At breakfast this morning at Chambres d’Hotes Aire Beria in Irissarry our host served our breakfast. His grandfather bought the house in the early twentieth century. He is Basque and taught us to say good day in Basque, egun.
He also knew about the Basque studies program at University of Nevada, Reno. I showed him a picture of the Basque restaurant in Elko, Nevada. When he saw the neon sign outside the restaurant he said that all the Basque neon experts emigrated to Nevada! He told us that picon, the drink that is identified as Basque by many people, was popular with his grandparents generation but is no longer at all common in the Basque region. He entertained us with jokes throughout breakfast.
Soon after we left Irissary we entered a town packed with people who were parking in every possible spot in town. I think it must have been a big flea market I saw a sign for La Marche d’Ahetze.
We drove to the Atlantic coast, parked and took a short hike above the beach. Although it was overcast, gray, and rainy there were a lot of surfers in the water.
As we were hiking down the trail JoAnn greeted a passing hiker with the Basque greeting, egun! The man responded with a flood of Basque. I guess JoAnn looked and sounded authentic!
After our beach stop we went straight to our Parador in Hondarribia. Hondarribia is just over the border in Spain. The view out our windows is France.
We went out for a walk around Hondarribia and to have coffee.
Luckily by this point the rain was clearing so we were able to play cards on the terrace overlooking the bay and France.
We ate dinner at a restaurant across from the Parador. We shared several plates.
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