Basque Country

Where to even begin? Everywhere we’ve been on this trip has been a great adventure but this was a surprise hit with all of us. Every town and village we went to in this area was different and beautiful in its own way. What made it even more spectacular was that we knew next to nothing about Basque country before we came. It was a bit like going to a really, really good movie but walking in cold, not knowing at all what to expect. We were blown away.

We came here because of recommendations from friends that we should make sure to get to San Sebastian while in Spain. That was pretty much the extent of our knowledge. Turns out San Sebastian is really, really popular and we couldn’t afford to stay in town so we booked an Airbnb just across the border in Hendaye, France (about a 25 minute drive from San Sebastian). Our biggest problem over the 11 days we have spent here has been deciding between all the different options for places to go to spend each day. We only ended up spending 2 of our 11 days in San Sebastian despite how lovely it was because we were enjoying the French Basque country so much!

Anyone reading this and wondering where to go for their next summer vacation, we can’t recommend this area high enough. It’s not cheap, but it is not crazy expensive either. The appeal for us was that you can travel to lovely quaint mountain villages and then be at a phenomenal beach all within half an hour. There is a very interesting and extensive history of the area that you could spend weeks (or years!) exploring between all the castles, ruins, caves, and museums. The people are very friendly, everywhere is clean, and people take great pride in their gardens. Everything is very well kept. There’s a lot to do outside between being out on the water or hiking in the hills. There are bike trails along the coast if that’s more your speed. The food looked amazing but again, unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to try much local fare so that we could stick to our budget.

San Sebastian

San Sebastian is beautiful. It’s official population is only 185,000 but I suspect it was about 5 times that when we visited with all the summer tourists. It was a pleasure to stroll around the beautiful city streets. We found an app to find public parking lots in Europe (including parking rates, % available spots, and directions) which guided us to a parking lot in central San Sebastian. It was easy to navigate to the lot and cost about 10 euros each day we parked there. On the first day we walked straight out of the parking garage into a music festival in Plaza Easo. From there we walked through the city and hit the beach, Playa de la Concha. The weather wasn’t perfect but the beach was full and the atmosphere was great.

The second time we visited the city we walked up Mt. Urgull to visit the castle. It was a great walk that gave great panoramic views over San Sebastian. We had lots of adventures on the walk. Wildlife spottings included pigeons, seagulls, lizards, and a very large and scary looking beetle. It’s a really nice way to spend the day. We spent the better part of the day on that walk. We stopped part way up and ate our sandwiches while admiring the view.

We took a few side trails that took us to some interesting places and then ultimately ended up at the base of the statue of Jesus that overlooks the city (and is in the middle of the castle). There are so many trails, so many great views, and the castle along with the museum are free of charge. The museum is quite good and offers a history of the Basque country along with history of the fortification on Mt. Urgill. All in all, a nice way to spend the day.

As we came back down from Mt. Urgill, the city was seemed abuzz. There were fireworks being let off (even though it was only about 5pm and still light), stalls set up for food and beer, bouncy houses, etc. It took us a while to figure out what was going on but it turned out to be a rowing regatta. We didn’t stick around the see the regatta but it was still fun to be in the frenzy of activity as all the teams got warmed up and got their boats to the launch.

Early in the day we passed the Cathedral where a wedding had just happened. The wedding party (and the wedding couple’s wedding car) were outside the cathedral waiting for the bride and groom to come out. Riley wanted to see the bride so we waited for a while but then got bored when she didn’t appear so we moved on. Later in the day as we navigated the regatta crowds on the Old port in San Sebastian, we saw the wedding car again and then noticed the wedding dinner was happening in the restaurant above the aquarium. Just then the local police showed up and started writing a ticket for the car that was parked illegally. It was fun to watch the whole wedding party jump up from their tables in the restaurant and motion to the officers not to ticket the vehicle through the restaurant window. Then someone came out and literally begged them not to ticket. It all ended in hugs, laughter, and no ticket. This must be how things are done in Spain. We liked it.

Hendaye

Hendaye was a complete gem and a surprise to us. This is where we were based on this leg of the trip. The Airbnb that we were staying at was perfect for us. It had character, seemed very French, was central, had great views, and for the icing on the cake, there was steep little staircase up to an attic loft with three beds and a bunch of toys for the kids. It couldn’t have been any more perfect for us. The location of the Airbnb was also perfect. Most days I’d get up and go for a run along the waterfront for a couple of miles and then present my 2 euro coin at the ‘boulangerie’ and get my two wonderfully warm and well-earned baguettes. Brett would usually choose to do his run later in the day after we returned from our adventures.

Neither of us really appreciated how different and how much better baguettes in France really are. The conditions for making baguettes are actually regulated here; ingredients, size, etc. Every day I pick up these two baguettes and we make our sandwiches for the day – usually with local ham, cheese and chorizo. Lunch probably ends up costing 5 Euro for all of us and we are all really happy each day finding a nice plaza or vista to sit down together and eat.

The beach at Hendaye is great and is beautiful in its own right; no need to travel to San Sebastian or any other better known town if you’re looking to spend time on the beach. The one in Hendaye is perfect. It was about a 25 minute walk from our apartment along a picturesesque pedestrian path (and bike trail) along the coast. It is always nice to get up and go for a walk before a beach day.

There is a castle up on the hill on the west side of the beach along with some stunning looking cliffs overlooking the sea. There is apparently a 2 hour hike from the castle that is really nice to do with kids. On the day we headed out to do that, we got a flat on our way. Brett had got a bit too overconfident in his ability to navigate the narrow streets and ended up hitting a curb. This began a long day of dealing with the car, especially after we realized that there was no spare tire in the trunk. We called roadside assistance, waited on the side of the road for hours trying to keep the kids amused before a tow truck finally came (apparently it is easier to tow the car back to Spain then to replace the tire) and the car rental company sent two taxis to ferry us back to the airport on the Spanish side of the border (why we went back to Spain I don’t know). Thankfully we had packed lunches and water since we were headed out on a hike or else that day could have been much worse. In the end it worked out because we are now able to return this rental car in San Sebastian rather than having to drive back to Barcelona to change rental cars (we have to change rental cars after 30 days because our credit card only covers the insurance for rentals up to 30 days).

As if this visit wasn’t charmed enough, this evening as I sat here writing this, we were unexpectedly surprised by Bastille day fireworks. They started at 11pm. Brett and I jumped up and raced to each window to find where they were coming from. They were perfectly framed in one of our windows and after all 3 kids stumbled down in a half-sleep to see what the noise was, we all enjoyed watching an incredibly impressive show. We have loved every moment of this leg of our trip and that was a perfect way to end it.

Biarritz

We went to Biarritz because of two recommendations. One from a friend back home and then a second from the pharmacist when we went to pick up prescriptions in Hendaye (complications of trying to get prescription drugs outside of your home country deserves it’s own post). It was a short 20 minute drive away along the coast and again we navigated ourselves easily to a central parking lot in the town. From the moment we parked the car we were awestruck. The coastline is spectactular. The uplifted sedimentary rocks provide striking vistas to the north and south of the Grande Plage, the main beach in town. This was the most picturesque coastline that we visited in the area. It helped that it was a beautiful sunny 26/27 C the whole time we were there.

The town was also very beautiful and clearly very affluent. It appears to be a very popular summer escape for the French and other Europeans mainly. There is a really nice shopping district. Lots of small stores with higher end clothing and household goods. We enjoyed strolling around and window shopping.

Sare

We drove out to the small town of Sare – about 20-30 minutes inland from Hendaye to visit some prehistoric caves in the area. We passed through a number of picturesque quaint towns on rolling green hills with a mountainous backdrop. Pictures don’t do it justice.

The caves were very interesting too. You can only enter with a guided tour and the tour was in French so the kids got a little impatient since they had no clue what they were looking at. I understood part of it. The caves had formed from flowing water through the limestone formation. People had used the caves for shelter between 10,000 to 35,000 years ago and there was evidence of their tools as well as their burial mounds and megaliths outside the cave. There was another story about village women using the caves for singing and dancing in the 1800’s but they were later accused of witchcraft and executed.

Overall our trip to Basque country was a huge success and I have a strong suspicion we will return again someday. We created many great memories and were left feeling that there is so much more to explore and we only just scratched the surface.

Key points from this leg of our trip:

Cost: $240/day. This was about what we expected given that our accommodation cost $130/night and we had a rental car to cover as well. Accommodation: Again, really impressed with our Airbnb experience. This one was the best yet and perfectly suited our family (https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/24954961?s=67&shared_item_type=1&virality_entry_point=1&sharer_id=15396563)

It wasn’t cheap at $130/night but it was spacious, central, great views and a very well equipped kitchen. When I read the reviews about this place many people complained about the distance to the beach but we found that to be a positive. It was a beautiful 25 minute walk along the shoreline to reach the beach.

Favorite place we visited: This is a hard one. It would probably be Biarritz. The town and coastline were beautiful, the beach was great, we had great weather and the stars seemed to align for us there that we all had fun without any major drama or meltdowns.

Other useful things we discovered:

1) Always check your rental car for the spare tire before leaving the rental agency

2) INRIX Parkme is a great app that shows you all the parking lots at your destination, along with the hourly cost and link to google maps for directions 

3) Plan more time in this area than you think you need. It’s not all about San Sebastian. There are so many wonderful towns and so much history and culture to explore. We were only able to scratch the surface after 11 days.

4) This is a very hard place to go on a budget. We had to keep reminding ourselves to stay on a limited budget but it is difficult, particularly given all the amazing looking (and expensive) food.