French-Spanish summit. The Basque Mountain. More Food.

Up with the eagles on the Basque Mountain

More pics here

La Rhune http://www.rhune.com is regarded as the Basque Mountain. The 903 metre peak is the last of high Pyrenees on the west and is easy to reach as it is served by a long standing cogwheel railway that takes you right to the summit that is shared by France and Spain and complete with shops and restaurants.

We headed for it today and were surprised to find the substantial car park full of cars and buses. No luck either in the overflow. But we spotted a second overflow and drove back to that. By then though, our 11.30 train, the last of the morning, was full. Luckily, they had added another and soon we were on our way.

Within minutes, we are rising up and the views of the surrounding land are opening up. On the slopes, semi-wild ponies known as Pittocks graze and up above eagles soar. It takes about 35 minutes to reach the top. There is a 360 degree view of the coast from San Sebastian to Biarritz and the mountains. We had clear views of Hendaye and St Jean du Lutz. And, of course, there are magnificent views across the Pyrenees and into Spain.

Phew. It was hot up there, possibly in the low 30s. After a quick view from the top, we went into a restaurant and enjoyed a terrific mixed salad and a smashing Spanish Omelette plus two glasses of wines for a total of 1.8 euro each. Not bad.
Refreshed, we went for a bit of a walk on one of many paths by the summit and got even better views of the mountain range, of the ponies and the eagles. There was a bit of a log-jam after the lunch break and instead of departing at 2.30 we had to wait until 3.05. Then back to the apartment and a dip in the pool.

Dinner-time!

Couldn’t quite get away from La Rhune even at dinner time as it overlooked La Cabane du Pecheur www.lacabanedupecheur-hendaye.fr on the bay. The view also included a few biggish planes coming and going on a water bounded airport that serves Hondarribia and San Sebastian.

The restaurant was excellent, terrific food and friendly service. The seven euro starter was Moules Mariniere (7.00), top quality mussels, much better than the previous effort at Santa Maria, top quality and the classic sauce left nothing to be desired. 

And neither did the wine, Andere D’Ansa, a blend of Gros Manseng (mostly) and Petit Manseng from the local Irouleguy vineyards.

My mains was line caught hake with asparagus from the Landes and a cream of petit pois (18.00). Loved it: hake was perfect, the thick asparagus was to die for (best I’ve ever eaten) and the pea cream delicious.

CL picked the sorbet (5.50) for her dessert – it had been a long hot day! Three balls of sorbet – raspberry, lemon and peach – and crumbed biscuits went down a treat. I was also very happy with mine: Coffee Gourmand (4.80) which included an espresso, a mini (generous) Gateau Basque (Cherry, rather than custard) and a macaron. Good end to another good day in Hendaye.

Swine and Wine

Vineyards near Irouleguy

aroma test; puff and sniff

May 31, Thursday
More pics from this trip here

Wine and Swine


The dullest of mornings was followed by the brightest of days, another enjoyable one in the Basque Country. Took advantage of the dull hours to call to the tourist office on the beach and gather up a few informative leaflets and local maps. Something I advise people to do on their very first day in a new place! Don’t follow my own advice, do I?

After an early lunch, we headed off to the foothills of the Pyrenees and the Cave Co-operative of the Irouleguy wine region. The girls there had a little English and with our little French we hit it off, particularly after a few tastings, and soon had a six pack of the local offerings, most of the reds made from a large proportion (usually 50% or more) of the tannat grape.

By the way, in the evening, we tasted the local Txakoli wine and thoroughly enjoyed this bubbly and very dry drink and could see how it would go well on a tapas night out.

After stocking up in St Etienne de Baigorry, we decided to head further up, to the premises of Pierre Oteiza in Les Aldudes, a free range farmer of the black pigs of the Basque country and a man who has done much to rebuild the population of this once endangered breed.

Here, after a walk around an area where the sows and their litters were sheltering from the sun (what a change from the morning), and after a few tasting in the shop, we bought some black pudding and also a saucisson, with a chorizo type flavour, and ended our visit by sipping a local craft brew in the outdoor seated area.

Then we headed for home. Susie, our Sat-Nav lady, had a surprise for us. One minute we were driving the local roads beyond Sare heading for Hendaye, and then all of a sudden we were on the back roads of Navarre in Spain crawling along beyond a snail like French driver and, even more suddenly, found ourselves flying at over 100k on a Spanish motorway with Francia a few kilometres ahead.

Got it together as countries changed again, without any hint of a border, and then straight ahead was Hendaye. Let us hope Ireland voted yes - couldn’t go back to the old ways, border guards and currency changes and all that.

After an apartment dinner that included olives, Jambon and saucisson, strawberries, two local cheeses and a cake with cherries, we headed up to the beach area for a couple of beers at Serge Blanco’s la Pinto. Lovely place but they didn't seem to have anything other than Heineken so maybe we’ll have to find somewhere else to have a beer and watch Euro 12!

Next Wine Event at Ballymaloe

The Irish Wine Geese - hear their story and taste their wines

The Grain Store, at Ballymaloe,

Thursday 7th June 2012, 7.00pm €10

Discover an Irish wine farmer’s story of moving from Dublin to the Bordeaux/Bergerac region, and explore the history of the ‘Wine Geese’ – the name applied to past, and present, generations of Irish people involved in winemaking in various wine regions around the world. There will be a tutored tasting of wines, both from Chateau Haut Garrigue, introduced by the winemaker, and a selection of other ‘Irish Wines Geese’ wines introduced by Tomás Clancy, including one of the best known ‘Irish Wine Geese’ wines, Chateau Lynch-Bages – an fun, sociable & educational evening not to be missed.

Presenting this interesting evening are two great presenters:

Winemaker Caro Feely, organic & biodynamic winemaker, Terroir Feely/Chateau Haut-Garrigue, Saussignac, South-West France, and author of ‘Grape Expectations’
www.FeelyWines.com
&
Well known wine writer, Tomás Clancy, Wine Editor, Sunday Business Post,
and presenter of the Wine Geese series on RTE Radio
www.tomasclancy.com

Caro’s book about the Feely’s move to France: ‘Grape Expectations’.
 'A beautifully written tale of passion and guts.' Alice Feiring, Wine writer for the New York Times and Author of Naked Wine: Letting Grapes Do What Comes Naturally’

‘A must read... at times gritty, at times joyful, Grape Expectations is an inspiring story of how one couple changed their lives.' Jamie Ivey, Author of In search of the Palest Rosé, Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog and other books

Thursday 7th June 2012, 7pm €10.
Advance booking advised.

For those interested in staying over,
please enquire about  rates for accommodation

Ballymaloe House, Shanagarry, Co. Cork, Ireland
Tel: 021 4652531

Wine events mailing list
colm@ballymaloe.ie

Dining with Serge Blanco & A Town full of peppers

DAY 5

May 30th, Wednesday

More pics from this trip here

Lots on today but let us start at the end, in La Pinta, a restaurant, one of many businesses owned by former French rugby international Serge Blanco. We called up there this evening to his Bodega, Bar, Restaurant, Cideria, on the spit of land between the port and beach of Hendaye and signed on for the €32.00 Menu Cidrerie. 

Basically, it was a five course meal. And over its course you were free to drink as much cider (from the barrels) as you could manage. Wow! From start to finish this was top notch and we enjoyed it very much.

Almost  as soon as we put in the order, a jug of cider (the cloudy dry local variety) and a basket of bread appeared on the table. Then came the aperitif: a spicy local sausage in a cider sauce.

Next up was the starter, a cod omelette. Never had a fish omelette before but this was the business. Cod also featured in the fish dish, grilled in the local manner and served with fried peppers and onions. Absolutely spot on.

Now for the big one as a smoking hot piece of beef still cooking in the pan was delivered to the table along with a plateful of salad and another of French fries. Cooked the beef bit by bit and ate away to our hearts’ content. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned the word heart here. But the beef was irresistible.

Time to close it out now, though the cider still flowed on. The final dish was a cheese, Fromage de Bebris, made from ewes’ milk in the nearby Pyrenees. A gorgeous cheese served with a quince pate and whole walnuts (with a nut cracker in the basket). A terrific finish to a very enjoyable meal.

The day had also begun with food as we visited the Wednesday market in the centre of Hendaye. Found a free range pig farmer and got a few slices of his top notch cured ham along with a wedge of another famous local cheese: Iraty Ossau, also made from sheep milk. Other bits and pieces included a Black Cherry cake, strawberries and olives.

In the afternoon, with a cloudy haze coming in over the mountains, we aborted a trip to the top of the La Rhune mountain and visited a few nearby Basque villages, include Sare where we saw an unusual multi-galleried church and the more usual fronton (where kids were trying their hand at pelota, though without the racket).

Then on to the village of Espelette, famous for its sweet red peppers which they hang on the walls to dry. They were on the Post Office wall, on the Spar wall, on the Hotel wall, everywhere. Got some at a local producer and a few other bits and pieces, including a first bottle of the local Txakoli wine,  before visiting a local chocolatier where we took on a bus load of pensioners and emerged  from the scrum with a couple of bags of the tasty stuff for ourselves.

Hondarribia. Old and beautiful Basque town.

Crossing to Spain, while another ferry returns

More photos from this trip here

Hondarribia

Bacalao

Tongue

Local cider

Smoked salmon salad

Macaroni

Day 4

May 29th, Tuesday


Went to Spain today for the price of a Cork bus ride. Made the short boat crossing from Hendaye on the French side of the River Bidasoa to Hondarribia on the Spanish for just €1.70.

The trip takes just a few minutes and soon we were strolling in the picturesque Spanish town, full of old buildings and narrow streets where the balconies almost meet and also saw a magnificent Parador (government hotel). Temperatures were up around the 25 degrees.

Then it was time for lunch and we found amazing value at the EAJ PNV restaurant which seemed to have a very busy trade indeed. Had brought a handy “gastronomic” dictionary for a fiver on board the Pont Aven (bought a similar French one a few years back).

The Spanish one really worked a treat at its first outing as we worked our way through the Menu del Dias which had six or seven choices for each of the first and second courses. I had the Macaroni cheese and tomato while CL enjoyed the Smoked Salmon salad. Both excellent.

Now for the second course. CL choose the Tongue with salsa (more or less a tomato sauce). Two succulent tender pieces of tongue were soon demolished. I gambled on the Bacalao (dried salted cod) with a brilliant pepper and onion sauce. They say it is an acquired taste. I have acquired it!

We were not too sure on the desserts as they weren't on the board and, with words failing us, we ordered something that turned out to be a decent piece of ice-cream. Flan and a Fruit salads were other options that we later discovered by looking around.

A big bottle of water was placed on the table at the start. We didn’t know it but this was standard and free. We also ordered cider and ended up with a 75cl bottle of a local natural brew that was nice and dry and a real thirst quencher for just one euro. Total bill came to €22.00. Decent food, amazing value, very nice people.

Did another bit of walking around and saw the school kids playing. In one yard, they had their roller skates on and were playing a lively game. No worries about public liability or claims here by the looks of it.

Then we made the return journey to Hendaye (enlived by a possible sighting of ZZ Top among the passengers) and, when we arrived back at the apartment, wasted little time in cooling down in the pool. Car hasn’t moved since we arrived on Sunday. Might change tomorrow afternoon. We will visit the local market tomorrow morning and see how it goes.

Hendaye, a beautiful place at the edge of France

Monday 28th May 2012
More photos from this trip here

Hendaye beach, with the "Twins", the rocks in background

Walk by the Bidasoa River in Hendaye

Hondarabbia, in Spain, just across the river

Pouring the rose

Jambon with melon, 1st course

Mixed salad, 1st course   

Chicken, 2nd course

Ommelete, 2nd course

Blackcurrant Ice-cream, dessert course
Above, all at the Ipar Haizea, this three course lunch, inc. glass of wine, cost €12.00. Coffee was €1.20 extra.

Mussells, with a Basque sauce

Moules mariniere

Crepe

At Santa Maria restaurant near the beach in Hendaye, in the evening, the mussles (available with six different sauces), cost €12.00 per person. The crepe was three euro while a 250ml carafe of local basque cider cost €2.80.

We spent the first day getting to know Hendaye, its beautiful bay and beach. The town is basically in two parts, the main town and the beach town where our apartment is located. The beach and port are minutes away and the railway station close enough also. We walked along by the bay to the station to get to know the place and to check the times for the narrow gauge railway service to San Sebastian.

Must say, with this gorgeous weather, the bay of Hendaye, with the foothills of the Pyrenees in the background, is one of the most beautiful places I've ever come across. Spain is just minutes away across the River Bidassoa. Did a fair bit of walking today and fully deserved the late afternoon dip in the pool!