Road to San Sebastian, Spain

 

Sunflower fields in South West France.

 

We had a lovely drive down from La Rochelle through Gascony and into the Basque region of San Sebastian, Spain. It is an amazing little beach resort town with a beautiful shell shaped bay called La Concha and an old town bursting with colorful tapas bars which here the snacks are called pintxos (Peen-chohs).  We just got our feet wet on our first afternoon but we are getting ready for a little Txiquiteo (chih-kee-Tay-oh) which means (hoping from bar to bar eating the tasty pintxos) tomorrow!

 

ruins in Brouges, France

 

Roman coliseum ruins in Saintes

 

Chateau in Gascony

 

La Concha Bay, San Sebastian

 

on the promenade

 

Basilica of Saint Mary of the Chorus, old town

 

traditional high pour of local cider in pintxos bar

 

just step up and pick one!

 

our apartment view San Sebastian

 

 

 

 

 

Market Day La Rochelle

I love market day, even a rainy market day!
 We had a great time shopping and sampling at this harbor side market in beautiful La Rochelle. It is a seaport town on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. Founded in the 10th century and once occupied by the Romans who developed the lovely salt production along the coast. Also interesting was the strong presence of the Knights Templar (Da Vinci Code). It was there largest base on the Atlantic and housed their largest fleet.
Within the towers of the old port, pirates and prisoners left their medieval graffiti all over the walls. They didn't have very nice things to say.....
We headed back over to Ile de Re' in the afternoon for the annual "fete des coquillage"!(oyster festival) We joined 1500 hungry Frenchman who flooded the fancy little town of St. Martin to gorge on oysters, frites and white wine.  Oysters for All!

market day

 

cepes

 

Michael buying sausison

 

shellfish

 

fish monger

 

cute display carvings!

 

"Jolly" the pig for someone's dinner!

 

local goat cheeses

 

pretty rue in La Rochelle

 

harbor La Rochelle

 

Monsieur Michael

 

old port La Rochelle

 

Madame Fonda

 

old port view of towers

 

winding rue

 

cute menu board

 

anchors away!

 

Wishing he could eat ALL the crossiants!

 

beach on Ile de Re'

 

drum corps at "fete des coquillages"

 

Oysters for all!

 

musique!

 

Local oysters on the beautiful patio of our gracious hosts Claude and Alain!

 

 

 

 

 

France- Ile de Re'

Hi again! Michael and I are back in France for another round of fun, food and fashion! Just kidding about the fashion it just rhymed.  We started off with a little hiccup of lost luggage for two days but found ourselves waiting it out in a charming little village just an hour outside of Paris called Arras.  Why not just stay IN Pairs? Well, fashion week of some sort will keep you out.  Think Sundance, inflated rates and just basically sold out. Errrgh...
Luggage in hand and back on track we hop in the rental and head to the Northern Coast just above Bordeaux.  We are relaxing on the island of Ile de Re' and town of La Rochelle. Land of freshly cultivated oysters and fleur de sel.

Arras

 

beautiful Arras

 

Recognizing the WWI "Tommys"

 

Ile de Re'

 

biking on island

 

St. Martin on Ile de Re'

 

St. Martin shopping

 

St. Martin

 

 

Fleur de sel

 

 

ice cream break!

 

 

fresh oysters for lunch

 

harvesting oysters

 

 

 

 

biking on home for the evening