Green mountains, white and red villages,
the hinterland wears the colors of basque flag.

Urrugne, Biriatou, Ainhoa, Sare, Espelette, la Bastide Clairence, Garazi and Baigorri and so many more... basque villages have the strong and colourful personnality of basque people. Try to go to the market-place or to the sunday mass at the village church, and you'll hear basques talk and sing using this old language, Euskara.

You can also discover basque culture by going to the many song, dance or sport traditional festivals.

Between villages, green meadows with cattle. Beech and chestnut-tree forests announce mountains landscapes. Most mountains here are easy to climb. We have books and maps because we love mountain hiking so if you like it too, you'll have a lot to do !

And if you prefer water, you can practice kayak, hydrospeed and rafting in la Nive rushing waters.

Don't forget basque gastronomy ! Irouléguy wines (rose or red) will get along very well with Espelette pimento flavoured courses such as axoa, marmitako, piperade or poulet basquaise !

The main dessert is « gateau basque » ; it can be stuffed with cream or with cherry jam.

30 minutes from home, you cross Bidassoa river
and on the other side ...

A 30 mn drive on the motorway will lead you to discover San Sebastian (Donostia), capital of Gipuzcoa province.

This very beautiful city offers you a pleasant walk in front of the wild ocean, a wonderful sandy bay, a brief but steep ascent of Monte Urgul whose colossal Christ overlooks the ancient district, as well as a fun fair on top of Monte Igueldo.

It's great fun to go and nibble some "tapas" at "poteo" time through the narrow streets of the ancient district or around the fishing harbour.

We also should recommend a visit to Miramon Museum ( science museum with a lot of exciting experiments) as well as San Sebastian aquarium.

At nearly one hour, Pampelune (Iruña), Navarre's capital, welcomes you. You will have to cross two verdant passes to discover suddenly a huge mediterranean plateau dominated by this ancient historical city.

Its architectural ressources and its ancient district are worth visiting. There, you'll taste an excellent chorizo that goes better with Navarre or Rioja red wine !

Pampelune is well known for the San Fermin feasts (early july) related by Ernest Hemingway ; each year they draw a million visitors into Pampelune's narrow streets.

Navarre, crossed by Compostelle's "camino", is rich of many roman vestiges and offers various natural environments. 

2 hours from home, Bilbao (Bilbo), Biscaye's capital, a city with plenty of charisma and personality; traditional and avantgarde at once, – and host to Guggenheim museum. Bilbao is one of the main economic and cultural hubs in northern Spain, and has gained international recognition as an architectural point of reference.

Pyrenees

If you like mountains, Barétous, Aspe and Ossau valleys are within two hours from home.

Pyrenees's french side is the steepest one. Green valleys, mountain torrents, proud peaks where izards and marmots leap, pyrenean forests still give shelter to a few bears.

Lourdes (160 kms) is one of the greatest catholic pilgrimage.

 

B.A.B. agglomeration gathers nearly 100 000 people.
But rather than an agglomeration, they are three different towns whose inhabitants preserve a kind of chauvinism. So let's try to be objective !

Gallo-roman borough, medieval city later on, Bayonne has been, as many other french cities, fortified by Vauban (17th century).

Chocolate, in the 16th century, and later on the invention of bayonet, as well as its ham, made Bayonne a famous city. Historically, the first french bullfight happened here and "les fêtes de Bayonne" (early august), are one of the main festive "rendez-vous" in France.

Nowadays Bayonne is sub-prefecture of our departement and some people think it could even be capital of a basque departement. Anyway it is a dynamic administrive and cultural center whose associative network is much developped.

Living is pleasant here, and you'll certainly enjoy strolling in its pedestrian streets or alongside Nive's quays... Sainte Marie's cathedral and its cloister, the Bonnat museum as well as the Basque museum are also worth visiting.

 
Anglet is the widest among the three cities. Here, you’ll find a lot of natural areas and Chiberta’s forest is BAB’s “green lung”. Its golf ground is appreciated by connaisseurs. Anglet's waves are famous and the beaches are vast, well supervised and (until now) parking is free. These beaches are the nearest from our flat (10 minutes).

On thursday and sunday mornings you should really go to Quintaou market-place (traditional and bio market). Anglet also holds the biggest hyper and super markets area.

Biarritz is but a tiny whale-fishermen village among the heath when Eugénie de Montijo marries Napoléon the 3rd and reveals him this place's charms.  

Then, Biarritz becomes famous. Charm, luxury and discreet welcome attract VIPs who build somptuous villas overhanging the ocean and arrange romantic promenade gardens on the cliffside.

 Nowadays, Biarritz as a sea-side resort makes big efforts to keep lively all year around. Its beaches, all differents, have a lot of charm, but are urban crowded beaches (paying parking).

The musée de la mer (seals eat at 5 PM), and the musée du chocolat are worth visiting.

We are a four persons family .

Jacques,

52 years old, informatic trainer in a Pyrénées Atlantiques Department public agency,
bass player in a festive music band.

Dominique, 

Our daughters, Florence and Claire, are 18 and 14.  

 

Florence,
18 years old, fond of graphic arts, computer graphics, and surfing.  

Claire,
14 years old, loves music, computers, practices modern dance and plays guitar.

 We have two cats that just need to be fed
 

 Tigrou,
the elder one, is a very talkative male that miaws a lot for anything ! Tigrou likes caresses when sleeping at home and when Léa is absent.

Thanks to their cat's hole, they come in and out freely.