In Biarritz, the Virgin protects the fishermen at the end of her rock battered by the waters. But long gone are the days when this seaside resort was no more than a small Atlantic port dedicated to whaling. Introduced to the gotha by Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie, then star of the Roaring Twenties, it retains a certain sense of elegance from that era.
Programme
Journey into the interior of the French Basque Country to discover its finest craftsmen. Once over the Spanish border, the desert landscape of the Bardenas Natural Park is a guaranteed surprise, followed by a visit to the residences of the Kings of Navarre in Tudela and Olite. End your glamorous stay in Biarritz.
Profile
Customer a French property developer.
Agency Evenida Évènementiel & tourisme d'affaires 5, rue Guy Petit. 64 200 Biarritz. Tel: 05 59 26 57 94 - Email: carole.lamothe@evenida.com Internet: www.evenida.com
Group size Number of people: 20.
Duration of the operation Three days, two nights.
They have researched Contact: Comité départemental du tourisme Béarn-Pyrénées - Pays basque Petite Caserne - 2, allée des Platanes. 64100 Bayonne. Tel: 05 59 30 01 30 - Email: infos@tourisme64.com - Internet: www.tourisme64.com
Practical guides :
Guide Bleu Pays Basque France-Espagne, Hachette. Guide Vert Pays Basque (France, Spain) and Navarre, Michelin. Guide du Routard Pays Basque (France, Spain), Béarn, Hachette. French and Spanish Basque Country, Béarn and Navarre, Lonely Planet.
Flight plan
Biarritz is served by Air France with two daily flights from Orly Ouest. In summer, the airline offers up to four flights a day. The flight is operated by Airbus A319 and A321 aircraft in single-class configuration. Duration: 1 hour 20 minutes.
Day 1: Arrival in Biarritz. Departure for the Art of Soule espadrille workshop. Lunch at Pierre Oteiza's restaurant in the Aldudes valley. In Spain, departure by 4×4 for the Bardenas desert. Overnight at the Hotel Aire de Bardenas or the Hotel AC Tudela.
Hotel - Aire de Bardenas
This hotel is a rare gem! Firstly because of its location, in the middle of nowhere, in a wheat field on the edge of the Bardenas Natural Park, but also because of its astonishing architecture, which subtly reveals the soul of the region: outside floors made of desert pebbles or red earth, screens made of wooden containers used by local market gardeners... Around an interior garden, the public areas follow the layout of traditional houses to create a place sheltered from the winds - which often blow without restraint - and shaded by poplar trees. The bedrooms, scattered throughout the cubic buildings, have bay windows designed to literally 'inhabit' the landscape. Some also have an open-air bath with a view of infinity. Calm and zenitude characterise their furnishings, with their refined design and white cotton sails; an 'art de vivre' touch that doesn't disturb the real show, which takes place outside. Opened in 2007, the hotel has 22 rooms, a swimming pool, a meeting room and a restaurant serving regional cuisine prepared using vegetables from the hotel's own kitchen garden.
Hotel Aire de Bardenas - Ctra. de Ejea, Km 1,5. 31500 Tudela Tel: + 34 948 11 66 66 - Email: info@airedebardenas.com Internet: www.airedebardenas.com
Alternative - AC Tudela
In an old restored building, a few steps from the cathedral and the baroque decor of the Plaza de los Fueros, the AC Ciudad de Tudela hotel, belonging to the Marriott group, is the best deal in the Ribera capital. The hotel, with its attentive staff, boasts 42 rooms with high ceilings and pleasant furnishings. The rooms on the second and top floors also boast a terrace planted with trees. The restaurant is also located on this level, with its large windows offering a double view of the city. A fitness centre, two sub-committee rooms and a plenary room with a capacity of 150 people in theatre configuration.
Hotel AC Ciudad de Tudela - Misericordia, s/n . Tudela 31500. Tel: + 34 948 402 440 - Internet: www.marriott.fr
Tudela - Queen of Navarre
To the south of Pamplona, on the Spanish side of the Basque Country, Tudela is an authentic city where it's good to stroll. Sheltered from the tourist circuit, this town of 30,000 inhabitants, which was the residence of the kings of Navarre in the Middle Ages, has some pretty narrow streets, a few Baroque and Renaissance palaces and a beautiful Romanesque-Gothic cathedral with an astonishing portal depicting the Last Judgement. At the heart of the Ebro basin, Tudela is also the centre of a renowned market-gardening region, whose asparagus and artichokes are covered by a registered designation of origin. In the town's fine restaurants, such as Iruña, an institution founded in 1940, sucrine with anchovies is the classic starter, followed by koskera hake, a pan-fried paving stone accompanied by asparagus and peas spiced with garlic and chilli. A typically Basque dish.
Restaurante - Bar Iruña - Calle Muro, 11. 31500 Tudela - Phone: +34 948 821 000 Email: clientes@restauranteiruna.com - Internet: www.restauranteiruna.com
Artisan - Pierre Oteiza
Based in the Aldudes valley, Pierre Oteiza, one of the ambassadors of Basque gastronomy, reintroduced the endangered Black Pied pig breed in the 1990s. With his beret screwed on his head, this artisan pork butcher is now on all fronts, exporting to Canada and Japan... His pigs roam free in the mountains, in an area designed as an educational tour. Visitors can then sample sausages and Kintoa ham, an 18-month-old marvel, in his restaurant, which also has a meeting room.
Pierre Oteiza - 64430 Les Aldudes. Tel: 05 59 37 56 11 Email: contact@pierreoteiza.com - Internet: www.pierreoteiza.com
Trendy - Espadrilles hold the line
Espadrilles have been made for centuries on both sides of the Franco-Spanish border. The Granada museum even has a pair dating back 4,000 years. Adopted by mineworkers in the north of France, they became a 'must have' in the 1960s. They were worn by the likes of Picasso and Grace Kelly... Saint-Laurent invented a model with heels and went on to fame. It was democratised through mass production in China and Bangladesh. Faced with these pale copies, resistance was organised. A few manufacturers are holding firm, and new ones are arriving, such as Art of Soule, which is offering traditional models that have been given a colourful makeover.
Internet: www.artofsoule.com
Day 2: Hiking in the Bardenas. Lunch in Olite and visit to the wine museum. Return to France and arrival in Biarritz at the end of the day. Evening wine tasting at Maison Arostéguy. Night at the Hôtel du Palais or Hôtel de Silhouette.
Bardenas - Unexpected desert
The big surprise of the trip! Plateaux, mesas, canyons: the Bardenas Natural Park catapults visitors into a Wild West landscape. The soil cracked by the drought, the geological strata criss-crossing the ravines, the ochre that turns orange at dusk, it's all there. In the south-east of Navarre, the Bardenas Reales have long been known only to the initiated, mainly the shepherds whose stone huts dot the lunar landscape. Some of them, and a few troglodyte dwellings, can accommodate small groups for a barbecue stopover, or even for the night. Whether you explore them by 4×4, mountain bike or horseback, the Bardenas offer a complete change of scenery and a magnificent playground for operations. There's also something unexpected, such as Desierto de Azul y Gazanra, an organic wine concocted by enthusiasts using vines planted as close as possible to the desert, producing an unprecedented result.
Hotel - Hôtel du Palais
A symbol of Biarritz in the same way as the Virgin Rock, the Hôtel du Palais has its origins in a double love story: Eugénie's love of Biarritz, where she spent her holidays as a child, and her love of her husband, Napoleon III, who had a palace built for her on his favourite beach in 1854. Destroyed by fire, then rebuilt in the original neo-Louis XIII style, it became a luxury hotel in the 1900s, a meeting place for the gothic elite who made Biarritz one of the world's leading seaside resorts. The hotel, a listed historic monument, is the only one on the Atlantic coast to have been awarded the 'palace' label. 153 rooms, including 30 suites, in the Second Empire style; three restaurants, including one with a Michelin star; six lounges for up to 250 people, including the recently renovated Imperial Lounge.
Hôtel du Palais - 1, avenue de l'Impératrice. 64200 Biarritz. Tel: 05 59 41 64 00 - Email: reception@hotel-du-palais.com Internet: www.hotel-du-palais.com or www.lhw.com
Alternative - Hôtel de Silhouette
Urban, designer and run by a young, attentive team, the establishment - which can be privatised - occupies one of Biarritz's oldest buildings: the residence of Étienne de Silhouette, Louis XV's comptroller-general of finance, who came up with the idea of taxing the richest and was expelled from the court, allowing him to live happily ever after translating English philosophers. Just a stone's throw from Les Halles and the tapas bistros, the hotel boasts a garden lined with plane trees in the heart of the city centre, perfect for a drink. The 20 rooms, all diªerent, play on warm tones and contemporary details: Fornasetti wallpaper, Starck armchairs, Corian bathrooms. Two lounges for up to 35 people.
Hôtel de Silhouette - 30, rue Gambetta. 64200 Biarritz - Tel.: 05 59 24 93 82. Internet: www.hotel-silhouette-biarritz.com
Grocery - Arostéguy
Five generations have succeeded one another in this business, which dates back to 1875. "Everything you can't find anywhere else", the grandfather's slogan, is also the credo of Pierre Arostéguy, who now runs the grocery shop. So he never stops travelling to select products - chutneys, curries, teas... - or to concoct homemade recipes like Baiona Bengal. You can travel the world as you wander around the shop, where the Basque Country naturally has a special place. When the place is reserved for 25 people, the tasting is convivial, and you can also enjoy listening to the owner tell the story of his products and of a family's quest for good taste.
Olite - Castle life
Once the residence of the kings of Navarre, the medieval town of Olite stands out for its oversized castle, commissioned by Charles III (1387-1425), whose silhouette is reminiscent of a Walt Disney-style fortress. Despite its military appearance, it was a palace of pleasure, where the court strolled through its hanging gardens. The oldest part is occupied by a Parador hotel, so you can sleep in rooms with four-poster beds, stone walls and fireplaces. Wrought iron chandeliers, tapestries: the atmosphere is the same in the restaurant, which serves fine regional cuisine.
Parador d'Olite - Plaza Teobaldos, 2. 31390 Olite Tel: +34 948 740 000 Email: olite@parador.es Internet: www.parador.es
Day 3: Morning in Biarritz, introduction to surfing and lunch in a crampotte. Discover the city on an electric bike. Departure for Paris.
Biarritz - Noblesse d'Empire
Long a small whaling port, Biarritz went from being a village to the "beach of kings" during the 19th century. In 1853, Napoleon III married the beautiful Eugénie de Montijo, a Biarritz devotee for whom he built a palace overlooking the Grande Plage the following year. From then on, crowned heads and artists flocked here. The rich 1900s villas illustrate its glamorous past and the architectural eclecticism in vogue. Medieval, Gothic and Renaissance inspirations blend boldly with Hispano-Moorish and Art Deco. But apart from this old-fashioned flavour, what really attracts you to Biarritz is the city as it is today: the atmosphere of the covered market (which can be reserved for private individuals) and the tapas bars in the vicinity, the fishermen's port and its twisted little dykes... and everywhere the view of the ocean framed by the rocky spurs. The panorama enthralled romantics such as Victor Hugo, who was the first to be moved by this "strange architecture thrown haphazardly into the middle of the waves. I know of no place more charming and magnificent than Biarritz", he wrote in 1839, already railing against the effects of the burgeoning tourism industry.
Local - Les crampottes
Nestling in the cliff below the church of Sainte Eugénie, the fishermen's port built by Napoleon III is now home only to pleasure boats, but still cultivates the tradition of crampottes. Designed to house fishing tackle, these huts with their colourful shutters have become an institution on Biarritz evenings, at least for the privileged few who use them. There are around fifty of them, and the municipality allocates them to families with a boat in the harbour, which means there are a lot of candidates and not many chosen ones. No one wants to give up their crampotte, these few square metres magnificently situated on the side of a rock, in a winding lane sheltered from motor traffic. The lucky ones make the most of it as soon as possible to bring out the table and the plancha for lunch or dinner until the end of the night.
Sport - Tontons surfeurs
Biarritz is the European cradle of surfing. 1956: American film-maker Henry King arrived in Biarritz to direct an adaptation of a Hemingway novel. His scriptwriter, Peter Viertel, was a surfing enthusiast and slipped his surfboard into the filming equipment. He practised on the coast of the Basques and their enthusiasts, a group of friends who have since been dubbed the "tontons surfeurs" and who went on to create pioneering clubs including the Waikiki Surf Club. Their objectives? "To attract a new clientele and make Biarritz known the world over as one of the rare places where this spectacular and exciting sport is practised. A mission accomplished beyond all expectations!
Plus points :
- The warm welcome.
- The diversity of landscapes, between sea and mountains.
- The richness of the built heritage.
- Living traditions and culture.
Minuses:
- The weather can be fickle at times.
- Biarritz's poor air links.
Special report - The Basque Country: atmospheres without borders
- Basque Country - Atmospheres without borders
"I'll go anywhere, as long as it's the Basque Country! Carole Lamothe, Evenida
