Yesterday, we spent the majority of our time in a few different spots along the Atlantic coast. And no more rain! Beautiful, sunny skies and warm temperatures all the better to enjoy our day in a few beach towns. First, we crossed the border into Spain to visit the town of San Sebastian, which is surrounded by beautiful views of the ocean, a few nice beaches to visit and picturesque, little streets to stroll through. A lot of us were surprised by what a difference a few miles and a border could make because of the change in languages. In fact, Mario explained to us that because this region was never conquered by the Romans, there was never any Roman influence on their regional language so it is quite different from any Romance languages - lots of random x's, t's, k's, etc. Anyways, Maddie was quite happy to practice her Spanish and the rest of us mumbled through a few "por favor"s and "graçias"s . After a few hours, we hopped back into France to visit Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a little town whose big claim to fame is that it is where Louis XIV married Marie-Thérèse in a (more or less) politically-motivated move in 1660. We took a quick walking tour that included the church where the wedding took place. Afterwards, we headed to Biarritz, the only place in France where you can surf, for a few more hours of exploration, sun and sand. And kind of like we finished our time in Paris watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle, we finished our time in this area by watching the sun set on the Atlantic with our toes in the sand of the beach by our hotel.
Now, as I write this, we're on the bus almost to our next hotel in Orange. This afternoon, we've gone from the Atlantic coast to catching glimpses of the Mediterranean in the distance. We made a half-way stop in the medieval walled-in city of Carcassonne. I've always wanted to visit there and now I have! Beautiful little place to spend a few hours. And now, onto the rest of the south of France - Provence, here we come!
(there will be a time lapse in me writing this and me posting it because I can't post till I get wi-fi at the hotel tonight.)
No comments:
Post a Comment