St. Jean-de-Luz, France

A trip to easy, breezy Atlantic beach resort St. Jean-de-Luz, France

I wanted to go to the Basque country (Pays Basque), so I decided on two nights in St. Jean-de-Luz, France, with a day-trip to San Sebastian, Spain. Every trip needs a vacation-from-your-vacation, and this was mine.


I ate a lot of sandwiches on my trip, but the best one by far was this marinated chicken-and-mozzarella baguette sandwich I got in Sarlat. I had a 5.5 hours of train journey to go, so I didn't want to eat or drink much (so I didn't have to find the bathroom so much), but I couldn't resist digging in to this sandwich.	I arrived in St. Jean-de-Luz and walked from the train station to my hotel, Hotel Le Petit Trianon.

Here I am in my room up the first flight of stairs. The room had air-conditioning!!!! The price was 58.60 euros ($82) per night.	Here you can see the large armoire and the TV. The room also had a phone, a desk, and awesome free Wifi.

Here was the bathroom. It had a sink, toilet, and a shower with a fabulous shower with a large fixed head and great water pressure!	After checking in, I decided to go walk around town and follow the Rick Steves self-guided walking tour. The first stop was the port.

I was so surprised to find out that I arrived during the town's biggest annual festival, Donibaneko Bestak. Everyone was wearing black and red (Tous en rouge et noir!), and the town had the cutest posters done by the artist Maya. (I'd love to see her do one for Ypsilanti's Heritage Festival!)	The main square, Place Louis XIV, was filled with people, and a band was playing in the bandstand. Notice the black and red clothing.

I walked through town to the deserted beach. Everyone was at the festival!	St. Jean-de-Luz has a beautiful promenade along the beach.

More beach views	I got caught up in a little kids' parade. So fun!

After looking at a lot of restaurant menus, I decided on Restaurant Ibaia.	I chose the 12 euro ($17) menu. My starter was a composed salad.

My main course was poulet basquaise (chicken leg Basque-style, with peppers and tomatoes).	The dessert was a slice of gateau basque, which was good.

After dinner, I went and walked some more along the beach. It was windy!	The next day, after getting back from San Sebastian, I walked along the beach and in the water.

It was a beautiful day to walk along the beach!	After walking along the beach, I went back to my hotel, gathered my laundry, and walked two blocks to the Laverie Automatique du Port. While not as easy to use as Amboise's coin-op laundry, it was still easy, and there were directions in English, plus there were lots of old magazines to read. One negative: everything in the place was covered in laundry detergent dust!

On my final night, St. Jean-de-Luz, I ate at the seaside Creperie. Mine was the first table inside, so I got a great view without the wind and bright sun.	Here is my crepe <<La Korrigan,>> filled with sausage (but not American-style sausage, like my mouth was set for), cheese, and onions, with mushrooms and a bit of salad on top. The price was 7.60 euros ($10.60), and it definitely was NOT worth that, but I ate it.

What I was really paying for was the seaside view. It was bright and sunny, the view was nice, and there was great people-watching. They get a lot of English-speakers; I was given an English menu.	One advance the French have over Americans is the choose-your-own-flavor cotton candy stand. Look at all those flavors! Once you choose yours, the vendor makes it for you right there, fresh. Amazing!

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