A number of the mountains around the area can also be seen covered with snow!
Today we headed over to the town of Espelette, located about half an hour from where we stay.
The village is famous for pimento pepper. When harvested, the pimento peppers are threaded on to rope and hung to dry against building facades, which can be seen easily in this village.
When they were dry, they were placed in the bread oven until crisp and then crushed to make a powder.
Doesn't those peppers hanging on those building look unique?
We walked around a couple of streets before settling into Restaurant Etxemendi for lunch - they were offering a set lunch comprising of :
- Paté Basque Au Piment
- Axoa de Veau et Frites
- Fromage de Brebis et Confiture de Cerises
- Gáteau Basque de la Maison Gastellou
All very typical of the region.
The portions were generous and I was super stuffed by the end of the meal. Incredibly tasty was the fries, which somehow outshone the main dish Axoa, which was on the bland side.
We walked a little more around the town before heading to Cambo les Bains to meet with Thierry's friend, Valerie, whom is currently based out of Montpellier and had come to the area to visit her brother and sister-in-law.
Originally planning to visit another park, we changed our minds as there was a high cost just to enter the grounds. We made our way to Thermes de Cambo-les-Bains instead, which was a thermal medical resort with a nice park.
It was a short drive back to the city, where we visited the Église Saint-Laurent - church. I was told that the Basque Church is different in that they have all those balcony seats on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th levels.
During mass, the women will sit on the ground level, and the men will be in the balcony section.
There's also a wonderful view from a nearby viewpoint and the typical Basque houses.
We left at about 6pm, but before leaving Valerie invited us to join her and her sister-in-law for a walk around the countryside on Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment