2019 Euro Trip – Bayonne
Next up is Bayonne, France, close to the border of Spain and the Bay of Biscay on the Atlantic Ocean, in the eastern side of the Basque region. The Romans of course built it up along with most of the other towns in the south of Europe. The inhabitants are called Bayonnaises, which I saw on some signs near restaurants and initially mistook as some kind of a bacon-flavoured mayonnaise. It’s a nice step up from Bayonne, New Jersey, the home of dead mafia bosses and environmental cancer. And I’m being nice.
Fun fact: The word Basque in the Basque language is Euskadi. You see Basque wording everywhere, most signs are in Basque first then French or Spanish. They even have a popular Basque font used on business signs, looks like a funky 70s hippy-style. The Basque terrorist group name ETA is spelled out as “Euskadi ta Askatasuna”, or “Basque Country and Freedom.” The group blew up and kidnapped a lot of people from 1959 – 2018 in the hopes of getting their homeland back but have promised to be nice now. The Basque feeling is still quite strong along this stretch of southwestern France and northern Spain. The Basque language is very rare in that it hasn’t been derived from any other known languages, it developed in complete isolation.
Starting our trip, it cost â¬15 to go just over a kilometer to the train station, but it’s better than bumping our suitcases down the cobblestone roads.
The train is on time, a short 30 minute 2nd class segment to Nimes, then a change to a 1st class 3 hour run to Toulouse (with only half a car of 1st class and not great), then a 4 hour 1st class run to Bayonne. While on the train I tried to top up my French SIM card using my US debit card but it was rejected. This is after I took the time to notify the bank that I was going to be travelling in France and Spain on these certain dates. And they hosed it up. Thanks so much.
We took a taxi from the train station to the Le Bayonne Hotel and arrived about 7 pm, a very long day on the rails. Luckily the hotel held our reservation but we had to eat the full first night’s cost due to the train track maintenance. The hotel is very white and chrome and hard Euro design. Two single beds in a small room with a desk.
We walked about half a kilometer in the drizzle into the old town but everything closed at 7 pm. I tried an ATM but it spit my card right out and another one was boarded over. Ugh. Found an open restaurant called Txotx. In Basque, the pairing ‘tx’ is pronounced like ‘ch’, so the restaurant is called Choch. The food everywhere here has the local Basque influence. I had king prawns that I had to surgically extract from their heads and shells. I always find this to be a pain in the ass.
We got back to the room and found that my bank left me two voicemails about the rejected attempts to top up my phone. I have to call an 877 number in California to reactivate my card. Bastards! I tried to call them with the MagicJack app on my phone but the hotel’s WiFi is blocking whatever ports MagicJack needs so I’m unable to make the call. It’s also blocking the special video downloading thingies I use. Double bastards!
The next day we walked into the old town in light rain even though the weather app said only clouds… I successfully got cash from an ATM! Found a tabac and topped up my phone, so I should have 25 GB of data valid until the end of May. It was only 11 am so we jumped on a 30 minute bus ride for â¬1 to the beachside town of Biarritz. Wow. Lifestyles of the rich and famous! A gorgeous beach with many surfers, old town roads lined with super high end shops and cafes. We had pizza on a sloping cafe just up from the beach. Jim was in his element in the surf shop looking at all of the gear. Took the bus home for another â¬1.
Jim walked back to the hotel while I jumped on a small orange 100% electric shuttle bus. It takes a nice loop through town, hitting all of the car parks. Unfortunately it’s not the smoothest ride – lots of gear mesh whine plus the chassis clunked a lot, but enjoyable nonetheless. I had to switch buses at the halfway point and then again near the end. I asked the second bus driver about the size of the battery but she didn’t know. The third driver was actually from Glasgow and he said the bus runs from 7 am to 7 pm, going from 100% to 30% on the battery gauge, so that’s very good.
We walked into the old town for dinner again and stopped at an Italian restaurant. I asked for risotto, again, but it has onions, again! I settled for gnocchi pesto, it seemed sauteed because it had a crispy outside and soft inside, plus a bottle of red wine. We walked down the riverside, across and back up the other riverside. The culture here is to go out very late. Many cafes open at 9 pm and lots of people were drinking, chatting and smoking late into the night.
An abbreviated visit due to losing a day, but enjoyable. Next up, San Sebastian, Spain.
