Month: September 2021

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.

When Duke originally planned this portion of our itinerary he chose four places to stay that were about 60 miles apart and would allow us to go from Andorra through the French Pyrenees to the French Spanish border on the Bay of Biscay. We don’t really plan activities in each town we stay in. The activity is the drive on back roads through the French countryside.

This morning we had a great breakfast at Chateau De Druon.

It was raining hard when we woke up and it rained pretty much nonstop all day. As we started our drive we ran into road closures because of a bicycle race.

We modified our route and headed west. the roads we choose are often narrow, winding and they have almost no traffic.

In one small town we went through they had a tractor display and a woman was making cheese. We stopped to check it out. people always assume we are Spanish since our rent a car license plate is Spanish but we always let them know we are from Iowa and Nevada which elicits smiles.

As we continued on, the road got narrower, the terrain got more desolate and we gained altitude.

We saw a lot of cattle, horses and sheep. Sometimes they were in the middle of the road.

As we were getting closer to Irrisary and getting down to a lower altitude we saw people hiking and running in the mountains. I’m pretty sure it was the Ttutturru Trail which is a series of races. The marathon race has more than 3000 feet of elevation gain. Check out the link. I can’t even imagine that much of a hike but when you add the rain and mud, oomph!

The place we are staying Saturday night is called Chambres d’Hotes Aire Beria. The lady who checked us in suggested a restaurant for dinner called Art Zain. When they opened one of the staff here made a reservation for us. We walked about a mile to the restaurant and had another great meal. The staff was very helpful. Even with my limited French and their limited English we managed to order. Everyone on this trip has been very accommodating in dealing with allergies.

This morning we decided to drive the backroads to our next stop, Savignacq-Meyraco. The Map app says the trip should take two and a half hours but our ‘scenic’ route including stops took six hours. It was an incredibly beautiful drive. The French countryside is so beautiful it is almost unreal.

Soon after we got on the road we pulled over at a rest area. The rest area parking lot actually overlooked a prehistoric shelter that was occupied by homo sapiens of the aurignacienne culture 36,000 years ago. Right next to the shelter an archaeological site was being excavated.

We went for a walk in the nearby woods following signs to a museum that was supposed to be 20 minutes away. We didn’t find the museum but we had a nice walk.

Later we had a great picnic lunch.

We found another bread machine and bought another loaf of bread to snack on.

Tonight we are staying at Chateau de Druon. It is a beautiful building with ornate rooms. Our room is decorated like an old airship. The chateau was built in the 1870s it was a ruin when the current owners bought. They spent twelve years renovating and furnishing it.

The owner of Chateau recommended a restaurant out in the country, Les Bains de Secours. We had the best meal we have had since arriving in France.

After dinner we played cards in one of the dining rooms at Chateau Druon.

Our way of traveling is casual. We have an itinerary and places to stay every night but what we do during the day is often decided as we go along. Thursday we saw a brochure for the Chateau de Foix and decided to go there. Of course first there was a great French breakfast. I love croissants!!

The Chateau de Foix was built in the Middle Ages.

They have a nice museum and demonstrations of things like stone cutting, medieval weapons and building machines. We went to the demonstration of weapons of war. The lady giving the demonstration asked for volunteers to help operate the trebuchet. Duke and Brian volunteered. It turned out to be hard work turning the big wheels to raise the one ton counter weight.

After unwinding the rope the volunteers stood back and she released the throwing arm. There was nothing being thrown but it was pretty darn impressive.

We also climbed to the top of the chateau tower.

After finishing at Chateau de Foix we had coffee and frites at an outdoor cafe in a pavilion near where the car was parked.

We like to stay off the freeways and instead drive the backroads. Not far from Foix we were driving along a narrow road when we saw a woman buying a baguette from a baguette machine! That is something I have never seen before. We went around a few blocks and managed to get back to the corner with the machine. We bought a baguette and ate it as we drove down the road. It was fresh and very good!

The house where we were planning to stay Thursday night wasn’t available for check in until 5:00 so we found our way to an old church we could see in the distance.

As I was walking around the church I met three ladies out for a walk. They offered to show us the inside of the church. One of the ladies pulled a key out of her hip sack and we went inside. They were very proud of their church. They told us it was built in the eleventh century.

At 5 we checked into our house and then went for a swim.

Around 7:0 we went out to find a restaurant for dinner. We drove all over the town and couldn’t find one open so we bought salad, salmon, pizza and wine in a grocery store just as they were closing. Luckily we were able to use the oven at the house and have dinner and cards there.

Travel is full of adventure and today we had an adventure that thank goodness ended well. I’ll get to the adventure in a bit.

This morning we drove down from the mountain where we stayed last night into the center of Andorra.

We visited the Museum of Electricity. It’s a fascinating museum because it tells the story of how Andorra went from a backwater of about 800 people in 1930 to a major hydroelectric producer and a population of almost 80,000 people today.

Our next few days we plan to spend in France. To eat in a restaurant or stay in a hotel in France You must have a vaccination passport with a QR code issued by the government verifying that you have been vaccinated. All four of us applied for the document at the beginning of September but Duke is the only person who has received his.

Our first stop in France was at the guest house in Tarascon-sur-Ariège where we planned to stay. We couldn’t check in until five. Our host verified the five o’clock check in time and the fact that we would need the QR code to check in. He also pointed out how the French are letting Americans into France but the Americans are not letting the French into the U.S.

So we went in search of covid tests, because a proof of a negative test will allow you to get the necessary QR code that will be good for 72 hours. By now it was about 12:30. We had paid for a 4:15 tour of the Niaux Cave.

We visited every pharmacy in Tarascon-sur-Ariège and the hospital. It turned out that the only place to get a covid test was at the pharmacy in the center of town and the sign on their door said they were closed from 12-2 and would start giving covid tests at 5. At this point I was about ready to give up. But we showed up at the pharmacy when they opened after lunch at 2. They were very nice and said that although they don’t usually give covid test until 5 they would give us tests immediately. So to make a long story short after 30 more minutes and $25 each we have our 72 hour QR code. And we still had time to get to our cave tour. One good side benefit is I now remember how to say I need a covid test for the QR code in French (J’ai Besoin d’un test covid por le code QR).

The Niaux Cave is one of the only places where you are still allowed access to see prehistoric paintings. In order to preserve the paintings the cave isn’t lit. We carried flashlights. The hike total inside the cave is 1.5 miles and the ground is very uneven and at times slippery. Tours were only available in French. We knew that was the case so we read up a bit about the paintings ahead of time. It was pretty cool to see the bison and horses painted between 17 and 14 thousand years ago. No pictures were allowed inside the cave and they did check our brand new QR code’s.

We were pretty worn out by the time we checked into our guest house. He too checked our QR code’s when he checked us in.

It rained hard while we were eating dinner in Tarascon-sur-Ariège. They checked our QR code’s before they seated us.

We did manage to get in some cards before bed.