Le Fort de Socoa

To finish our recent visit to the Basque Country our hosts drove us to Ciboure, the neighbouring town to St Jean de Luz.

Our first glimpse of le Fort de Socoa

Getting nearer & nearer

The original fortress was built to protect St Jean de Luz from the Spanish enemy.

In later years Vauban, the famous engineer and military architect, further strengthened the fort

The jetty protects the harbour from Atlantic waves.

Imagine this scene on a wilder day!

A peaceful return to the car for Tine, Nicole & Daniel, your faithful blogger trailing behind!

Cousinade continued!

The fun continued in the marquee in Jean & Monique's garden.

A lot of hard work had gone into the preparation...

...much appreciated by everyone.

The caterers at Super U came up with a wonderful spread

Now the guests, starting with the original cousins and their other halves...

...on the first two tables  - Loulou seems to be missing!

Next generation and their partners

Now to the older children...

...including Nadine & Philippe (here with Simon, Jade & Alfie).

Finally the youngest grandchildren, although some seem to be missing. That's Betty 2nd right.

Merci à tout le monde pour les photos.

Woohooo, it's the 1500th post...

 ...so let's make it a special one!

A long time ago my Dad said, I'll never be rich but I'm rich in family. Many years later I can say the same, but this time my French family.

And this is just Tine's Mum's side of the family!

Cousin Monique wanted to organise a celebration for husband Jean, Tine's first cousin, and what a success it was, with very few people missing.

Jean & his brother Claude

An earlier view from the steps. It actually started to rain then but luckily the rest of the day was perfect.

This is just the apéritifs

Entertainment courtesy of Philippe & Loulou...

...whilst your faithful blogger has a fun time with Bruno & Cédric

Being Easter Sunday there was an Easter egg scramble of course.

We also celebrated Jean-Pierre's 70th birthday a couple of days early, everyone signing the wooden guitar.

Simon & Nadine flew over from the UK...

...and Alfie (and Betty too but not in the photo)!

We also got to meet Jade, here with Philippe.

Biarritz

The next morning Tine & I walked down to the coast

What wonderful weather & what a view!

Biarritz in the foreground and Spanish mountains on the horizon.

A short video to show Biarritz. Can you spot the surfers?

The impressive lighthouse overlooking the bay...

...and an impressive, faithful (old?) Blogger standing by really old tamaris trees...

...and Tine accurately telling the time on the sundial.

Le Lac d'Hossegor

New for us this year, the lake to the north of Bayonne was once the estuary of the River Adour, diverted in 1578. It is still linked to the sea via a canal and is a tidal lake.

Daniel, Nicole & Tine chatting to a local who warned us that the big tide would cover the pathway later

The lake is surrounded by big, impressive houses, this one now a hotel

We were lucky with the weather...

...and the lack of other visitors!

My turn to be in a photo even if I've a bad case of sun-in-the-eye!

To finish, some of Nicole's photos

On to the Basque Country

Dropping down from the mountains we headed westwards along the A64, destination Anglet near Biarritz chez old friends, Nicole & Daniel. The weather was not on our side so our planned stroll down to the seafront didn't happen.

Next day Nicole drove us up to Ibardin just over the Spanish border. This is the view looking towards the Atlantic.

Ibardin's existence is primarily as a cheap shopping outlet...

...this was the range of olive oil in one store!

The 'town' itself was practically deserted with many shops and cafés closed

It's not a particularly attractive place but pastis at 2/3 the price in La Tranche is hard to resist!

The two of us also went for a walk near Nicole & Daniel's and discovered...

... l'Église Sainte-Marie d'Anglet...

...with its beautiful interior...

...complete with wooden balconies.