Liz Weeden - March 6

Pictures:
1. Alexi Knock, Liz Weeden (me), Kirsten White on the Biarritz beach
2. Hofstra on the beach
3. Michael Dickerson, Tom DiBlasi, Nadir Khan, Alexi Knock on the Biarritz beach

The Beaches of Biarritz

The European Odyssey is making moves! After staying in picturesque southern French wine country, we are officially moving on to a whole new country with a whole new language – Spain! On the way to our stop in Bilbao, Spain we made a quick pit stop in an area along the coast of France in Basque country called Biarritz.

During the drive we received a mini history lesson, learning about the ancient Basque minority who have lived in the area bordering southern France and northern Spain since pre-historic times. The Basque are considered the indigenous people of the region and have their own language and script, which is of great fascination to linguistics. They own much of the land in the area and uphold and respect nature and are extremely environmentally conscious.

Once considered a “playground for the rich” as Professor Longmire called it, the coast of Biarritz is filled with majestic hotels and casinos right along the shore. That’s not to say that the clientele has become any less wealthy – the shopping was a little over our college-student budget (think Hermes).

In the short time we spent in Biarritz we were able to take a jaunt along the beach filled with soft sand and rocks jutting out into the ocean. After the frigid cold and wind of northern France, Biarritz’s sun was warmly welcomed.