sombro
07-30-2007, 08:25 AM
This year family Sombro travelled north to Ustaritz in the french Basque Country, just over the border from Spain on the atlantic side. Ustaritz is french only in name. The Basque country in both Spain and France is very different from the countries that surround it. The local pride outshines anything I've seen anywhere in the world and the Basque language is one of the oldest in Europe. During the summer every week there is a some sort of event, we went to the Fete du Sardine, below is an ad for a night of mussels and chips,
There is a strident political movement in this area for independence,much stronger in Spain, in fact they were so strident there that one morning they rattled the windows of a flat I was renting in madrid with a carbomb about a kilometer away.
This was why we hardly ever saw cars with spanish number-plates although just over the border from spain we saw far more dutch cars than spanish.
Anyway there's never any problem in France and fewer attacks in Spain, and who am I to turn my nose up at a free holiday So...
Ustariz is a very old,very pretty little villiage in the Basque style, apart from the listed buildings all the houses are white with red wooden shutters, it's on the river Nive and is bordered by Ustaritz forest. We had the use of a house on the outskirts of town, very near the river and with a great view of a 1920's art deco church that is now used as a school. Chateau Lota is in the villiage centre. The town has 7 "pelote basque" frontons or courts and is the centre of the sport in France ....apparently.
Came back muck fatter after all the great food and beer. Lots of superb beaches nearby, Biarritz is the nearest big resort.
There is a strident political movement in this area for independence,much stronger in Spain, in fact they were so strident there that one morning they rattled the windows of a flat I was renting in madrid with a carbomb about a kilometer away.
This was why we hardly ever saw cars with spanish number-plates although just over the border from spain we saw far more dutch cars than spanish.
Anyway there's never any problem in France and fewer attacks in Spain, and who am I to turn my nose up at a free holiday So...
Ustariz is a very old,very pretty little villiage in the Basque style, apart from the listed buildings all the houses are white with red wooden shutters, it's on the river Nive and is bordered by Ustaritz forest. We had the use of a house on the outskirts of town, very near the river and with a great view of a 1920's art deco church that is now used as a school. Chateau Lota is in the villiage centre. The town has 7 "pelote basque" frontons or courts and is the centre of the sport in France ....apparently.
Came back muck fatter after all the great food and beer. Lots of superb beaches nearby, Biarritz is the nearest big resort.