On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Steve from Mendocino
The Basque coast is absolutely charming, but during the summer, especially late summer, it’s mobbed, and driving and parking are a nightmare. Biarritz and St. Jean de Luz are obvious destinations, but Bayonne is the city that really anchors the area. Bayonne is less of a tourist destination and has more of a year-round population – or at least it did during the period when I was visiting in the summers. The area from Bayonne to St. Sebastien in Spain is an uninterrupted urban/suburban environment.
View of the Bayonne harbor taken from Anne-Marie’s aunt’s apartment.
View of the park and river from Anne-Marie’s aunt’s apartment.
A large old house of the classic architectural style of the area.
Biarritz has long been a popular surfing destination and a watering hole and gambling spot for the well heeled. Here’s a look from the opposite side of the bay.
Another picture of Biarritz across the water.
The micro harbor at Biarritz.
Revelry at Bayonne during their summer festival. These gentlemen are standing in a closed-off section of town where cranky and athletic cows with blunted horns (vaches Landaises) will be released, and people like these will taunt the cows and run away from them. I have a picture of one of them going over the horns. He came up from the tumble seemingly okay but likely with bruised ribs.
A complete listing of the variations of pelota can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_pelota#The_gloves_%28chistera%29
An example of hand-pelota.
Edible goodies at a sports match.
Layer8Problem
Always a pleasure to see these!
JPL
This has been a wonderful series and thank you for sharing that part of the world with us.
Wanderer
Really have enjoyed seeing your photos and reading your information. Thank you for such a wonderfully crafted post.
TKH
Thank you for these pictures from an area I hiked through, in a different era, while doing the Haute Route des Pyrenees in 2017. I started in Hendaye, SE of Biarritz, and then made my over to the Béarne and onwards from there to Banyuls-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean.
I have to say, though, that I did not see as much of Basque country as I had hoped on account of the fog, that lifted in mid-morning and rose up again from the valleys by 2 PM. Often as thick as milk soup, so that one had to stop walking and camp instead as there was no way one could see where to head next. Lovely country, though.
Lapassionara
Many thanks, Steve, for sharing these with us.
Mike in Pasadena
Great pics from Basque country. Thank you.
way2blue
Thanks Steve. Your photo of Biarritz reminds me of when my daughter, who did a year abroad at University of Grenoble, visited Biarritz with friends on holiday. And asked the local surfers to teach her French slang. I passed through that part of Spain when I was 19. So long ago with only a clear memory of the Biarritz strand. Not crowded then…