Renovation Project - Back in France

Renovation Project - Back in France

Well it has been a busy week this week, Portugal then on to Spain and today we are heading back in to France.

We are going to stay in a little place called Monbazillac, approx 5 miles from Bergerac, John is a little bit nervous about this stay as we are staying with a couple we have spoken to on Twitter, we have never met them and have just tweeted periodically since last year, but hey they sound nice and they have a couple of dogs so they must be good people!

The drive is too far to do in one day so we stop off in a place called Dax, this is the most expensive hotel we have stayed in yet and it is by far the worst! It was booked at 1am this morning and I had forgotten to put air con in the search criteria. This is a big mistake as the temperature is going through the roof.

As we arrive at the hotel we cannot find the reception anywhere, it is in a restaurant across the road, Dax looks very nice as we drive through but, after struggling to find the hotel room, then entering it and finding the largest flying insect I have ever seen in the room (and spending 10 minutes trying to get rid of it!) the place is losing some of its appeal.

We go out to get something to eat and remember we are now in France and not Spain and it is Sunday!!!!!! Bugger, bugger, bugger everywhere is shut!

We manage to find a Pizza place and we have to admit, the pizzas are amazing. We actually think that France does the best pizza's of any country we have been too!

We head back to the hotel, the restaurant is shut so we cannot get any ice, it is about 200 degrees in the hotel room and all we have to drink is some luke warm gin and tonics!

We sit outside and notice the clouds, oh please rain, please! Then the sky over the Pyrenees lights up, it is a storm, on the way over we cursed the storms but now it has never been more welcome, we sit outside and rejoice in the rain.

As you can imagine we get very little sleep and decide to leave as soon as possible.

It is a shame because Dax looked really nice on our way in, but we don’t really do it justice after having a bad night let’s hope our next stop is much better and this isn’t a bad omen preparing us for staying with strangers!

I forgot to mention as we passed the French border, yet again there was no sight of any border control. It really does make you wonder why the airports are so strict, when you can go from country to country with absolutely no problem.

We drive towards Bergerac and realise we are starting to recognise places, we see the sign for Saint Jean de Luz, and stop of for a drink, this place is beautiful, it is on the coast and there is a little square next to the harbour full of artists easels. We came here on our first tour of Europe and it holds some lovely memories.

As we continue our drive we pass through Bidart and stop off again to sit at the beach bar that we loved so much from that holiday, it seems so long ago since we were here last, but nothing has changed, we sit and look out to the sea, I realise this is the last coastal stop on our way home.

This is such a beautiful part of France, but it is very expensive, which was why we stayed in Dax (I am still upset at how much we paid for that and wish we had paid the extra to come here but hey, we tried somewhere new)