Around Lourdes - La colline aux Marmottes

The marmot hill is an animal parc where you see many of the animals that live in the mountains. My children loved giving carrots to the marmots!

The only negative thing was the amount of wasps at the pic nic place.... we ran away and ended up having our pic nic next to the Jer cable train!

 

Around Lourdes - Donjon des Aigles

 The Eagle Fortress is really that, the beautiful remains of a real fortress, surrounded by mountains and the home for over 45 different species of birds of prey. We spent two magical hours there. The site is close to Beaucens, a little bit outside Aquitaine in the Hautes Pyrénées.

The setting is beautiful

  

The prey birds are imposing

Here you see it attack....

... a bait to show us how they hunt

The vultures were mighty and flew so low they touched my head twice!

  

This intelligent bird used stones to break an egg

And this one knows how to kill snakes by stomping their head

  

By the end came the smaller birds and the parrots

I loved watching the children; smiling but impressed

 

 This one talked alot!

41, everything is still fine

A happy birthday is simple. Retrieving old friends that just moved closer to us, sipping champagne in the pool and hearing the children playing without bothering us....

Eating artichokes with salted butter and nothing else...

Sharing a Swedish dessert....

... and some flowers!

My little philosophers

French school - maybe school in general - is tough and does not allow for the children to follow their own rhythm much... hang around, be curious, do nothing or invent things... which makes the summer vacation such a good opportunity to do just that.

Things we ate in July

July was time off. No photos, hardly no blog. But we kept eating. First all kinds of meat. Duck and Boeuf de Chalosse have a special place in our hearts, but we also do red wine marinated porc ribs occasionnally...

The Bayonne Festival with the children

One of the four days of the Bayonne Festival is dedicated to the children. Heaps of acitivites! We decided to give it a try this year with our friends and their three children (ages 5, 6, 8, 11 and 11).

I am happy to write this post and emphasize one of the things I love about this festival - everybody can go there. Not only the young and foolish, but the grandma's and grandpa's go there... and the children. Daytime festival is great!

The children loved it and it was fun to show them the Festival atmosphere, but the area dedicated to the children activities was just too crowed and the waiting times for each activity too long.

The weather was a bit grey, but I think the pictures still convey some of the happiness of Bayonne and the red and white festayres!

Sunday lunch at the Viella castle in Madiran

We've been a lot into castles lately. Kind of easy to get used to that kind of environment! This time we went to the Viella castle in Madiran. Every Sunday they serve a gourmet lunch accompanied by four different wines from their own wine production. Excellent idea! I believe it is always easier to fully appreciate a wine when served with food and the extraordinary setting for this meal, in the castle itself, could only make things better.

Viella is considered one of the top domains in the Madiran area. They produce red wine, red dessert wine, dry and sweet white wine. They belong simultanously to the Madiran and Pacherenc Vic Bilh wine classification.

PS It is actually situated in the Gers region; but very close to the border of Landes....
PS 2 The visit, lunch and wines were 30 euros per person...

Secret beach at the Socoa Fort

A couple of photos from the Socoa Fort. We discovered a small, calm beach just beneath it, not far from the crowded Socoa beach.

JF goes surfing

Last year his two twin girls went surfing two days with Clara. Apparently the girls had loved it and even made their father want to try. So here we are, at one of the most beautiful beaches of the Basque coast, with a huge sun and small waves around one metre... perfect for a beginner!

The Parador Castle in Fuentarrabie

The excuse was to celebrate the 40ieth birthday of my sister's husband - as if we needed an excuse to spend a night in this incredible place. The Parador in Fuentarrabie used to be the castle for Carlos V and has since been renovated by the Spanish government. Its two metre thick walls are very impressive even though you can't say it looks pretty from the outside and the view over the Bidassoa Bay is no less than astounding...

Toropiscine in Léon

Cows and bulls are a huge subject in the Southwest of France, with corridas in different formats, course landaise and of course the hugely popular games with cows and a pool.... they are called toropiscine; toroball or intervilles and they all draw both families and mad young men who want to face the rapid and angry cows in a - relatively - securised environment. (No, I would never do it).

Spanish ham from our friends

We live less than one hour from the Spanish border. Our friends, who came through Spain from Barcelona, gave us a beautiful ham. The best if you ask me.

Castets Festival

Fish ten ducks and you get a lousy plastic toy - my children loves it...

Our little village has, of course, its own festival during summer. Like the other 331 villages in Landes! Nothing special, but a yearly gathering for those who have moved from Castets and a nice time for the kids with a carroussel and some other games.

Not a Transformer, but close enough!

The Town House and behind you see tents that form a temporary restaurant in front of the concert scene.

There was a version of the cars for smaller children, but after watching the older ones, Bjorn decided to pass.