Saint Jean de Luz

The very last stop on our 3-week tour was a tiny French town just over the Spanish border called Saint Jean de Luz for two days.  It almost combined the charming tiny French village you think of (like the movie Chocolat) plus the beach town vibe of San Sebastian.  They had evidently just had a festival the week before, where it was REALLY hoppin', but then the city shut down for a week or two (while we were there) to gear up for tourist season in July.  This made the town have a much sleepier feel to it than we thought, but it was still delightful all the same.  We did the Rick Steves' walking tour, wandered around, ate yummy food, watched World Cup games, ate ice cream, did some hiking, and just attempted to savor these last moments of our trip.  Here are some pics:

Dinner at Kako, a hotel recommendation for classic French food.

They were known for their Cote de Boeuf with frites, so naturally we got that.

Sunset on the water our first night there.

This pic is far away, but I became enthralled with this idyllic cliffside field thing on the far side of the beach.  It looked like something you might see in a fairy tale, with a random path leading over the hill and a tiny cottage perched up high.  So I made Drew go exploring with me.

Then we stopped for ice cream where they made our scoops into beautiful flowers.  

Everyone told us (and everything we'd read) that there were more Michelin star restaurants per capita in San Sebastian and Saint Jean de Luz than like...anywhere else in the world.  Though we didn't want to spend the money and had low expectations, we figured we'd splurge on our last night at Zoko Moko.  We consider ourselves "foodies" but not necessarily the snooty Michelin-star tasting-menu frou-frou kind - so we were skeptical about this whole damn thing.  But really...this place was worth every euro and worth every Michelin star because we love love LOVED everything we put in our mouths!

The "Amuse Bouche", which consisted of some sort of sandwich, some parmesan crisps with a creamy dip, and a frittata with chorizo.  Tiny food but it packed a punch!

This was my "warm octopus salad with green beans, green and white asparagus, mushrooms,  and bacon".

This was Drew's slow cooked "farm egg" with ham and some sort of breadcrumb Morel stew.  I didn't get it but it was damn good.

My cod with Viscayenne chiles, pink garlic, spinach, and hazelnut butter.

Drew's Boeuf du Pays Basque with a variety of veg and beef cheek-stuffed carrots.  

Dessert: Triple Chocolate Txuri Beltz 2014 (the exact title - no clue what it means), but it was basically a layer of crunchy chocolate goodness, then a layer of chocolate mousse and ice cream, then....

...they poured rich chocolate sauce all over it and melted it all together and I did everything I could NOT to lick my plate clean.  One of the best desserts I've ever had, no joke.

Then as a bonus, we got "petits fours", or really just caramel crunch and stuffed pretzel goodness in a chocolatey caramel sauce.  

Cheers to a magical trip!  And the end of an era!  And the end of our lives as we know it.

That was dramatic...but that's how I felt.  We had just experienced 3 weeks of bliss and I knew that what awaited us in Dublin was packing, goodbyes, and a one-way ticket home to Dallas that we still had mixed feelings about.  So we just soaked up our last evening, cried a little on the plane ride home (me), and braced ourselves for what lied ahead.  More on that to come.

We obviously loved our trip and will probably never have the chance to do something like that again...for a long, long time, at least.  We lived it up and made the most of it and took advantage and enjoyed our time together seeing this part of the world.  Goodbye, Second Honeymoon!  I shall miss you and think of you every day for a long long time.