Biarritz forever!

My parents met in Biarritz in the Sixties, I spent many summers there so it has a very special place in my heart. The sun is not as guaranteed as in the South of France but who cares when you have your family, friends and excellent food! There is traffic, beaches are packed, surfers have multiplied over the years so the waves are populated and can be dangerous for swimmers but Biarritz and the Pays basque are a unique place. 
We spent an evening in San Sebastian, Spain, to watch fireworks,eat tapas and drink sangria. I definitely want to go back in the day time and discover this very cool town so close to France. 
My favorite restaurant for the past 2 summers, le Madrid, is located in the center of one of the cutest village of the coast, Guethary, food is simple and good, from the terrace you can watch the "scene",it's definitely the place to be and to be seen ! After  le Madrid, you can walk to Heteroclito, a local bar with good music and a nice view.
Les halles de Biarritz is the covered and coveted food market, you'd better get there early otherwise it's a parking nightmare. You find the best selection of "fromage de brebis" (sheep's milk cheese), black cherry jam, gateau basque and great fish.
A friend took us for a beautiful hike in the mountains near Itxassou, we were completely unprepared (we almost lost part of the group due to dehydration and exhaustion !) for it but it was a unforgettable experience : first of all, the beauty of the landscape was magical, the wild horses, the eagles....
A little shopping never hurts so I went to Laffargue (26 rue Gambetta, www.laffargue-maroquinerie.fr) in the beautiful town of Saint Jean de Luz and got a very simple & chic purple clutch. They have a great choice of colors and it's local !




Can't wait to come back next year !




a messy street filled with tapas bars


a beautiful old plaza in San Sebastian

My favorite restaurant !

inside Le madrid

my favorite bar : Heteroclito !

outside the heteroclito

les halles de Biarritz !

leather goods in Laffargue

rue Gambetta in St Jean de Luz

La Madrague, my beach for 25 years...

ile de Ré

After Porquerolles, I spent a couple of days in L'Ile de Ré on the Atlantic Coast. The easiest way to get there is to take a TGV (high-speed train) to La Rochelle, it's about 3 hours from Paris. Then 45 minutes of driving and you are there !
The biggest asset of this island is THE FOOD !! In Les Portes, the village where I stayed, there's a 6 day food market (and cute jewelry and clothing too) and for a New Yorker, it's just heaven. 
From 9 am to 1 pm, from tuesday to sunday, the village goes a little crazy and the two rivals café on Place de la Liberté, La Case à vent et le Bazenne, are packed. If you are a parisian (or used to be one), you are guaranty to bump into many people you know. Because of the quality of the food, you have tendency to cook at home but there are three places that I highly recommend : for lunch on the Trousse-chemise beach : Chez bernadette (officially called La cabane des trois hiboux) a little shack with plastic chairs and simple food : avocado terrine with crab, mussels. On a rainy day (Ré has a micro-climate and it tends to rain more that in the south.., we rode our bikes 15 miles to La cabane du Feneau  on the road de Loix : also very simple, you are surrounded by salt marshes and you eat the best sea food nicely presented in a box (see picture below), we had a mix of sea food followed by grilled gambas. Everything in your plate comes from the restaurant's farming sea food so it couldn't be fresher !Try the caramel rice pudding it's a killer..
For dinner, one of the nicest restaurant is Le Chasse-marée, the owners are Daniel and Pam (an American transplan) Fauquenot. it's located on the place de Liberté and has a nice terrace so so you are in the middle of the village action. 

spreads selection

fresh flowers from the market

the mixed sea-food basket 

my room !

walk on the beach with paci & paciana

Porquerolles

Last summer, I  discovered this magnificient island in France. I went back this year.
Porquerolles is off Hyères, south of France, you fly or take a train to Toulon. A navette (20 minutes water ride) takes you to the tiny port that can be scary at first as flows of beach goers (mostly French) show up early morning and leave with the last navette at the end of the day. So first you try to avoid  the "tourists", then you rent a bike (the island is almost car-free) and you can enjoy a truly amazing place. Go early to Notre Dame, a far-away beach, water is turquoise, tons of fish to look at and occasional jellyfishes..
Restaurants are pretty good but I recommend "La plage d'argent", the only restaurant on the beach, it opens for lunch everyday but for dinner only tuesdays and thursdays. Simple food and killer sunset.
Unfortunately you can't buy  fish on the island unless you are willing to wait for hours for the poor fisherman who usually shows up with a couple of sad-looking fishes..There's only one tiny supermarket. A couple of fruits/Vegetables stands and only one organic one where you can find Pourprier, a kind of salad that's succulent, super tasty tomatoes, peaches that are grown on the island.
In Porquerolles, you bike and you bike a lot, it's a real paradise and at night, children meet up on the "place" to sell jewelry they have made, stones they have painted and with the sales go to Cocofrio for a ice cream (violette.fig, speculos, white peach and yogurt are amongst my top 5).
A drink at 7pm at the exclusive "Mas du langoustier" is a must but be prepared for the bike serious work-out to get there..but you can also rent a pointu (see picture below) and go there by boat !

a pointu, a local boat

Notre Dame