The South of France in August

Posted on August 16, 2022 by admin

A lot of people would have heard of Cannes and Antibes in the south of France. Actually, the whole coastline along that area is a holiday destination for Europeans in the summer. The vivid blue, sparkling water of the Mediterranean sea and the coastal aspect brings a relief from the heat. The area is littered with large pleasure crafts in the water, buzzy alfresco restaurants and crowded beaches. The day time temperatures in August are unpleasantly hot. The mornings are pleasant and the temperature drops as the light fades at the end of the day making an evening stroll an absolute pleasure.

The landscape in this region is drier and more rocky than other parts of France. It more closely resembles Australia.

The old city of Antibes is quite crowded with tourists in August. There are lots of small alleyways and quaint shops. The wait staff in the restaurants swap effortlessly into English to cater for the English speaking tourists.

Due to the love of dogs in Europe, many European cities smell of piss. It’s unfortunate as the stench mars a lovely visit. Perhaps more greenery in some of these old towns would help both with cooling the place in the summer and give the dogs (and maybe the men) somewhere more absorbent to relieve themselves! France has been a country where there are no free public toilets. This, I suspect, results in many of the male population relieving themselves for free where they can.

The beaches here are so much more crowded than Australian beaches. The quality of the beaches are also inferior to many Australian beaches as the sea floor is quite rocky and the sand is not as pale and fine. Nevertheless, it is so hot that everyone heads to the beach to cool off!

Whilst this area is beautiful, my strong recommendation is to avoid this region in August. It is too hot, crowded and expensive.

Plage des Ondes, between Juan Les Pins and Antibes. How many beach umbrellas can you count in this small space?

Plage Des Ondes – so crowded with not a spare bit of sand to spare for anyone!

The smaller super yachts parked at Port Vauban, Antibes

The buzzy evening vibe in Old Antibes in August

Night over the water in the South of France (Golfe Juan Vallauris) – in August, the days are very hot but the nights are a perfect temperature

Arles, a City with a Roman Amphitheatre

Posted on August 15, 2022 by admin

Arles, located in Southern France, is famous for two main things. One is it’s Roman amphitheatre and the other is for Vincent Van Gogh. The Arles Amphitheatre was built in 90AD and used to host 20,000 people to watch chariot races and hand to hand gladiator combat. Two thousand years later, this amphitheatre is still amazingly being used. They hold bull fights and other events such as plays and concerts in it.

Vincent Van Gogh and a number of other famous painters lived and worked in this area. Van Gogh produced over 300 painting and drawings during his time in Arles.

Old Walls around Arles – you can see from the stones that there has been some reconstruction at various stages

A river cruise boat making it’s way down the Rhone River in Arles

Elegant, Stately Bilbao

Posted on August 14, 2022 by admin

Bilbao is a city that has became more of a travel destination vs just an industrial city when the modernistic Guggenheim Museum was erected. Whilst the museum is the most striking thing about the city, there are plenty of other historical buildings to enjoy when walking around Bilbao as well as the Basque cuisine.

The Basque region includes both Bilbao and San Sebastian and these people have their own language, history and cuisine. Interestingly, the Basque language, Euskera, is an isolated language. It’s origins are not known but it does not have Latin roots like French, Spanish or Italian. When looking at signs in Basque, the words are mostly unintelligible as are littered with T’s and X’s. It is not related to any other language in the world and is the last descendant of the language of pre-historic Europe.

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao – including Puppy, the world’s largest flower sculpture

Stained Glass at Bilbao-Abando train station

Bilbao – many elegant and stately buildings wherever you look in the central area

Basque Tuna and Potato Stew (Mamitako) – a fish dish eaten on tuna fishing boats. This stew was hearty and the seafood scent permeated throughout, giving this dish lovely fragrance and flavour.

Red Fish with Garlic Oil – this dish has integrity! The fish is cooked splayed open and drizzled with a salt, oil and browned garlic. It doesn’t look attractive at all on the plate. Note the eyeball! The fish has lots of bones and is hard to eat in polite company. This is not what matters. The meat on this fish was sweet, tender and beautifully cooked. The garlic oil elevated this dish without overwhelming the mild fish. This was foremost about taste and not looks. I like a restaurant brave enough to do that! These are people who know what is important in life!

When visiting Bilbao, we had the opportunity to head out to Plentzia. This is a town about 45 minutes north of Bilbao with a gorgeous, wide, sandy beach. It was a Saturday when we went and there were lot of people heading out for a beach day in Plentzia.

View of the Plentzia River from the bridge (Pasarela De Plentzia) by night

Plentzia Beach – we didn’t realise how great this beach was until we saw how crowded beaches were in the south of France. This is quite deserted in comparison!

The holiday town of San Sebastian in Spain

Posted on August 13, 2022 by admin

Catching the train to San Sebastian, Spain from Toulouse, France, it was striking how the landscape changed from more lush forests to a drier landscape reminiscent of Australia. As we starting walking around San Sebastian, we could feel refreshing coastal breezes. It was such a relief compared to the stifling heat of Toulouse.

San Sebastian is a city which survives on tourism, especially in the summer months. It was clear why when we visited. It has a big stretch of beautiful, sandy albeit crowded beach, elegant buildings and a buzzy summer holiday vibe. People were relaxed, wondering about in brightly coloured summery outfits and sandals. There was plenty of al fresco dining options for eating and drinking.

We did a tips only, free walking tour and learnt that San Sebastian has a whaling history (until they hunted them right out of the area!). Then these coastal people become corsairs which are basically “legal” pirates who raid ships on behalf of the crown and once they give a cut to the crown, the rest was theirs to legally enjoy. San Sebastian also grew when the queen of Spain started to holiday there and when she did, brought much of the court and aristocracy with her. This was how money started to pour into this place and the fancy, elegant buildings were put up.

San Sebastian Beach – Playa de la concha – super crowded in the August summer holiday season!

San Sebastian – these ostentatious bridges!

San Sebastian – another ostentatious, over the top bridge!

Tantalizing Toulouse

Posted on August 2, 2022 by admin

Even before arriving at the Toulouse Matabiau train station, it was obvious we were heading to a busy place. With every approaching station, the train became more and more full. By the time we arrived, every seat was taken and there were people and luggage in the aisles. As we exited the train, there were lots of people waiting to get on urgently. This was probably because, only the people who got on first would get a seat. Despite the strong heat of the day when we got off the train, the city was busy! This was no sleepy town like Limoges! Toulouse is France’s fourth largest city following Paris, Marseille and Lyon.

Due to the searing summer heat, the best time for a wander around town is in the cool of the morning. The afternoon and in particular late afternoon is extremely hot. It was 37C on the day we visited. Unfortunately, the downside of our early morning walk-around is that the attractions were closed. This meant we couldn’t take a peak into some of the historical churches. When walking around Toulouse look around and look up. There are so many stately and elegant historic buildings, narrow alleyways. We even found a hidden church on the way to Monoprix, the local supermarket!

The biggest disappointment of our visit to Toulouse was being unable to get either an English speaking tour to the Airbus factory or even an English speaking “free” walking tour of the city. It’s a real pity. Toulouse is famous for being the home of Airbus and an insight to the Airbus aeroplane factory would have been a real treat!