Even though we are really enjoying San Sebastian the desire to travel the open road has been gnawing at us (our mode of transportation to date has been on foot or Razor with the very infrequent bus or cab ride…we needed to feel the wind in our hair AND wanted to spend $8 a gallon to do it). We toyed with taking a trip last week but put it off until yesterday, the 18th.
Accomplishing the whole mode of transpo shift thing was not the easiest, as we had to find agencies in town (there are not that many), figure out how to rent the car, figure out how to go get the car, get out of town and back in, not wreck said car (not easy since Dan would be driving), etc. We tried pepecar.com (we are NOT kidding – http://www.pepecar.com/ – appeared to be the cheapest AND we had a hankering for Pepe since, as those of you that bother to visit the website will notice all cars come with some stellar bling on the sides that lets everyone know YOU WENT TO SEE PEPE). Alas, since we decided to head just across the border to some of the French coastal towns Pepe did not want to deal with us (it appears Pepe only will rent to you if you are NOT going into France – think its related to the whole Freedom-Fries thing). Sooo, onto Option 2, Europcar, who, although a little more expensive than good ‘ol Pepe, is an agency that we had used successfully before. Now, once the agency decision was behind us we had to choose
a vehicle and, since we were only going for one day, we chose the cheapest/smallest one they had and ended up with the fine looking whip shown here, known as the Fiat-errari (note the racing accents clearly demonstrated in the metallic blue paint job and aggressive tires the size of a personal pan pizza – the Linzell chicas aren’t waving, they’re begging to be released). The thing maxed out at 120 kph downhill with a solid tailwind (sounds impressive but it’s only 75 mph, which is the speed limit). Anyway, it got us there and back.
Enough about the car and more about where there was – we were told by multiple people that, if the weather was good, a nice day trip would involve heading up the interstate to the Pays Basque (an official recognition of the area by the French government) region of southwestern
France – first visiting Biarritz and then driving back to San Sebastian along the coast with, at the very least, a stop in Saint Jean de Luz. So that was what we did. The trip from San Sebastian to Biarritz only took about 40 minutes and we arrived in the late morning. We navigated through the town centre, found an underground parking garage, left the Fiat-errari in a safe place (with the security system fully armed and parked diagonally so NOONE would scratch the paint) and walked out an exit from the garage literally to the picture shown here – the view was unexpected and, needless to say, amazing.
Biarritz was once a very exclusive resort (mid-19th to mid 20th century) where royalty would go to sun their crowns (a nice, although dated, article describing both places we visited can be found in the NY Times archives: query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9C0CE1DB143CF931A2575BC0A966958260) . As the article indicates, it all started with Napoleon III’s wife building a teeny
little vacation home on the beach (now the Hotel du Palais – we got by the security and looked around – a little too pedestrian for our tastes as evidenced by the shots of the hotel and from the back of the hotel looking across the bay). As the bay pictures hopefully show you, the entire beachfront is very spectacular and the area is real popular with French surfin’ dudes (who wipeout A LOT). From what we understand there are a number of competitions in Biarritz due to the waves that can roll in.
Accomplishing the whole mode of transpo shift thing was not the easiest, as we had to find agencies in town (there are not that many), figure out how to rent the car, figure out how to go get the car, get out of town and back in, not wreck said car (not easy since Dan would be driving), etc. We tried pepecar.com (we are NOT kidding – http://www.pepecar.com/ – appeared to be the cheapest AND we had a hankering for Pepe since, as those of you that bother to visit the website will notice all cars come with some stellar bling on the sides that lets everyone know YOU WENT TO SEE PEPE). Alas, since we decided to head just across the border to some of the French coastal towns Pepe did not want to deal with us (it appears Pepe only will rent to you if you are NOT going into France – think its related to the whole Freedom-Fries thing). Sooo, onto Option 2, Europcar, who, although a little more expensive than good ‘ol Pepe, is an agency that we had used successfully before. Now, once the agency decision was behind us we had to choose
a vehicle and, since we were only going for one day, we chose the cheapest/smallest one they had and ended up with the fine looking whip shown here, known as the Fiat-errari (note the racing accents clearly demonstrated in the metallic blue paint job and aggressive tires the size of a personal pan pizza – the Linzell chicas aren’t waving, they’re begging to be released). The thing maxed out at 120 kph downhill with a solid tailwind (sounds impressive but it’s only 75 mph, which is the speed limit). Anyway, it got us there and back.Enough about the car and more about where there was – we were told by multiple people that, if the weather was good, a nice day trip would involve heading up the interstate to the Pays Basque (an official recognition of the area by the French government) region of southwestern
France – first visiting Biarritz and then driving back to San Sebastian along the coast with, at the very least, a stop in Saint Jean de Luz. So that was what we did. The trip from San Sebastian to Biarritz only took about 40 minutes and we arrived in the late morning. We navigated through the town centre, found an underground parking garage, left the Fiat-errari in a safe place (with the security system fully armed and parked diagonally so NOONE would scratch the paint) and walked out an exit from the garage literally to the picture shown here – the view was unexpected and, needless to say, amazing.
Biarritz was once a very exclusive resort (mid-19th to mid 20th century) where royalty would go to sun their crowns (a nice, although dated, article describing both places we visited can be found in the NY Times archives: query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9C0CE1DB143CF931A2575BC0A966958260) . As the article indicates, it all started with Napoleon III’s wife building a teeny
little vacation home on the beach (now the Hotel du Palais – we got by the security and looked around – a little too pedestrian for our tastes as evidenced by the shots of the hotel and from the back of the hotel looking across the bay). As the bay pictures hopefully show you, the entire beachfront is very spectacular and the area is real popular with French surfin’ dudes (who wipeout A LOT). From what we understand there are a number of competitions in Biarritz due to the waves that can roll in.
As we have been doing in San Sebastian, we spent a lot of time poking around Biarritz and seeing the sites. There are nice footpaths along main beach and on the large rock outcroppings that surround the beach and one in particular was a lot of fun. This path takes you out to the “Virgin on the Rock” via a bridge and provided us with great views 
of Biarritz, Spain to the south and west (we think the far right peak is near San Sebastian in the 2nd pic) and the French Atlantic coast in the opposite direction. We had a lot of fun here since there were great places to climb and hide (Dan and the girls went up near the Virgin sculpture and Audrey found a neat little spot just her size). The Musee de la Mer (Biarritz Aquarium) was located directly adjacent to the Virgin path and we, naturally, went on in. It was a nice little aquarium that had some interesting displays on life in the 
Bay of Biscay and a good shark tank but by far the MOST interesting attraction was the seals/sea lions. As you can see in the pics they were some LIVELY critters (no, the underwater one was not dead, we waited to make sure). Watching them was actually pretty fun – the one lounging by the water (he's waving to all of you) was completely zonked and the youngest one in the tank was messing with him by swimming by and nudging awake. He was NOT happy about being aroused and let everyone know it – similar to some members of the Linzell family that shall remain nameless.
of Biarritz, Spain to the south and west (we think the far right peak is near San Sebastian in the 2nd pic) and the French Atlantic coast in the opposite direction. We had a lot of fun here since there were great places to climb and hide (Dan and the girls went up near the Virgin sculpture and Audrey found a neat little spot just her size). The Musee de la Mer (Biarritz Aquarium) was located directly adjacent to the Virgin path and we, naturally, went on in. It was a nice little aquarium that had some interesting displays on life in the 
Bay of Biscay and a good shark tank but by far the MOST interesting attraction was the seals/sea lions. As you can see in the pics they were some LIVELY critters (no, the underwater one was not dead, we waited to make sure). Watching them was actually pretty fun – the one lounging by the water (he's waving to all of you) was completely zonked and the youngest one in the tank was messing with him by swimming by and nudging awake. He was NOT happy about being aroused and let everyone know it – similar to some members of the Linzell family that shall remain nameless.
One other interesting aspect of the Biarritz visit was that a film was 
being shot there – it was one of those foreign films and, although we have no idea what the title was, we suspect it was an uplifting piece of work. The scene they were shooting when we arrived involved a group of people in full Tyvek wandering the beach carrying a bunch of post-apocalyptic equipment. Looked pretty funny given the weather (upper 60s) and surfer dudes in the background but we knew we needed to respect the director’s motivation and vision.
being shot there – it was one of those foreign films and, although we have no idea what the title was, we suspect it was an uplifting piece of work. The scene they were shooting when we arrived involved a group of people in full Tyvek wandering the beach carrying a bunch of post-apocalyptic equipment. Looked pretty funny given the weather (upper 60s) and surfer dudes in the background but we knew we needed to respect the director’s motivation and vision.After having the requisite crepes (remember we were in France - crepes avec Nutella are the kids faves), lunch and poking around a bunch of shops in Biarritz we headed back to San Sebastian via
Saint Jean de Luz – a beautiful and, as the Times article alludes to, much quieter place. It was obvious that, although there were some hotels and plenty of restaurants around, this village did not depend as much on tourism for its livelihood as our previous stop (the fishing wharf appeared to be quite active – hopefully you can see how the Basque fisherman paint their trawlers in bright colors and the building architecture from the wharf shot, both quite distinctive for the region we think). We wandered around, looked at the beachfront and checked some shops and, most importantly, ate dinner 
(restaurants in France open at 7pm which is, at least, 1 hr earlier than their counterparts 30 mins. away in Spain – we’re told this is one of the many cultural differences that happen when you cross the border). We scoped out a few places and chose one that would cook Paella for 4 – for those of you that don’t know Paella its a common Spanish dish consisting of rice, beans, vegetables, chicken and seafood. To cook Paella requires a special pan, one that we do not have back at La Casa GRANDE, and we were craving it. So, we ate a Spanish dish in France listening to reggae music and loved EVERY minute of it (sorry, no pics – too busy eating). We arrived back at la Casa late and wiped but would not have changed a thing. It truly was a great day – one of many that we have had so far during this adventure.
Saint Jean de Luz – a beautiful and, as the Times article alludes to, much quieter place. It was obvious that, although there were some hotels and plenty of restaurants around, this village did not depend as much on tourism for its livelihood as our previous stop (the fishing wharf appeared to be quite active – hopefully you can see how the Basque fisherman paint their trawlers in bright colors and the building architecture from the wharf shot, both quite distinctive for the region we think). We wandered around, looked at the beachfront and checked some shops and, most importantly, ate dinner 
(restaurants in France open at 7pm which is, at least, 1 hr earlier than their counterparts 30 mins. away in Spain – we’re told this is one of the many cultural differences that happen when you cross the border). We scoped out a few places and chose one that would cook Paella for 4 – for those of you that don’t know Paella its a common Spanish dish consisting of rice, beans, vegetables, chicken and seafood. To cook Paella requires a special pan, one that we do not have back at La Casa GRANDE, and we were craving it. So, we ate a Spanish dish in France listening to reggae music and loved EVERY minute of it (sorry, no pics – too busy eating). We arrived back at la Casa late and wiped but would not have changed a thing. It truly was a great day – one of many that we have had so far during this adventure. Hopefully you are all having great days wherever you may be as well – we continue to miss you one and all. Take care and we’ll talk to you soon.
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