Megan & Vince's Excellent Adventure: Bayonne, town of colorful shutters

After the “big city” of Bordeaux, we reverted back to the smaller, more obscure towns – this time, Bayonne.

Here’s the view from our teeny but quaint room:

We dropped off our bags and immediately went on our explore-the-new-town walk. Like most towns we visited in France, Bayonne was once a Roman town, and the walls that surround the city have Roman foundations.

This is the Porte d’Espagne, “Gateway to Spain,” which was along the national highway to Spain for centuries. It was built by the Romans and re-fortified in medieval times.

Here is the Cathedral of Notre-Dame-de-Ste-Marie – and the cloister attached to it. These were built in the gothic style from 1258-1450.

The inside of the cathedral is impressive with its height, stained glass windows, and walls full of priceless Renaissance art.

We stumbled upon the Chateau Vieux (Old Chateau), which was built in the 11^th century as a castle/residence for the rulers of the region. Some intriguing royals lived there, including the Black Prince of England. Now it is used by the military and is closed to the public.

This is the Chateau Neuf (New Chateau), which is across the river. It was built in 1460 by the English after the Hundred Years War. We kept finding the European concept of "New" vs. old pretty crazy, especially compared to our history.

All around town, there are these tiny alleyways with some medieval buildings, amid the white houses with colorful shutters:

Like many towns, our favourite views are at night. Here is the Hotel de Ville (town Hall) across the Saint-Espirit Bridge.

This is the “other side of the river.”

Here is the first course of another one of our wonderful 3-course French dinners – with local wine, of course.

We borrowed bikes 2 days, since the tourist office lent them out for free! The first day, we rode south along the River Nive. Here’s a view of the city from the south:

There were beautiful country homes…

And an official-looking building in the tiny town where we ended up:

The next day, we biked north along the River Ardour, to the beach. There were marinas along the way, on our way to Anglet and Biarritz.

And… the beach!

There was an energetic game of rugby going on –

We got back to Bayonne in time to watch a pelota match, the main sport of Basque country. It’s pretty much hand ball (racket ball without rackets). Looked brutal on the hands – it’s 2 vs. 2.