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
Having wound up my chronicle of time with Anee-Marie’s family in the Basque country, I find myself with a few leftover images of that and nearby areas. I’m happy that many of you found this story entertaining.
Another Basque church with the three crosses up top.
A church in either Béarn or the upper Pyrenees (Hautes-Pyrénées), I don’t remember which.
A church in Béarn. Old churches are nice to look at, even if you have no use for the mythology.
Shell gasoline stations in France used to sell packs of road maps that included a section on sightseeing destinations ranked with one, two, or three stars. The Cirque de Gavarnie was a three star destination that none of us had heard of and which was a reasonable day trip from Oloron.
I went into a Shell gas station in France once and pulled out my Shell credit card. They explained that didn’t accept those, but all the employees came over to ogle the card.
Another photo of the Cirque de Gavarnie.
A rugby match at Mauleon.
Another photo of that match.
The valley that I wanted to retire to. I’m sure it would have been a disaster for me for a number of reasons, not least of which all the family that I loved so much would have been gone.
Another shot of that valley.
A final church in Béarn somewhere.
eclare
Oh I love those river photos! Something about flowing water.
Lapassionara
That valley! Stunning. And I loved the rugby match. Many thanks.
JPL
What a wonderful series and thank you sharing your memories with us. The valley photos are stunning.
JPL
@eclare: OT Take care this weekend.
Kristine
@eclare: Yup. Loved those too.
Gorgeous photos. Many thanks.
eclare
@JPL: Thanks, yeah, dreading tonight. I will not watch the video, seeing the photo of Tyre in the ICU was enough. I just hope I can avoid it.
stinger
Oh my. Now *I* want to retire there. With that photobombing donkey!
KSinMA
What a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing.
WaterGirl
I really did not want this series to end. The photo that accompanied the Shell credit card story is stunning. Magnificent.
Remember everyone, if you are already starting to miss French Basque Country, just click on French Basque Country under the title and date, and you can see all of them.
Anyway
Greatly enjoyed all the photographs and stories from the Basque country. Thanks for sharing.
Layer8Problem
@WaterGirl: Thanks! I’m sure I’ll look at these again.
Layer8Problem
Steve, this really was a treat. I’ve enjoyed seeing and hearing about your time there and the people. Thank you for letting us share that.
Albatrossity
Thanks for this series! I do love those pics of your intended retirement location; it is a stunning place. And the waterfalls!
Much appreciated!
mvr
Can empathize with wanting to retire in that particular place.
Thanks for all of these!
MelissaM
Lovely series! the aging on the photos gives it an other-world feel, and it is I suppose, because I’m sure so much of that has changed. Gorgeous country.
The Castle
The Basque country photos keep coming..
That escarpment looming over the valley is incredible. And all those beautiful stone walls and stone buildings juxtaposed against the verdant green. Wow.
The rugby photos are pretty great too. And all those Gallic features on the players.
I am sure I missed this, but what happened to everyone? Do you ever go back? Now that the separatist movement there is pretty much defunct, I wonder how that changes things.
Thank you for all the sharing.
Steve from Mendocino
The separatist movement was pretty much exclusively on the Spanish side. The Spanish government treated the Basques like shit, and the Basque territory was home to some of the most economically productive industry.
The people whom I was closest to were all of Anne-Marie’s parents generation (with a couple from the generation before). They aged out. I’m still in contact with Anne-Marie and her sister and brother in law plus a couple of her old college friends, but we’ve had separate lives for so long now and that kind of travel is so strenuous for visiting a place that has lost much of its magic. We’re old.
cope
Thanks for another set of wonderful pictures and the warm words that describe them.
That cirque certainly is a three star destination.
ETA: My wife and I watched “French Kiss” for the umpteenth time the other night. Pity you weren’t location manager for that movie.
dnfree
These have been just beautiful, of an area I’ll probably never see.
J R in WV
The Basque Separatist movement was mostly in Spain IIRC.
These photos look like oil work on boards, some of them at least. The waterfalls are astounding… what would they be like after a sustained rain storm, maybe with snow melt as well. We loved our time in NE Spain and SW France. Great people, great history well cared for, amazing terrain to view.
Thanks for sharing!
Tehanu
Loved the cirque, what a gorgeous place. Thanks.