I am currently in Europe right now for our family’s annual three-week summer holiday. On our first week here in France, we visited the Basque Region on the French side — St. Jean de Luz and Biarritz for some good promenade by the sea, food and shopping.

The beach in St. Jean de Luz

Typical Basque architecture

Old Church

bracelets with the Basque symbol

It was a perfect sunny, beachy weather. It was my second time in St. Jean de Luz. The first time I was here was during my first trip to France in 2010. I was having one of my tantrums the first time I visited this place. All I remember was having a terrible paella and forgetting to take pictures.

Fortunately, our second visit was the complete opposite. We even had a chance to dine at a one-Michelin starred restaurant called, Kaiku.

It was a very good meal and a very pleasant experience dining in this restaurant. And also very reasonably priced for the quality. I  most especially loved the paella-inspired main dish.

That’s a big hotel directly in front of the beach

The water was surprisingly warm

Cooling off with some beer and sangria at Métal Kfé

After lunching and doing some shopping in St. Jean de Luz, we decided to visit Biarritz. I originally wanted to do some historical research on Jose Rizal and Nelly Boustead but we ended up going straight to the beach first thing.

We strolled on the shore to take some pictures and videos. I have never seen so many topless women sunbathing. I might have accidentally even caught some of them in my videos and other pictures. But this site is supposed to be kid-friendly, so you won’t be seeing them here.

On the way home, we decided to drop by the Tourist Information Center which was conveniently on the way to where our car was parked. We tried to ask about Jose Rizal but they didn’t know anything about him. It piqued the interest of the tourism personnel though, and suggested us to visit the Historical Museum. Unfortunately, it was already almost 6PM at the time and the museum would be already closed at this time.

Cheers and happy summer holiday! 🙂