France Tales » Travel

Beynac-et-Cazenac, Chateau de Beynac

Owen — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:58:02 +0000

Beynac-et-Cazenac, Chateau de Beynac in the Dordogne
For my birthday we went to La Recreation in the Lot. It is a wonderful restaurant located in the tiny village of Les Arques. There is a museum dedicated to the sculptor Zadkine there.The owner of the restaurant has published a book that seems to be well known among English speakers. I think he is American. The book is called “You Can’t See Paris From Here”.

Of course I must detail the meal at La Recreation. We started with a velouté d’aspèrge, asparagus soup and of course we began with an aperitif, fenelon. Apparently fenelon is a regional speciality, walnut liquour and red wine maybe, I forget. For entrees we tried the Lobster Ravioli and the Scallops wrapped in angel hair pasta. Both of these have been on the menu of La Recreation for 18 years, since the restaurant opened. They came recommended by the waiter. Then for the main course I had Caille Supreme, small wild chicken and Charles had Agneau, lamb. We also had a 1/2 bottle of Pecharment. I first tried Pecharment when I lived in the Dordogne. It is a wine that comes from Bergerac, but a good one, not the typical Bergerac wines. For dessert we had a fondant chocolate and something glacée, I forget exactly. Highly recommended. Visit La Recreation if you get the chance.

After that we drove around the Lot and the Dordogne stopping at Domme and Beynac-et-Cazenac, and Chateau de Beynac. I took many photos of the chateau de Beynac. I will add them in a future post so you can see it. We also took a guided tour so I learned quite a bit about it. Many recent films were also shot at the chateau de Beynac. It is a private chateau completley undergoing renovation by a private family who actually lives there. When we finished we came back to Toulouse in about 2 hours. One of the biggest treats in France is that it is relatively small and you can see a wide variety of landscapes available to you in a short drive.

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San Sebastian, Spain

Owen — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:39:16 +0000

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View Larger MapSan Sebastian is located in the Basque part of Spain on the Atlantic Coast across the border from Biarritz. It is Donostia in Basque and San Sebastian in Spanish and is officially known as Donostia-SanSebastian. It is a large city of about 200,000 people and 400,000 including the nearby suburbs. It is just a few kilometers from the border with France but it has a very different feel.

San Sebastian is in the north of the Basque Country, on the coast of the Bay of Biscay. San Sebastian’s picturesque coastline makes it a popular beach resort. San Sebastian benefits from hilly surroundings. There are numerous cliffs that overlook the ocean right in the center of the city. There is a warmth to the city and a vibrancy to its residents which was in stark contrast to France and in particular Biarritz. San Sebastian also sits at the mouth of the river Urumea so you have the ocean and a river running through the city.

There is evidence of Roman ruins there too. It was cold and rainy most of the day we were there so we didn’t do as much exploring as we would have liked. We ate in a fantastic real tapas place. I guess you can tell it is real because the tapas are all prepared and waiting at the bar and you just go up to the bar and select the ones you want. And of course, when you are done, you must throw your trash on the floor. Jean-Jacques and I were in no mood to make choices so we ordered the menu and it was an enormous amount of food. We also felt too proper to throw our trash on the floor, but as we left I noticed the waiter swept what was left on our table to the floor. So much for saving someone some extra work.

It was a little strange for me that San Sebastian sat just across the border from France and few merchants spoke French. I took Spanish for 6 years in school and can still speak it okay but since learning, living, and thinking in French my Spanish has really gotten rusty. Merchants are usually the first ones in border regions to know a few phrases and they didn’t know many. There is a French stereotype that the Spanish don’t like to learn languages. Maybe it is true. It’s strange coming from the French who don’t appear to like learning languages either.

Some things to do while in San Sebastian:

Go to the beach, it’s right there in the city
Go to a football or rugby match, both are big attractions in the city
Go to the San Sebastian Film Festival, it is over 50 years old and one of the most respected in Europe
Go to the San Sebastian Jazz Festival, this year is the 43rd festival, it is held July 22-27
Every year on 20 January , the feast of Saint Sebastian, the people of San Sebastian celebrate a festival known as the “Tamborrada”, eating drinking, drumming, it’s an all night affair

We only spent an afternoon there. We would love to go back. Next time we’ll research things to do. We only went because the weather was so bad in Biarritz that we couldn’t go to the beach. Next time we’ll be prepared for San Sebastian.

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Biarritz, France

Owen — Fri, 30 May 2008 05:36:21 +0000

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Biarritz, France is located in the South Western part of France on the Atlantic Coast. It is located in the Pyrenees Atlantique department. Biarritz is also located in the Basque region so there were many signs and symbols in Basque. Basque, unlike Catalan, bears no resemblance to either Spanish or French as a language, which you might expect because its region is sandwiched in between Spain and France. Although we saw many signs in Basque throughout the region, we heard very little, or possibly, none spoken on the street.

Biarritz is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers. Biarritz also has some of the best beaches in Europe and has won multiple awards for their top class standards. We found Biarritz to be nice and pleasant but a little too upscale. It reminded me a little of Santa Barbara. Of course it looks nice and feels nice but in the end it wasn’t a place I’d go back again and again to. Of course the beach looked great and the waves were big, a huge plus for me, and even in the poor weather there were surfers out on the waves.

You can see very large homes on the rolling hills of the town. A variety of architectural styles adorn those hills. There is a lot of shopping that can be done, but much of it is very expensive due to the nature of its guests and residents, and that means very expensive for those of us living in Europe largely on dollars. There seems to be a wide variety of restaurants. Due to the poor weather we didn’t walk around as much as we wold have. We went to many of the nearby towns and even to Spain.

If the weather is good there are a lot of things you can do in Biarritz

the Asiatica Museum, which houses a significant collection of Asian art primarily from India, Nepal, Tibet, and China.
The Museum of the Sea has 24 aquariums with sharks and seals
The annual Biarritz Surf Festival on the beach at the Côte des Basques (the premier surf event in Europe)
St-Martin’s Church, constructed in the 12th century, and restored in the middle of the 16th century.
The Russian Orthodox Church in Biarritz, constructed in the 19th century for visiting Russian aristocrats, with its famous blue dome.
The Chapelle Imperiale built for Empress Eugenie, which has an intricately decorated roof interior, and elegant wall tiling.
A Museum of Chocolate, which explains its history and manufacture.
Two large Casinos, the Barriere and the Bellevue, on the waterfront by the Grande Plage
Also large bluffs surround the beach and offer beautiful views
The lighthouse overloking the ocean is a must see as well

I’m glad we went as we have always wanted to go to Biarritz, but I doubt a return trip is coming soon. The nearby towns of Bayonne, St Jean de Luz, and the city of San Sebastian in Spain were much more our style. Posts about those towns are coming up next. Pictures of the whole trip will be found in the Photo Dump on Sunday rather than in the individual posts.

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Blog Carnival: European Travel, European Cities, European Tips

Owen — Mon, 05 May 2008 08:58:47 +0000

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I have been looking for ways to promote France Tales more. One way I’ve found is through blog carnivals. Blog carnivals are a collection of links to blog posts on different blogs in a blog post organized around a theme. European Travel, European Cities, European Tips are the categories I have targeted. I have submitted my post about Carcassonne to a few lately. It is great because I also get to read other great European travel tips, and feel insecure about my own writing. Here are the carnivals I have submitted to, bookmark them if you like them, share them on your social networks, or just read them because they are full of great information.

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Airplane Secrets

Owen — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:01:42 +0000

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Here are some nice air travel tips. This video discusses exact seats to request on different airlines in order to get the best seat. Watch this video before booking your next flight. Anyone have recommendations of their own?