Bayonne: heart of the French Basque country

Our well travelled readers will appreciate what happened to us in Bayonne. Sometimes (most times?) the best travel experiences are the result of a series of accidents. We didn't mean to walk around Bayonne and fall in love with the place. We just thought it was the place with the bus and train transfer station. But with a 45 minute layover between buses, Jon wanted to snap a photo from the bridge, because it looked nice from the bus. From that bridge, we could see a keyhole street leading into the center of town. That street was a pedestrian-only street and it looked promising so we entered the city. What we found was an old, narrow street city center that was pulsing with energy and packed with cool shops. People were spilling out of bars and singing out loud. Turns out that we were walking around Bayonne 2 hours before a huge rugby game vs Biarritz. Check the scene out:

Everyone was sporting the baby blue team colors:

The Basque architecture was beautiful:

Bayonne is the unofficial capital of the French Basque Country. Incredibly charming town:

Lots of Basque pride here. Almost all of the businesses referred to it in some way:

This is the riverfront that originally caught Jon's attention:

The technicolor window sills are very Basque:

We cancelled our bus home (and left

2 hours after our initial planned departure time) in order to tour the whole city without feeling rushed. We also had time to drink a perfect Guinness:

Everywhere you look, you see ham. Jambon de Bayonne is the city specialty and is known all over France:

After walking all over the city, we found the bar with the most energy and character:

So we enter inside and had a few drinks:

Note how much style this place had:

Here's Jesse pointing to the pitcher and asking the bartender what was inside. It was the "house punch" made with rum and who knows what else. So we had one, just to get the full experience:

Bayonne was a really cool town. We

recommend it, next time you are in the south west!