been written for Madame and I..
I don't think I've ever liked a Sinatra song enough to want to buy a recording - but I think in this case perhaps I should have done. His interpretation of "Send in the clowns" is the definitive one and I'd like to have heard him sing this when he was in his prime.
