Tuesday 16 October 2012

Biarritz

Biarritz nestled at the western end of the Pyrenees is the largest resort on the french Atlantic coast. Beautiful place with breath taking scenery. That said, you really have to watch where you're treading as the streets are littered with dog shit, twice I stood in a pile thinking it was a leaf. The town is also very hilly, It's not the ideal place to visit for those with mobility problems or if you're a lazy cow like Carmen. Carmen wasn't struck with the place at all, she said it reminded her of Madeira, she was expecting it to be like Benidorm with the egg and chips brigade.

The picturesque Port des Pêcheurs and the church of St Eugenie seen from stony bridge island.

Le Grand Plage with it's strange mix of retired Parisian ladies out meandering with their maids and pekingese dogs still form a significant part of the population along with surfers who have almost taken over the place. 

Surfers paradise! Taken from our hotel balcony overlooking la Plage Côte des Basques on the Atlantic coast. Where the mountains meet the sea.

Sadly, our balcony didn't have shutters at the window so I was unable to re-enact this from the égoïste advert.

Le Rocher de la Vierge , you can never escape from those religious Virgin Mary statues in France, with locals placing flowers and genuflecting at her feet, I've never understood why people do that, as if the Virgin Mary would ever come back as a £1.99 plaster of Paris statue.
Threaded with craggy stone walls and winding promenades for strolling, it's a bit like the Great Wall of China. Blue and pink hydrangeas are seen everywhere.

12 comments:

  1. In Texas, the Virgin Mary tends to show up on flour tortillas or sun reflections off car hubcaps.

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  2. The mother of Jesus often makes her presence known over here too, in greasy frying pans or on a damp patch in somebody's bedroom wall, Someone with such heavenly special effects at her disposal, I would have thought she'd have more taste than that.

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  3. "I would have thought she'd have more taste than that."

    I suspect she was the trailer trash of that era. She did give birth in a stable after all.

    I'm kidding, I'm kidding, everyone knows that trailer trash is white!

    So did you get a chance to practice French Kissing with any wayward surfer boys?

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  4. Sadly not Ayem8y, night after night dry sheets! Can you imagine that? There was this handsome waiter who served us at an italian restaurant (I can't eat french muck) who I thought was over enthusiastic with his pepper grinder "It's a lovely length" (C'est belle longueur) I said, licking my lips and soon after that a woman took over from his duties. I must have scared him off.

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  5. I wouldn't have expected dog shit there though I suppose dogs to have to crap somewhere even if the scenery is stonking. Perhaps into the hands of the maids.
    xx

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    1. I never expected it in a place like that either, one pile you can overlook but it was like every twenty strides and oh here comes another great pile and the steps stank of cats. As for the ladies with their maids the expression "All fur coat and no knickers" springs to mind.

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  6. Mistress MJ insists you have shutters installed immediately.

    The égoïste advert is a role you are destined to play.

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  7. Aw, fucking Europe ...

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  8. The very name Biarritz makes me think of Edwardian dowagers and discreet gigolos. Were there gigolos?

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    1. Carmen was going like the clappers on the ipad looking for men, there were a couple in Biarritz, but they didn't take my fancy, I'm not a huge fan of flared nostrils and brown teeth. The majority of the gigolos were situated in Bordeaux, 125 miles away. Rose had a well earned rest!

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