Biarritz – Class, Culture and Cuisine in the Southwest of France

Departing for Biarritz was a meaningful milestone for it marked a return to international travel since lockdown in March of 2020. Our trip to France was a long-awaited and highly anticipated event fraught with peril, as the spread of the Delta Variant continued to surge in Europe and throughout the world as our trip was about to commence. Even now, as I write to you from my balcony in France, there are COVID cases surging everywhere. This virus has no boundaries.

The flight was an easy 11 hours to Paris, an hour to switch planes and an hour to Biarritz. Et Voila!

I had booked our tickets to the town of Biarritz as a Christmas gift for Lily. I enrolled her in 2 weeks of French language immersion and surf lessons at the Biarritz Language Institute. And, truth be told, I also booked the trip because Biarritz holds a special place in my heart. It is the first place that John and I traveled together almost twenty years ago!

Lily and I landed in CDG airport and were met with an absolutely packed terminal of Parisians escaping the city for their favorite seaside playground -Biarritz. Masks were worn and Vax cards were mandatory but transfer into France was as light as a Parisian breeze

We left SFO at 3:25pm on July 16 and arrived in Biarritz in time for check-in at 3pm the following day. Neither of us had slept for 24 hours but we knew it was important to acclimate to the new time zone we were in so we dropped our bags and headed out to explore the area.

This is a scooter-centric town. The narrow streets lend themselves well to tiny cars and Vespas
How lucky for me! Tidepools just outside the front door of our hotel! I was in heaven already.
Did I mention already that Biarritz is the vacation capital of France.? The country literally pours itself onto the beach and covers every inch of sand.
Nothing tastes like summer like a pina colada “mocktail” served in a chilled pineapple glass.

Lily and I roamed the streets around our hotel and settled in for a quick bite to eat as we counted down the minutes until nightfall so that we could finally fall asleep. Neither of us had been able to sleep on the airplane and we were running on 24+ hours with no sleep.

We spent our first night at Hotel Gamaritz, a small 12 room boutique hotel perfectly located two blocks away from the sea and one block from the city center.

Our heads hit the pillows by 8pm and we slept a solid 10 hours. We awoke in time for the break of dawn.

An all-too-familiar marine layer coated the sky

We grabbed a quick espresso at an outdoor cafe and mapped out our game plan for the day. The first order of business was to check me into my AirBnB. Then we were going to find where her school was. Then we had to pack her up and send her off to her host family and say our goodbyes.

My new home is the 3rd floor balcony on the right.

Step Two was to locate Lily’s school. Our hunt for the Biarritz Language Institute was a lovely treasure hunt of sights – each one more beautiful than the first.

Le Grand Plage is only a block away from her new home for the next two weeks.
Biarritz is a city for active people with SUP, scooter and ebike rentals, surf lessons, paths for runners and safe zones for swimmers.
This lovely flower-covered bridge is where Lily turns the corner from school and heads to her host family home.

We found her school and then headed back to my flat to grab her bags and hand her off to her host family. She is now living in a lovely part of Biarritz known as the Gastronomic Region. The streets are filled with boulangeries, charcuteries, glaciers and the most amazing food marketplaces abundant with produce and gourmet meals-to-go.

This is a typical basque-style home across the street from lily’s host family’s home.
A clever artist turn graffiti into something fun to smile about.
Her host family home is only minutes to the beach!

I was so caught up in meeting Lily’s host family that I did not take photos of her new home but here are some quick snapshots of her neighborhood. (Note how an artist turned grafitti on the house into a new piece of art.). Jean and Marie are now watching over Lily. They are passionate about the sea and Marie is an avid surfer. They live 20 mins from the school and are a permanent host family year-round. Right now Lily is in their home with two other girls at the language institute: Lea is from Belgium and is 19 and there is another girl there from Italy, aged 23. Jean and Marie speak NO ENGLISH at all and do not ever intend to do so. Lily is now fully immersed! She walks herself to school, takes surf lessons in the afternoon and has an 11pm curfew (much to her chargrin!). Ha!

Stay tuned for more!

Bonsoir!

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