This was a tender port and is the first time that the ship
has visited this French port. We were
scheduled to start tendering at 8am, but the captain came on the speakers
saying that they were very worried about the wave action and it maybe was going
to require them to cancel tender operations and recover the guests on
shore. The problem is that the ship had
to anchor outside of the breakwater.
Eventually the seas calmed down and the operations
began. We had a leisurely morning
because we didn’t have a tour until 1:30pm.
After breakfast, we asked if it was ok to get off the ship early and
meet the tour at the pier. They said
sure, just show up by the same time they were meeting in the Starlight
lounge. So, we got off at about
11am.
From the sea, you could tell that this was a very
picturesque town. There is a HUGE beach
that dominates the shoreline and a bunch of houses and buildings most of which
were white with red trim. The city is
just beautiful (it has about 15,000 residents).
It is the location where King Louis XIV and Marie Teresa were
married.
There are a bunch of narrow streets with restaurants and
shops. It is just beautiful. We stopped at a patisserie to buy half a
dozen macarons which are very different here in France than the US version (one
flavor and one layer). They were
great. Eventually we landed at a
restaurant in the main square and sat down for some coffee and beer. It was fabulous.
At a bit before 1:30pm, we wandered over to dock area and
waited for Jim and his crew to put us on a bus for our tour. It was really hot, in the 80’s. We eventually made the bus and headed out of
town and up in to the Pyrenees into the heart of Basque country. Most of the Basque people live in Spain
(several hundred thousand), but a few (ten’s of thousands) live in France. The Basques are very impressive. They have lived in the area for 10,000 or
more years (some say that they go back to Cro-Magnon era) because it offers
access to the sea, a great climate, and the mountains for protection.
As we drove up the mountain, the guide told us more and more
about the incredible Basque people. For
example, the houses are painted white because they didn’t have anything to
create pigments with. The red wood trim was
blood from animals (originally) which protected the wood. Each house owns the family that resides in
it. Yes, I said that right, the house
(and land) owns the family. The way it
works is the eldest child (man or woman) is in charge of the house. They inherit it when the parents die. If the eldest child does not wish to stay,
then it goes to the next in line.
Younger brothers and sisters who are unmarried may live in the house and
work for the house. The oldest child
looks around to marry a non-eldest child in a different family (there is no
merging of houses). In a very pragmatic
way, they don’t get married until they can prove that they can have babies by having
one or two first before marriage. It
does not serve the house if the person in charge can’t have children to take
over.
Another interesting and progressive fact is that the person
in charge of each house gets to vote on issues affecting the area (whether female
or male). This way of voting dates back 400
years. The guide talked about how the
Basque people were involved in an awful lot of history. It is absolutely fascinating.
We ended up in a very small village named Ainhoa. We visited a Basque church and spent a bit of
time wandering the town (every town includes a wall for playing their ball game
– like handball with paddles, a church, and a town hall).
After that, we went to a farmhouse (Ortillopitz) that has been restored to
exactly the way it was in the 17th century. Since the Basques were great shipbuilders,
the farmhouse had a lot of features (such as hallways) that were featured on
Basque ships. The house was fascinating
and so was the host (who spoke French/Basque, which was translated by our
guide). At the end, they offered us some
Basque cider (some of us liked it and some of us didn’t), a great red wine, and
some cheese, dried meats and a traditional fruit filled cake from the Basque
area. It was great.
Julie snagged this amazing picture from the courtyard of the farmhouse.
The host pouring the cider (he is the eldest of this family and we also saw his wife and two sons).
Part of the gardens.
After the tour and food, we returned to the port and were on
the next to last tender back to the ship.
We then dressed and went to dinner in the dining room. The entertainment was singer Michel Bell (who
was a member of the group Fifth Dimension and also sang on Broadway). He had an amazingly powerful and deep
baritone voice. After that, we went to
the Avenue Saloon to listen to the piano player do a tribute to Elton John and
Billy Joel. It was a wonderful cap to a
great day.
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