Have you ever...

....ordered a meal in a restaurant and not REALLY known what you were getting?

Well, we did tonight!

Yes, that's raw duck and chicken on my plate on the right!

You should have seen MRPnP's face when our plates of raw meat arrived!

Luckily for him, the waitress returned with a hot 'stone' for us to cook on!

My chicken and duck were fabulous!  

Cooked expertly by me!

And MrPnP was pretty happy with his seafood combo!

We were given special little 'knives' to turn out meat with!

He has been missing out on his 'chefs' duties while we've been away!

Anyway, sometimes it does pay to be a bit adventurous!

That's one aspect of holidaying in a foreign country I really love!

Tonight's dinner was an experience I'll never forget!

Happy days!

SUZ

(PS- I had chocolate crepes for dessert!  No, not crepe suzette!!!)

Monein

I want to show you around La Petit Hotel we have been staying in!

"Ferme La Candeloup!"

It is about 4 km from the town of Monein.....

It is a renovated barn with just seven rooms for rent!

Not much around but peace and quiet!

And some beautiful scenery!

The view from our room-  barley in the foreground, maize the green crop in the background.

We've virtually had the place to ourselves!

It has been a fabulous base to explore the area...

The little community of La Commande

We drove out to the town of Laruns, at the base of the Col D'Aubisque...

The Tour de France will pass this way in a few weeks!

In fact we have even ridden part of the route ourselves!

Just at a much slower pace!!!


And I did get back to the Lindt factory, on a 38 degree day!

This little bunny, a sample BTW, was scoffed down by Mr PwP seconds later!


I won't embarrass myself by showing you what we BOUGHT!

Happy days!

SUZ

Bonjour!

Yes we are now in France!

I must admit I am much happier with 'bonjour',  'au revoir', 'pardon' and  'merci' than I was with my VERY limited Spanish.

On the way to our current destination we had a short lunch stopover in a little town called Oloron Ste Marie.

Yes I know you've never heard of it but I believe Lindt chocolates come from here!  

Now I have your attention!!

It really is a pretty little town, but what French town isn't?

These little french towns, off the beaten path of the tourist, is one of the reasons we come to France!

We don't like big towns, crowds or even lots of sightseeing...

We do like eating....

Hand made nougat from the market!

and cycling....

and lazing by the pool!

(although today was TOO hot even for the pool!)

So it may be some time before I have anything interesting to blog about!

There are only so many cycling photos to show you!

Yes, my real holiday has started!!

Happy days!

SUZ

Pilgrimage Complete!

Our final destination on our pilgrimage across Spain was to the birthplace of St Ignatius of Loyola.

He was also born to nobility, in a castle, in the little town of Azpeitia, not far from San Sebastian.

The castle is now encased by this large, and perhaps ugly, cathedral.....

Although the walls of the 14th century castle can still be seen inside...

There is a beautiful statue of St Ignatius being helped by his servants after he was seriously wounded by a cannonball in a battle at Pamplona.

(Now you just need to dodge bulls in Pamplona!)

While convalescing in the castle he decided leave the glamourous(?) life of a soldier and devote himself to God

He subsequently formed the Jesuits...

Of course, no family is complete without its own crest...

Two bears carved into the stone wall above the entrance to the castle

or chapel..

The dome inside the cathedral was quite spectacular!

So with the trifecta of pilgrim destinations complete, my real holiday begins!

Happy days!

SUZ

Guggenheim-Bilboa

We had a rather inclement weather day during our stay at San Sebastian, so we travelled to the nearby town of Bilboa!

What an amazing place!

Modern art, although not always my 'cup of tea', is truly incredible!

Massive steel sculpture- recognisable?

And it surely makes a statement!

The gallery is a huge expanse of space....

Both inside .....

Like something from War of the Worlds!

....and out!

All of the inside photos were taken, illegally, on the prospect of being ejected!

And this cute little big puppy guard dog keeps watch over all!

We had a wonderful day in Bilbao!

(Internet is VERY slow!  This post has taken an hour to load!!  I will try another post soon!)

Happy days!

SUZ

San Sebastian

This Spanish town has grown on me!

We have been here for four days and I like it more each day!

The food has been a highlight ....

Not a disappointing meal have we had!

From the steak dinner the first night to the delicious pinxtos last night!

Goat's cheese wrapped in ham (jamon)!!


Probably some of the food has come from the local market....

And the views in the area are amazing!


This photo I took the other day on the walk from our hotel down into the old 


town!

And today we also walked to the top of Monte Urgull for these views!!

I needed a sit down at the top!

I'm hoping I'm doing enough walking to counteract the eating!!

But of course pastries for breakfast are hard to go past!

Perhaps surfing should have been on the menu instead?

See that hill back there?


That's where we walked to!


Gotta be happy with that!


SUZ

Pilgrim's Progress

I hope if you don't mind me indulging in more photos of my pilgrimage...

(Besides I wanted to use that title!)

This time to Javier- the birthplace of St Francis Xavier.

It was just what i imagined a real castle would look like....

with cannons....

and ramparts!

(with fabulous views!)

Of course he had his own chapel....

And his own crest!

The Basilica (to the left in this photo) was only added at the beginning of last century!

But a 'stone' marks the place of his actual birth!

Next stop....Azpetia... the shrine to St Ignatius of Loyola!

I promise that that will be the last of 'those' posts!

We are doing and seeing other things...

I promise!

Happy days!

SUZ