Day 20: Bayonne, France - San Sebastián, Spain

Today was really fantastic.  I had a lot of fun! I was in a different city!!!

Our day started at 8 h 30 when our bus left from  Pau for Bayonne.  It is less than two hours by bus.  When we got to Bayonne, we did a guided tour of the city.  It is a very cool place.  It is located on a major river, in the Basque country, near the Spanish border, and on the ocean, so it has seen a lot of history.  Until 1907, it was listed by the French government as a military stronghold, so there was to be no construction outside the fortified walls of the city.  It would be too easy for the longbow men of invading armies to use those houses for cover.  Good to see that the French had a really firm grasp on the warfare tactics of the day.  Anyway, there is a lof of cool, very dense construction inside the walls.

In 1907, they cut this hole in the defensive wall to allow for construction on the outside.

On the tour, we stopped by the Cathedrale Sainte Marie in Bayonne.  It is a beautiful example of late gothic architecture, with soaring vaults and beautiful stained glass.  Stained glass is very difficult to photograph, but I got a few good ones. 

This is behind the apse.

This is a picture of Jesus performing a miracle.  In pane 1, we see a little girl(in red) crying.  In pane 2, the mother is asking Jesus to help.  In pane 3 is jeezy creezy himself, in pane 4 are his disciples.  In pane 1, over the girl, you can see the demon(in black) that JC as exorcised from the girl.  In the foreground of panes 1 and 2 are the people who paid for the painting.  It's all for the good of the church.

The abbey that is adjacent to the cathedral.

After the tour, we had a very good lunch at Le Victor Hugo, which was included in the trip.  We had chicken breast that was very good, with a tomato sauce and rice.  It was a good lunch.  After, we had a few hours of free time to explore Bayonne.  We walked through the main shopping district and spent some time looking through some shops.  We then went to Chocolate Cazenave.  At one time, in Bayonne, there were more than 20 different chocolate makers working.  Now there is only one, but many of those families still own chocolate shops in the city, just using pre made chocolate.  The specialty at Chocolate Cazenave is Chocolate mousseux, a frothed hot chocolate drink served with freshly made whipped cream.  It was by far the best thing I have had in France.  I don't even really like chocolate, but this was fantastic.  

Finally, on our way back to the bus, we stopped in the botanical garden of Bayonne.  It is built on the old walls of the city.  In the first photo of this entry, you can see plants from the garden hanging down the wall on the right.  The garden was not so big, but it was very pretty.  The flora here are quite varied, and it was interesting to see it all in one place.

As I'm sure you know, France has a storied history of pruning shears.

After Bayonne, we took a short drive to San Sebastian, Spain.  It is a very beautiful city on the coast.  It was primarily a mercantile and fishing village for much of it's history, though it has had some military significance due to its close proximity to France.  In the 1800's the Spanish court decided they wanted a summer retreat like the French had(see: Day 8) so they moved in, and kicked the shipbuilders out.  I didn;t get any great photos of the city, but here's the bay:

This was the view across the bay from near our hotel.  On the right is the Old Quarter, with Urgull, a hill, just behind the old city.  That is JC again on top of the hill.  To the left is Isla de Santa Clara.

Laura and I decided to climb to the top of the hill.  Nobody went with us because they wanted to go drink.  It was like 19h 00.  Anyway, the climb was very nice, and only took 30-40 min, at a very relaxed pace.  There were paths and stairs that wound around the hill to the top.  On arrival, we were pleasantly surprised to discover Castillo de la Mota, an old Spanish fort that would have protected the bay.  It is very cool remains, and would have proved a very defensible location.

This is me standing on a lookout tower in the castle.  This is one of the only added safety rails on the whole site.

The history of the fort is apparent in these arrow slits that lined many of the walls.  I'm sure these were abandoned when they discovered cannons. 

You'd think the fact that he was 40 feet tall would have made it into the gospel...

We then walked down into the Parte Vieja, which I think is Spanish for "Tapas Bar".  I am not sure that most of these people are even aware that real food exists, or that this is such a thing as a restaurant.  I am certain that most of these people only eat tapas. Either way, the Old Part of town is very, very cool.  There were countless tapas bars, ice cream shops, and tapas bars. The night life was extremely vibrant.  Even at 1 in the morning, the streets were crowded with people.  The very cool part was that there seemed to be a pretty even mix of people between the ages of about 20-50.  We walked along the beach for a while, and found a seaside restaurant.  It was pretty good, though it did reinforce the notion that the concept of a restaurant may be slightly foreign.  I did have a nice view, though:

After dinner, we headed back to the Parte Vieja.  The highlight at this point was the mango sorbet I had.  It was absolutely incredible.  It ruined any other mango sorbet I will ever eat, as well as other flavors of sorbet and actual mangos.  Laura got tiramisu flavor and it ruined anything the mango sorbet didn't cover.  Actual tiramisu may be off the hook.  But only if it's really good.

The city of San Sebastian also has some very strict rules for their beaches. You are allowed to move your wheelchair in either direction, and sling shot-ing babies is permissible.  However, don't put your Tootsie Rolls in a cup, and the Olympic Games are out of the question. 

San Sebastian is a fantastic city, and I really hope I can make it back before I leave.  It is very easy to access, so it should be do-able.