June 4, 2017

We arrived in the port of Saint-Jean-de-Luz at noon today and it is a port that we ahave to anchor in the bay and we take a tender to the port.  It is a drizzly day and cool, and since we were here before, we had a leisurely lunch on the ship and waited until all of the tours departed before we went ashore.  There is a wonderful beach here within walking distance but there are no people on it due to the weather.  There are lots of paddleboarders and surfers though.

As we sailed in, there were people on this jetty waving to us.

We strolled around the town and looked into many of the shops.  There were a lot of small tents at the other end of the long seawall, so we were curious about what was going on there.  We walked down, and it was a kind of food festival with a stage in the middle for flamenco dancers.  I couldn’t get close enough for a good picture but here is what I got. Umbrellas and all!

The architecture here is a mixture of French and Spanish as we are in Basque country.  It is in southwest France on the coast near the border with Spain. The town is an active fishing port with anchovies, tuna and sardines being the main fish caught. 

An event of note here was in 1609  when there were 600 of the town’s women accused of witchcraft and sentenced to be burned as heretics.  Happily they were saved when their husbands rushed back from a fishing trip to Newfoundland.

The wedding of Louis XIV to Marie-Therese of Spain took place here in 1660. 

Here are some of the unique buildings and the Basqque Church of Saint John the Baptist.

We loved this shop with the beautiful French linens – here are some in the back of the VW.  I fell in love with this apron.