Mattips og andre tips fra fransk baskerland
Tenk at vi skulle få med disse fantastiske mattipsene for reisen:-)
Norwegian here. We have decided to move to Nouvelle-Aquitaine to become Catholics, pilgrims and crusaders, especially crusaders. - LeveVeg
Bienvenue en Nouvelle-Aquitaine. I live in the Basque country, and with admitted chauvinisme, will state that we have the best food (jambon de Bayonne, foie gras, confit de canard, chipirons…) and a pretty chill way of life. - erdanalog1707
@nerdanalog1707 Thanks a lot for these tips! Next Friday we are on the train from Paris to Sarlat, there we'll try to find Confit de canard and Foie gras. At Espelette we'll try to find a piece of Jambon de Bayonne, to bring with us to our camping south of Biarritz. We will for sure take the 20 minutes bus ride from CAMPING LE PAVILLON ROYAL to Biarritz, to find a meal of Chipirons à la basquaise, as my wife is from the Philippines, and there they eat a lot of squid. Unfortunately we get less than an hour in Bordeaux, I thought we should get 5 hours, so I ordered an Airbnb there for Easter Holidays. My plan is to send my oldest daughter there as an exchange student in 2027, and I hope to send my wife and youngest daughter with her, while I liquidates our life in Norway and join them as fast I can. Thanks again for the food tips, my girls are excellent chefs and love making food, so they will love this introduction to Basque food tradition! - LeveVeg
Just a warning, the food is good, you just can’t be on a diet! If you go to Espelette, you should also try a real specificity : goat cheese with dark cherry jam (fromage de brebis avec confiture de cerise noire). It sound strange, but I promise it is good. In Biarritz, you can to to the « Halles » every morning they have a market and sell local fresh produce, and being a tourist center, they have all the great French south west gastronomy. A wonderful place to have an apéritif, and to watch a nice sunset is Etxola Bibi (pronounced etchola beebee). They have mixed dishes of charchuterie and cheese and the scenery is beautiful. If you are going to the beach in Biarritz, I would suggest Milady beach which is one of the largest, but beware there is a lot of current, so stay in between the flags. If you are not used to the current, the best beach would be Port des Pécheurs or even going to Saint Jean de Luz. Every Sunday evening in the summer they have a « Toro de fuego » which is really nice. And Saint Jean de Luz is where Louis XIV got married; the church is small but still stands. Also, Saint Jean de Luz is still a real working fishing port, and they have a fish market almost everyday, in which all the local restaurants get their fish and sea food. And the city center is closed off to cars to make it fully pedestrian. It is one of my favorite coastal cities. And another thing about the Basque Country : chocolate. Chocolate was essentially invented in Bayonne. You can get good chocolate from Adam or Pariès. The chocolate in the Basque Country is less buttery and a bit more sour than mainstream chocolate. Don’t visit the Musée du Chocolat, not worth it though. If you are really truly hungry for something sweet, you can try the Gateau Basque (Basque cake), there is a dispute about high is the original : the one with cream of the one with black cherry jam. A warning, this cake is not light, it is delicious, but don’t expect on being active after eating some. The Cathedral in Bayonne is gorgeous, if you have the opportunity to visit. Sorry to bombard you, but I work in hospitality, and I’m always excited to get people to enjoy their stay and appreciate the local culture. - erdanalog1707
What is Charcuterie? Origins, definitions, and evolution explained
Thank you so much, this was very helpful, and I'll forward it to my wife, so that we can be sure to taste all this food and see all these places. We arrive at Bayonne 12:00, so we go to see the Cathedral before we find the bus to Espelette. I didn't know about the chocolate in Bayonne, we all love chocolate, so we'll check this out. Thanks for the tip of going to Saint Jean de Luz, we'll spend a whole day there, as I'm a big fan of the YouTube-channel "Not Just Bikes" and car free cities. Maybe this is the town where we'll settle in the end? I remember I saw the church where Louis XIV was married, but I didn't remember it was here, so we'll see this church as well. I love photography, so I'll tell my girls there is a nice beach so that they can spend the rest of the day there, while I explore the town and its surroundings with my camera. We'll for sure enjoy the sunset at Etxola Bibi. I can't wait for the Gateau Basque! Thanks to your advices our trip will too become a gastronomic one, in addition to that we'll see the cathedral in Bayonne and that we'll prioritize to explore Saint Jean de Luz! - LeveVeg
The southwest of France is very interesting historically. I would describe it as peaceful and chill until someone tries to impose something on the people, then they become extra belligerent.
When there was the Muslim invasion that went all the way to Poitiers, the southwest was mostly spared because they were viewed as savages.
The bayonette is an invention from Bayonne.
During the Hundrd Years War, the southwest actually accepted the English. They had better trade agreements, and were able to keep all their freedoms and traditions. The Bayonne Cathedral actually has the English coat of arms in it!
Because of the loyalty to the English, a new fortress was built in Bayonne, and it is not oriented outwards towards invaders, but inwards towards a rebellious population. It still stands today, Château Neuf.
Oh and in Bayonne has kept all its military fortifications.
On the religious side of things I would say that the bishop of Bayonne isn’t very much well like in the far left media… He is part of the Communauté Saint Martin who wear the traditional priest vestments, they have NO Latin Mass with Gregorian chant during week day mornings at the saint Joseph church of Biarritz, he has kept the TLM in Bayonne, and has had some not so politically correct sermons… The media hates him.
That being said, the Basque can be as belligerent as they are accepting and welcoming. In Biarritz, which is a small French city, there are many Catholic Churches, as well as a Russian Orthodox Church dependent of Constantinople and a Jewish synagogue. This is quite rare in France for a city this size. And one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in France is in the interior or the Basque Country, though it hasn’t been maintained at all. - erdanalog1707