Bidart to Saint Jean de Luz

On 16th, we made an excursion to Belloc monastery for Sue to catch up with old friends, and then on the 17th we set of from our base in Bayonne to where we'd left of in Bidart.

The coastal path took us along eroded cliff tops, sandy beaches with opportunities for coffee and pastries and getting our feet wet, and views of Mount Jaizkibel above Irun, that we would climb in a couple of days time. On the way we came across the crypt of Firmin_van_Bree, a Belgian engineer who exploited the resources of the Belgian Congo, and retired to Saint-Jean-de-Luz where he had a small chapel and a crypt built, where he was buried in 1960. As chance would have it, it was open in preparation for a group visit, so we had a look around.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz used to be a base for whale hunters venturing as far as Newfoundland, as well as swashbuckling privateers, and has many imposing houses built by 17th century ship-owners. Louis XIV, the Sun King married there in 1660, and a restaurant reminds us that Swiss guards were stationed there. The church of St.Jean-Baptiste was being prepared for a wedding, and was looking particularly splendid with its three layers of galleries and model ship.
As usual, we took the faithful number 3 bus back to our base.