On the road (3) A (hopefully) sunny September road trip to Spain COMPLETED
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**chezp** · 10-07-2010, 01:43 AM

Monday 6 September – part one: I think we’re running a bit late...

Our day started early, but not quite as early as planned. The idea was to be on the road by 7am, as we knew that we had around nine hours driving ahead of us and we wanted to get an early start. Mark told me he’d set the cell phone to wake us up at 5.30am, which it dutifully did. The only problem was five minutes later, I was on the computer and realised it was saying 5.40am. As it was on British time, it meant that we were an hour ahead.

Oh, it’s already 6.40am. I guess it’s time to speed things up then!

Full credit to us, we were downstairs for breakfast just before 7am and had finished our spread not long afterwards. We took one load of stuff down to the car, then returned for the final bits and finally headed out in the car by about 7.40am, which wasn’t at all bad, bearing in mind the time we’d got up.

I tell you what, I’m glad we didn’t leave much later. Although it was still getting light outside (there are some downsides to being an hour ahead over here), the traffic was already building and we hit a fair few jams as we headed out of the city, which surprised us, as I’d expected all the traffic to be heading into the city, but apparently not.

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Fortunately, soon the traffic died down and we were into what felt like the middle of nowhere, which is better known as the Regional Park of the Landes. According to my guidebook, something like 778,000 acres, mainly of trees, are protected here, along with the wildlife and people who live here. As we drove along, we saw nothing but trees, which did become a bit monotonous after a while. The whole time, the sun was trying to peak through and burn off the mist, which was quite dense in places, although at least it didn’t affect driving at all.

In this photo, you can see the irrigation system they use on crops

It’s probably just as well they have those 778,000 acres, judging by the amount of logging we saw taking place. I’m sure they know what they’re doing, but my goodness, it did seem like they were cutting down a heck of a lot of trees.

They were building new toll booths on this road

Soon, we started to come out of the forest and headed towards our first stop of the day, which was Bayonne. It’s actually in the northern Pays Basque region, something I tend to associate with Spain, but there is also a Basque country in southern France as well. It wasn’t that obvious here, although we certainly saw references to it as we arrived. We drove around the town first....

... before managing to find a parking spot right on the banks of the River Nive, which runs right through the centre of the town. After parking for an hour, we set off to wander up to Bayonne Cathedral. The first thing we saw was a free electric bus to ferry people about the town, which I thought was a really neat idea. I don’t know anywhere else that does anything like this.

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Next: this isn’t as impressive as others we’ve seen....

ilovedisney247 · 10-07-2010, 02:12 AM

Was there a festival going on? All of those colorful banners hanging from the buildings! Glad you made it to your first stop in spite of the late wakeup!

**Kenny** · 10-07-2010, 07:00 AM

Ahem!! Thanks for the wake up call! Even if it was an hour late... don't you just hate when that happens... especially on a work day! I'm always having to watch those time zone changes, but forgetting to set the am/pm is what usually gets me!

**Colexis Mom** · 10-07-2010, 08:16 AM

Great pictures from Bayonne!

**KMB733** · 10-07-2010, 09:59 AM

More great pictures!!

mommapants · 10-07-2010, 10:20 AM

Another great update.

MickeyWatch · 10-07-2010, 01:06 PM

I'm just getting caught up on your excellent TR. I love the photos.

**chezp** · 10-07-2010, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilovedisney247

Was there a festival going on? All of those colorful banners hanging from the buildings! Glad you made it to your first stop in spite of the late wakeup!

Not as far as we know...

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disney_duke · 10-07-2010, 02:48 PM

Bayonne looks especially nice! Glad you were able to get going in a hurry that morning.

sc507 · 10-07-2010, 08:46 PM

Sorry for your late start!
I like the picture of the teeny bus

pamcarey · 10-07-2010, 08:51 PM

Bayonne looks very pretty!

**chezp** · 10-08-2010, 02:55 AM

Monday 6 September – part two: this isn’t as impressive as others we’ve seen....

Bayonne has an interesting past. It was actually part of England, until the French seized it in 1451. It’s of strategic importance, lying near the border with Spain, which is only about three quarters of an hour’s drive from here.

We made it to the cathedral and grabbed a couple of shots outside, before the guided tour managed to get inside.

I have to be honest, this place didn’t do much for me. Considering it’s given two pages in my guidebook, which is usually reserved for the most amazing attractions, I was expecting a lot and it didn’t really deliver. I have seen much nicer churches elsewhere in France (Chartres, Reims and Le Mans spring to mind immediately), with much more spectacular stained glass windows. The thing that really stuck with me though was that, sadly very French smell, of urine, which actually followed you a good way into the church. It says something for the respect people have for religious buildings.

The cathedral was built in the 12th and 13th centuries on the site of a Romanesque cathedral and was a popular stopping spot for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. In the 19th century, it had to undergo some serious restoration work, after suffering damage during the French revolution.

Inside the cathedral, it was hosting an exhibition on the history of the Turin shroud. I couldn’t quite figure out the relevance to Bayonne itself, but it was an interesting read, especially the fact that it was rescued from a fire, after being housed in a bullet proof case and emerged unscathed. I have to be honest though, some of the details about the wounds to Jesus were just a little too much for me....

We headed back through the town and back to the car.

Once there, I suggested we see if we could find a Carrefour nearby, preferably on our route to Biarritz, which would be our next stop, so we could buy some lunch. I’d already calculated that, by the time we got to Burgos, the stop after Biarritz, it would be mid afternoon and siesta time, so the likelihood of being able to much open and places to eat was fairly low. Good old Tim found us a Carrefour that turned out to be in a massive shopping complex.

The store was huge and eventually we found the food section, getting a prawn salad each, some fish terrine, along with blackberries for me and apples for Mark. Our shopping done, we headed out, although we couldn’t use the self service cash tills, as apparently you had to have your own barcode reader, which was slightly bizarre. Finally paid (€11.80 or $15.30) and we were back on the road again.

We were only travelling a few miles up the coast to Biarritz, but as is always the way with these things, the shortest journeys sometimes take the longest time and so it proved to be here. It seemed to take forever to get into Biarritz, but soon we started to see the glamorous buildings that this resort is associated with.

Next: a new country and new scenery!

ilovedisney247 · 10-08-2010, 03:44 AM

Beautiful pictures of your last stop. I would have been very interested to see the exhibit about the Shroud of Turin. The last exhibit of the actual Shroud was this year--because the Pope moved it up--it wasn't supposed to be until 2025! I actually have a degree in comparative religion and love all of your Church photos. I've been to lots across Europe--but nowhere near the number you've visited!