2025 – Europe

Packed up and said a sad goodbye to the lovely Chantaco hotel. Took a taxi into Saint-Jean for some last minute shopping and a funny breakfast. A quick bus ride took us to San Sebastián, Spain, a very pretty city. Met up with other Austin friends Mike and Liz Dundov who will be traveling with…

As had become our custom, we enjoyed coffee in lobby. Took a nice long walk along the Nivelle River into Saint-Jean and signed up for afternoon boat trip. Walked along quay surrounding the pretty, well protected bay. Explored fun shops, the thrice-weekly outdoor market and Les Halles, the daily covered market. Bought some stuff, sampled…

Drove to the beautiful little town of Espelette for coffee and an excellent almond croissant (made even better by the addition of chocolate!). Lots of fun shops to poke around in – we all especially loved the spice store with over a hundred blends and the most amazing smells. The Centre d’Interprétation de AOP Ossau-Iraty…

Happy to be with car, we headed out for the day. First stop, Ascain, for the Post Office and great pastries. Took the Petit Train de La Rhune (cog railway) up the mountain where we enjoyed a picnic lunch, some fabulous views and nice hiking. After descending we visited a couple of small towns with…

Returned to the covered market to buy our train picnic. Train from Lourdes to Bayonne delayed at the outset for an unknown reason and later for either goats, taxis or both on the tracks in protest of who knows what. Missed our connection but were automatically assigned to a later train to Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Once there…

A bit of a “joy of travel” day. The four of us headed off by bus to the Lourdes-Tarbes airport quite confident our rental car would be waiting for us. We were quite wrong. No car today, no car tomorrow! That means no scenic drive in the mountains, no fondue/raclette lunch! It was a bit…

It being Sunday in a good Catholic region, our rental car company is closed. This left us unable to execute our planned activities which involved buying a picnic, driving up into the Pyrénées mountains and hiking to a waterfall, the Cascade du Pan. We did hit the covered marché for picnic ingredients which we ate…

After an uneventful 5-hour train ride we arrived in the town pilgrimage town of Lourdes. We dropped our bags at the hotel and headed out to see the famous Basilica. The streets on the way there were jam-packed with soldiers and it turns out we happened to be in town during the annual International Military…

Started today’s touring in the 14th arrondissement, one we haven’t spent a lot of time in. First stop was the extensive outdoor marché August-Blanqui and a nearby bakery where we bought things for our picnic lunch. Then on to the last two stops on our “most beautiful streets” exploration. They did not disappoint! Enjoyed our…

Continued our tour of Paris’s most beautiful streets in the area near Montmartre then had a fun lunch at Bouillon Pigalle. Popped over to Neuilly-sur-Seine to stare longingly at our former apartment and neighborhood. Walked a good portion of the nearby Île de la Grande Jatte, a beautiful island in the Seine beloved by the…