From Pau we crossed the border into Spain and quickly exited the highway and followed the route along the ocean.

Winding little streets darting out of the forest and into seaside towns. Up and over each ridge before dropping down to meet the next stream as it meets the ocean. Sadly it was getting dark and we didn’t really stop for any photos and those taken in motion didn’t come out so well.

Finally we turned a bit inland and found ourselves at our hotel – Castillo de Arteaga.

Our rooms were in the main central tower, but the outer wall has 4 large towers which also feature suites with private pools on their roofs!

That night, Gorka, Jon and Bea met us at the hotel which has a fantastic restaurant for some gourmet Basque fare.

The food was very good and the service excellent, but the surprise of the night was the local white wine – Txakoli – which we enjoyed quite a bit. The red was very good too.

• August 6- The Hike in Itxina – Gorbea Natural Park
  

On the fourth day, Jon planned a hike and Gorka provided the catering. The weather was quite overcast, very misty, but we actually got lucky it only ever drizzled for a few moments at a time.

After a brief trail through the woods, we quickly came out on the side of a slope and headed straight up before Jon noticed us huffing and puffing and showed us the switchbacks. Regardless, we made our way up to the doorway to a “natural castle” of some Basque legend.

The path wandered among huge rock fields…

and then open grassy areas which were amazingly manicured….

Through the mist we could hear bells everywhere and finally some clear skies reveals the source:

They may not look it, but these mushrooms were almost a foot in diameter:

Up and over another ridge and a slightly different sounding bell off in the mist… the source?

And around the corner…

Slowly it feels like we are going more down than up… now we’re on some large plain, but really can’t see the extent of it. We meander a bit looking for our lunch spot… a mountaineering club’s cottage on the mount.

What a feast Gorka has prepared, Spanish omelet, ham, roast peppers, manchego cheese…

And something excellent to wash it down!

After lunch, we began the decent for real through some switchbacks along a steep ridge.

Here goats hopped about munching on everything and at times following us. Sadly there are no clear shots, but among the goats was one very brazen mountain cow, standing on a ledge.

Soon we reached our start point after a nice long loop.

For our after-hike hike we climbed a nearby hill with a church atop it. It’s origins are still being researched, but it certainly has some spectacular views. Here you can see the valley with the hotel and an estuary behind.

This night we were quite tired, we had a simpler dinner at the hotel, but as is customary, we had excellent wine:

All photos here.

This year’s marquee vacation was to France and Spain.

• July 31/Aug 1

We flew out on an A380 in business class and it was pretty fantastic. Not the best we’ve been in, but very nice.

There are even cameras around the plane you can watch (nose, tail, undercarraige) pretty cool especially on takeoff and landing.

The space was generous and comfortable, the food service was pretty good.

As always, we flew overnight – – our connection in CDG was really really tight and thanks to a weird layout and having to go through through immigration, customs, then back through security between flights, we nearly didn’t make it. On top of it, it was HOT – almost 100F. After arriving in Bordeaux and finding out that half our luggage was lost in CDG…. we eventually got a rental car that would fit us and all our luggage and drove out to the St. James in Bouliac across the river from downtown Bordeaux. Wonderful grounds, wonderful staff, incredible food.

We had a very nice lunch there with samples of the courses on the a la carte menu. We enjoyed a white they served, but no picture and the red was decent. Eventually we settled into our rooms.
About the rooms. They are barely furnished. The floors are stained. The bathroom layouts are immensely inconvenient. Oh, and you have windows exposing you to anyone outside.

So… we went for a short walk around the town, then to a local grill/bistro where we would have several dinners during our stay.

With dinner – good but not great. Not exported.

• August 2 – WINE!
  

Up early, a very nice breakfast at the St. James with discussion of bad rooms…

A little late out the door, we head to meet Dewey Markham– our wine expert, author, and tour guide for the day in the Medoc region.

Dewey came prepared with binders containing maps, a history of Bordeaux town, the appellation system of the region, the viticulture, the history of growing there, the economics behind it, etc. He expanded on various topics of interest as we drove along to our first tour and tasting, answering all of our questions with exceptional detail and knowledge.

The first vineyard was a “Second Growth” classification – Château Rauzan Ségla (in Margaux). They are owned by Chanel (the fashion house) and very proud of it. The grounds were very nicely manicured. The equipment was all recently upgraded. It felt very “French.”

The vineyard provided a tour guide who explained how they have their parcels of land, the varieties of grapes they grow, how the soil in Bordeaux is all about gravel, the full vinification process from fruit to glass, etc.

We only tasted their Chateau wine. The wine was quite good, but considering a Second Growth – at $55+ a bottle – wine should be absurdly good, I was not impressed. There are some mitigating factors. The vintage we had was not the best and it did not have time to breath at all. I felt it was still quite sharp, the tannins had not rounded out at all.

Before heading to our next tour, we stopped to put some food in our stomachs. The food was not so great – especially compared to the great meals on the trip – but the wine we had was nice:

 Next was Château Lagrange, a Third Growth, but with a very different feel in the vineyard, the wine, and even the local tour guide. It is owned by a Japanese beverage conglomerate. Everything is far more functional and scientific – – and also on a larger scale of production. Still, very nicely kept grounds and impressive wine making facilities.

Here we tasted 3 wines, their white, their their lesser bottle and their Chateau bottle.

The white had some odd flavors to it, was drinkable, but nothing special.

The difference between the 2 reds was astounding. Their colors were only a few shades difference on the closer to ruby than garnet end of the spectrum, but the gap on taste was large. The Chateau was quite nice, smooth but complex.

From there we had to drive around a large Reggae festival being set up in Pauillac. It was pretty funny to see large crowds of 20 something rasta wannabes with scared/lost/confused older/more sophisticated folks trying to figure out whats going on and how to get around the chaos. Also, near every tent or RV, smoke was billowing out…

Our 3rd and final winery of the day is relatively new, having not existed in 1855, it is not a class growth, Sociando Mallet. The local guide was really very friendly and very proud of what they have accomplished in the shadows of wine giants. Many people simply look at price tags or what class growth a wine is, but here they had one goal, make a good wine. The grounds and buildings were all new or being renovated. The equipment was being upgraded.

Here we tasted 3 reds. Their second label, Chateau label, and the owner’s name label. They were all quite good in my opinion, especially when they are served with out any pretentiousness.

Apparently I am in good company. Parker recently rated the 2011 Chateau Sociando Mallet a 92 and drank it on his birthday!

Unfortunately we had to rush a bit at the end because of a work related conference call. We returned to the St James, took care of business, and then ate at our local bistro followed by a (late) fast setting sun behind Bordeaux across the La Garonne.

With dinner – good but not exceptional. Good value in the restaurant, and 2009 – a good year:

Dewey really knows his stuff. If you are ever in Bordeaux and can afford it, I recommend him 100%.

• August 3 – Bordeaux, the town!

Our second day in the region we explored the city or Bordeaux. We parked near the opera…

and took a long loop around the old city

poking our heads into churches…

book stores, and museums along the way.

We stopped for lunch back near where we parked in a place you would expect to be tourist fare, but was actually very nice. We enjoyed this white with seafood:

After lunch more trekking to see fountains (this one had been filled with soap suds by some adventurous teens and was being cleaned)…

the riverfront with a nice wading pool (ankle deep)…

then obelisks…

and finally another fountain before completing our second loop.

Feet weary and drained by the sun, we returned to the St. James to prepare for a special treat. This night we would have the chef’s menu. Sadly it’s been so long that many of the specifics now elude me, but we had 10+ courses (all very small portions) and not one was something you would find on a typical menu.

We had 2 wines with dinner, a white which was very nice and the the red, which was fantastic:

• August 4 – Saint Emillion

Our last full day in the region we drove out to Saint Emillion. We missed the walking tour of the town by just minutes, but we grabbed some maps and set out to do it ourselves. The town really is on quite a pair of hills and is dominated by small restaurants and shops selling wine.

We started at the top of one hill, looped down and around up the other, scaled the watch tower there, before looping back to the town.

Then we arranged to take a tour of the underground church – – but first…. FOOD! We found a fantastic little restaurant – Les Giron’dines. Early on we were not so impressed with a gruff hostess and wait staff and cramped seating under partial sun on a patio. However, they must keep grandma chained to the stove in the kitchen because the food was all fantastic. We had several specials, got the last of each, and patrons arriving as we ate lamented the smells and sights they saw were no longer available.

The wine with lunch – very good, but overpriced:

The underground church had quite an interesting story in how and why it was built as well as their attempts to keep it preserved. No photos were allowed inside, and I’m not really sure how to describe it other than as a church carved out of the stone beneath the earth.

After a long day in the sun, we returned and went for dinner again at our favorite bistro. On this night, we got the super grumpy waiter… who seemed to respect us after our choice of wine – a repeat from night 1!

• August 5 – Pau, drive to Spain
  

We piled into the car and headed for Pau – our “what is there to do between Bordeaux and Bilbao?” stop off. The town is on the foothills of the Pyrenes and it appears as if it was quite populous and lively until the 1970s. Now it appears to have high vacancy and lots of run down areas.

We arrived during their lunch hours so we had a pizza lunch there as the weather began to turn before the tour.

With lunch – it cost something like $12 and was a fantastic value – not exported.

The Chateau:

Henry IV of France was born there and everything essentially revolved around that. Marie Antoinett summered there several times and Napolean visited often as well.

It was an interestingly furnished castle because it had been looted many times over the years as it switched allegiances regularly and would be gifted items.

However, the tour was in French only with a 1 page “translation”… but the tour guide would spend 15 minutes or longer describing things in each room… at breakneck speed so we had no hope of understanding.

All photos of our arrival and days 1-3 can be found here.