For lunch that day the foodie found a traditional Basque dish whose name I can't remember. Beef (ground? chopped?), with peppers. It was lovely. I think I had a communication problem with our server -- I asked if I could get a salad, but ended up with fish soup, which had a nice taste but was full of bones. I am sure there must have been a technique for eating it and not ending up with a mouthful of bones, but I did not find it. Alas.
As we were leaving, she told me I should have asked for a salad.
Hmmmm. Yes, I guess I should have.
Ah well.
This is part of Adventure, right? Sometimes you get a mouthful of fish bones and are left wondering how to get rid of them in a socially acceptable way......
At least being tempted to eat too much was not an issue. :-)
Do check out the foodie's take on this day. Her pics of the peppers, the church interior, and the beach are better than mine, and her description and pics of lunch are not to be missed!
More and more interesting architecture.
St. Jean de Luz was packed with tourists. Not sure where they were from, but they weren't speaking English.
We visited the church.
This one was quite different from any I had seen before. The ceiling/roof was wooden, and barrel-shaped. The inside was very plain and white, except for the area behind the altar, which was exceedingly decorated and gilded and fancy. I will spare you my unsuccessful attempts at that, and let you use your imagination. (Or go see the behind-the-altar wall here.)
There were narrow balconies on the back and both sides (three levels of them above the main floor).
There was a ship suspended from the ceiling. Not surprising, in a fishing community, I'm sure, but new to me. I didn't pay particular attention at the time to how big it was ... I'd say about a meter, maybe a bit more.
Louis XIV of France married Maria Theresa, the Infanta of Spain, there. Seems rustic, compared to some of the other places Louis XIV did things, but then I suppose it was convenient for both sides, being nearly on the border and all.....
More confetti, in the custom manhole cover.
And we, too, were there, too.
Could you sit and look at a beach all day? I could.....
My preference would be for rather fewer people. And for water that wasn't too polluted to swim in. Not that I want to swim in it, particularly, but still. The
lifeguards were protecting people by not letting them swim at all.....
We braved it up to our ankles (and one wayward wave got us nearly to our knees).
They had more kid-entertainment stuff than I've ever seen at a beach. Trampolines, climbing equipment, balance beams........ Maybe the polluted water isn't a rare occurance...........
We left the beach for some more looking at the town.
This was a door.
We took the train back to Bayonne.
We bought this fig bread at the market in St. Jean de Luz. It was ok, and would have been really good toasted, and with a bit of butter, I bet.
One last evening to look at Bayonne.....
In order to facilitate chronological traverse of these posts, here is a link to the post that comes after this one.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment