Back from the Basque Country
Why the slow boat beats airport hell + the Basque village that stole my heart + It's book publication week!
I’ve just had the most relaxing 40 hours of the last four years. It’s not a feeling I’ve ever experienced ‘in transit’. Airports make me highly stressed; I don’t want to mention the late-night delay hell that was my last trip on Eurostar; and even the usual overnight cross-Channel ferry can be a bit of a rush to disembark in the early hours. This wonderful trip was the Brittany Ferries cruise from Santander in Northern Spain to Portsmouth and, just like the outbound journey, it was the easiest journey I’ve ever made.
On the way there, we boarded at midnight and had a day and a second night, so spent more time sleeping and the trip went faster. I did wonder if the timings of the return journey would mean it would get a boring (we boarded at lunchtime, had one afternoon, an overnight and one full day, disembarking at 5.30pm), so I packed three books and I intended to watch a few of the on-demand films on the TV in the cabin and games for the kids. It turned out, the return was even more enjoyable. We watched out the window for dolphins and whales in the Bay of Biscay (sadly no sign of them), we did the quiz, and the children played the games on the interactive screens. We were also lucky to be invited for a bridge visit and the engine room, which the children loved. But mostly, we just sat around reading and looking out of the big picture windows at the tranquil seascape. After the last four years of high stress and juggling multiple responsibilities and projects, it was the 40-hour holiday I really needed.
The Basque Village that stole my heart
I will always recommend a trip into the Basque mountains to anyone staying in Biarritz, Saint Jean-de-Luz or Bayonne, as you can really tune into the Basque Culture in villages such as Espelette, Ainhoa and Sare. I hadn’t been to the latter before, and we stayed there in the beautiful Hotel Arraya, booked via Sawdays, right in the centre. They have just 15 rooms, which were beautifully and individually decorated. There was a small, heated outdoor pool, too, and while the hotel restaurant was closed the two nights we were there, we had a fantastic meal at the restaurant Mimosa opposite.
On our second night, we didn’t book anywhere (going against my own advice to always book - when travelling with children, the agenda often goes awry!) and everywhere except the local trinquet was closed so we ended up in the restaurant there. If you’re familiar with the Basque sport pelota, you may know that a trinquet is the local pelota clubhouse with a bar and restaurant. If you don’t know pelota, it is a ball game (la pelote) and is thought to have origins in jeu de paume. The game sees a ball hit against a wall with one’s hand, a wooden bat or a kind of glove-meets-basket called a paleta.
We had a lovely meal at the trinquet; the chiperons (small calamari) were especially delicious. While my husband and I finished off our meal with some Basque digestifs - the local sloe-based spirit patxaran - the owner offered the children the chance to have a go at the game in the pelota court as all the players had finished their matches. Sare has three pelota courts, or frontons (the name for the wall that you hit the ball against - this video shows one of them), with two outdoor ones, and this indoor one at the trinquet. They loved it and were batting the ball around for nearly an hour; so much so, we had to buy my son a pelota shirt from Decathlon as a souvenir.
The village is also close to the cog railway that goes to the top of the 905-metre mountain La Rhune, which allowed us a spectacular 360° view of the coast and mountains. Later that day, we went to the Grottes de Sare, some incredible caves where Basque legends took hold and sheltered people through history. My feature on the trip, which also included a trip to Anglet and surfing on the coast, will appear in the Guardian at some point (soon I hope).
It’s publication week for Amuse Bouche
I can hardly believe it’s here, but after plotting this book for many years and working intensively on it in the last three years, Amuse Bouche: How to Eat Your Way Around France will be published on Thursday. I’m delighted to have received some wonderful comments from some well respected chefs and authors, including Raymond Blanc, Michel Roux Jr, James Martin, Kate Mosse, Trish Deseine, Debora Robertson and Elisabeth Luard. As longstanding readers of this newsletter will know, the research has taken me all over the country and I have met some wonderful chefs, bakers, food producers, farmers and many ‘brotherhoods’ and of course had some delicious experiences, be it in a Michelin restaurant or out of the back of our car boot. I hope readers enjoy reading it and hopefully using it to navigate their own travels. Indeed, I would love it if you send me your pictures of you with it in any of the places mentioned inside, or if you spot it being sold in a bookshop near you (email to substack@carolynboyd.net or share with me on Instagram @carolyncboyd - there’s probably a way within Substack chat too).
As a thank you to paid subscribers, I’m delighted to share a sneak preview and extract of a section in the Nouvelle Aquitaine section at the end of this newsletter. Keeping the Basque theme - I thought it would be nice to share some Bayonne chocolate! We were there last week, and I took the children to Maison Cazenave for their famous hot chocolate.
Other publications for your reading pile
The long boat journey gave me some time to finish the new book from Simon Kuper, Impossible City. It is also published by Profile Books, and it sees the esteemed journalist and author demystify the city and many of its faces. He has lived there for 20 years and in that time the city has undergone some big changes. It’s a great read and even if you know France well, there is much to learn.
My former colleague Rosa Jackson’s book Niçoise came out last month. It’s a stunning book of recipes food stories about her life in Nice, producer profiles and stories about ingredients. It’s also reminiscent of days gone by when I had the joy of commissioning her on France Magazine. She was one of the first columnists I appointed when I took over as editor in 2006 and her enchanting columns about Niçois ingredients and recipes were some of the best pages to run in the magazine.
For French-speakers, the Irish-French food writer Trish Deseine’s new book Un Déjeuner à la Campagne is a collection of beautiful recipes celebrates family life, tasty seasonal cuisine, the art of living in her beloved Percheron countryside.
And for magazines… the summer issue of National Geographic Traveller Food includes my feature on the Aubrac Plateau and all the incredible foods you can find there all thanks to the volcanic terroir, from aligot to truffade, Aubrac beef and Sebastien Bras’ signature dish La Gargouillou. I have such wonderful memories of being in that region this time last year, I’m delighted with how it’s come out with Clara Tuma’s beautiful photography. And in the June issue of National Geographic Traveller, I wrote their Notes from an Author page all about the islands of Noirmoutier and Yeu, off the West Coast of France.
Welcome to new readers
A big thank you to new subscribers who have signed up recently. I hope you enjoy the France Traveller Newsletter. Please do share with friends and we can grow our merry band of France-lovers friends together. I would be very grateful if all free subscribers would consider upgrading to a paid subscription, even for a few months, to help me keep it going and to free me up to write more regularly.
Until next time, à bientôt,
Carolyn
The time machine chocolate in Bayonne
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