A few weekends ago we were excited to have my cousin Kevin and his wife Shannon in town to spend three days with us at Château Grettenberger. It was the first official visit from someone on my side of the family and we were excited to have some fellow wine lovers to spend the weekend with. They arrived Friday afternoon (bearing gifts in the form of a delicious bottle of 2003 Viña Tondonia Reserva that we can’t wait to enjoy) – I did my best to help them find a parking spot for their huge rental car on the minature streets of Biarritz, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon drinking rosé and catching up about life. Unfortunately it got super windy and rainy Friday night so we didn’t get to enjoy a nice sunset on the beach, but we took a windy walk through town, enjoyed a late dinner, followed by some Port. Also fun to have people in town who enjoy drinking Port! (see Brent’s previous post about Porto, Portugal).
Before they arrived Brent and I were trying to guess how they would want to spend their time here, brainstorming things we could do, but just weren’t sure what they would enjoy, so I was super excited when they asked if any local flea markets were going on over the weekend. It was perfect timing because one of my favorite markets, Les Puces des Quintaou in Anglet, was happening. So Saturday morning, after a breakfast of fresh croissants from our favorite bakery, we set off to explore and do some shopping. As usual I came home with a pile of amazing finds – including a beautiful old platter (my latest obsession : collecting platters, plates, and servingware in an attempt to Anthropolgie-ize my kitchen), an old book filled with maps of the Provence region, an amazing vintage dress from Paris with blue and white stripes that remind me of the parasols on the beach, and a few other knick knacks. Shannon found a few treasures to bring home, too, including some beautiful napkins that match the dishses she has at home and a vintage perfume bottle. We scored!
After the Anglet flea market we drove to the town of Bayonne for a Basque lunch by the river, so they could check out another local spot. Bayonne feels so different from Biarritz so we love bringing visitors from home there to see the beautiful architecture and tall, skinny, colorful buildings smashed together along the river. Kevin was brave and ate the boeuf tartare and Shannon tried the chipirons, grilled squid – one of my favorite local dishes. Also while we were in Bayonne we saw the coolest dog ever! He was totally chill while his owner put dog goggles on him and then he hopped up on the scooter and they zoomed away – it was amazing.
After lunch we headed back to crowded Biarritz – attempted to do a scenic walk around town, checking out La Grande Plage and making it all the way up to the lighthouse for a scenic view. But there were just too many people, Biarritz is so packed with tourists these days, so we gave up trying to navigate through the crowds and came back to enjoy the peaceful city views and beach breeze we get from the balcony at Château Grettenberger. I gave my best attempt to cook Coq au Vin for everyone for dinner and we enjoyed more good wine and conversation.
Sunday morning we woke up early and Kevin, Shannon and I sleepily headed to the local fresh food market, Les Halles, to check it out and stock up on some snacks for the day. Brent cooked us a delicious breakfast of French Toast (I always get excited when we eat French toast in France!) and then we packed up Brent’s mini surf mobile and headed to Hendaye for a beach day. Hendaye is the most southern town on the west coast of France, just before you get to Spain, and it’s the perfect local beach for learning to surf, with small, slow rolling baby waves. We brought the soft tops and Brent and I attempted to give Kevin a surf lesson – he did good! We surfed, swam, enjoyed a picnic on the beach with a few bottles of rosé. It was a perfect beach day, minus all the traffic.
Sunday night – their last night in Biarritz, we cruised the other half of Biarritz, took them to our favorite ice cream shop so Shannon could try my favorite flavor – Violet! Followed by dinner at our favorite restaurant which isn’t French or Basque, but a local pizzeria that has been our go-to spot since we moved here. We always feel like we want to show visitors local French and Basque food when they come to town, but we always end up going to eat at our favorite Italian spot, it’s just too good! It was a great weekend. Thanks so much Kevin and Shannon for coming to visit and spending time with us in Biarritz! We hope you enjoyed your time here!
