Jeannine & Roger's French Cheese Odyssey

Basque Country - 2nd June

Our home for the next few weeks is Bayonne in the Basque Country on the West Coast of France. On the map above you can see the Basque country is in both Spain (below the black line) and in France (above the line). We are based on the top left boundary in France but hope to return to Spain and travel down the coast.

Since the Roman era the Basque Region has had its own language ‘Basque’, with varying dialects. Although the spoken language is receding, all the names of towns, streets, shops and dishes still carry the language of old. We have been to a few stores and cafés already and the people definitely do not sound like they are speaking French.

After three countries, three different languages and three days on being on the move, we are having a home day. We are based 9 minutes walk from the old city area of Bayonne - to encourage people to leave their cars at home, the City puts on free electric buses from the suburbs. We walked into Grand (big) Bayonne and Petit (little) Bayonne today. On the way home the bus was looking like an attractive option as the temperature rose to over 30 degrees.

There are lots of tourist shops and cafes in the old city; our aim was to visit the Halles (food markets), the Friday flea market, see the river and find a particular second-hand book shop. The latter was closed, but in the process we found a rowing club and a Catholic church.

Essence of France Photo Challenge No.17 - Basque Country The Basque country is known for its villages in the valleys of the Pyrenees, white washed houses, Spanish influence and thickset churches. Today’s photos show the different architecture of buildings and houses in the town near the Nive River and the Cathedral Sainte Marie.

We also found a bull-fighting arena, not something either of us support, but unfortunately the Basque country is renowned for what they call sport; we call pointless animal cruelty.

On our hot walk home we called into a café for Roger to see if the Basque can make a decent cup of coffee, not a complete fail, but close. We both had...
Cheese Experience No.42 - Basque Cheesecake A true Spanish-Basque cheesecake is cooked at a high temperature so the outside burns, giving it a caramel or browned butter taste while still being soft and gooey on the inside. This is the local French version, just burnt, so it had a mild caramel taste.

Last photo of the day (although a bit blurry) is of the vegetable section of the supermarket. In France they must display the produce’s country of origin. It's a great idea to support local producers and for the greenies to avoid high food miles; why would you buy those Australian shallots? I refused to buy the beans from Africa on principle of course.
Now, I must get back to watching food TV, in some strange language, sautéed kidneys served with a Roquefort cheese sauce could be on the menu soon.