This was a big travel day for us! It was also a very exciting day for Patricia who after many years working in French Immersion,she was visiting France for the first time. For she, Sue, and I, it was a big relief to,be able to operate in a language we actually could understand and speak. We were still in the Basque region but crossing the border. Things immediately somehow seemed different but this may have been just in our imaginations. And things didn't seem as different when we crossed back into Spain.
In the Basque regions of Spain and France place names are usually in the Basque language, Euskara, and in French and Spanish, and at one point this caused our navigator a bit of confusion. Euskara is a very different language from other languages. We saw a very interesting television program on the Basque culture but since they were speaking Euskara it was difficult for us.
Our destination was St. Jean-Pied-de-Port, the usually entry point to the French Way of the El Camino. As we climbed into the more mountainous region,rather reminding me of Northern New Hampshire, we saw a market in progress in a small town so we had to stop. There is nothing more fun than market day in a French town.
Above are aprons in the Basque patterns. Peppers are very popular in this region.
As we left we were trying to figure out the town's name and find our way to St. Jean, as things seemed a bit off with the Michelin map. We then discovered that we had actually just been in St. Jean, without realizing it, so back we went to have lunch and a better look around.
The houses in the Basque region often seem to be white with red trim and unlike Galicia, to have red shutters. It was probably too late in the day to see many pilgrims as they would have begun their journey far earlier.
Next, we really climbed into the Pyrenees, on a road with many hairpin turns.
We finally found a place to stop on the French/Spanish border. It was gorgeous but very windy though after being in the city for a day the fresh air felt great! Irene motioned that we had to go up to the cafe store and it had everything from hunting equipment to dishes to food to clothing to duty free cigarettes and liquor with music blasting. You had to see it to believe it!
Note that you no longer have to really cross borders in Western Europe.
We eventually were back in San Sebastian.
And we caught a gorgeous sunset on our surfers' beach.
Location:San Sebastian
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