In France

9:30 a.m. train from Barcelona to Pamplona left on the dot and arrived on the dot. Smooth, clean, comfortable ride. Then a horrendous, sickening hour and a half taxi ride to St. Jean. Oh, those torturous, twisty mountain roads. Por favor, senor, puede parar? (Please, sir, can you stop? Can't get the Spanish diacriticals when using the external keyboard. Well, I could, but then the English would be a problem.) After pleading for about four stops, each request hastily granted, we finally arrived at the center of town. A bustling little place it is, too, where we found the ubiquity of tapas replaced by the ubiquity of crepes.

Ian went to find the hotel and returned shortly. The schelp to the B and B was not too bad. I was grateful to collapse on the bed and happy to know that I can still speak some French.

After a bit, we took a wander about town. It is overflowing with tourists. What are all these people doing here? Why come HERE if you are not walking the camino? Maybe we will find out. After looking in some shops, we bought fresh GENUINE baguette sandwiches and chips for dinner, a couple of large chocolates for dessert, and dined in Ian and Tanya's room, which has a gorgeous view. Actually, mine has part of that view if you stick your head far out the window and look right!

The small hotel in which we are spending two nights is old---in a nice way: thick wooden shutters, dark red tiles, simple but comfortable. The receptionist is adorable:





A view toward the mountains in the morning before the fog lifted:




There is not a whole lot to do in St. Jean if you can't fit much in the way of extras in your luggage. That is to say that there are many tempting things to buy, especially the most delicious-looking food products, but with a long foot journey ahead that is utterly impractical.

Aside from doing a lot of window shopping, one can take a walk along the ramparts, which is refreshing and offers some good views. The citadel is impressive:




I so love these old old old doors, or more precisely, a door within a door:




A view looking down on St. Jean:



It poured today, so a while touring the Bishops' Prison was kind of interesting. Unfortunately, the curation (?) left a lot to be desired, so we did not find out a whole lot about the building's use. In fact, we found out hardly a thing! Oh well.

Lots of wandering and rewandering until finally dinner at a so-so place. Tomorrow we set out. Which route we take will depend on how Ian is feeling and what the weather is like. Tanya, Ian, and I---los tres amigos---are eager to get started.









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:St Jean Pied de Port