Day 149: St Jean-de-Luz, France

Sunday, 4 June 2017
At Sea — Bay of Biscay

Stats @ Ship’s Time 9:45p (CEST) … UTC 7:45p (4 June)
Temp: 61.7F (16.5C)
Position: 44.03.31N / 1.38.52W

Travel has a way of stretching the mind.  The stretch comes not from travel’s immediate
rewards, the inevitable myriad new sights, smells and sounds, but with experiencing
firsthand how others do differently what we believed to be the right and only way.
~ Ralph Crenshaw ~

An overcast morning at sea … that’s how our day started.  I woke at 7:00a, but went right back under the covers.  It wasn’t until shortly before 8:00a that I emerged to join Mui for breakfast at the Terrace Café.  Afterwards, we dallied as we got ready for the day ahead, hoping against hope that the weather would clear by the time we arrived at today’s port of call.

At 10:00a, we had the mid-segment muster drill … including going out to the boat stations.   This drill was #14 by my count.  We still have 18 days left on this portion of the cruise, so there is a good likelihood that we will have another drill before we get to the end of the segment in Montreal.

Shortly after 11:00a, St Jean-de-Luz — our first port in France — appeared on the horizon.  This French resort town, which is located on the Bay of Biscay, wasn’t going to give us a warm greeting today … certainly not a day to relax on the beach.  The forecast was for periodic rain showers.  Indeed, we were welcomed by a sprinkle of rain.  Alas, the gloomy conditions did nothing for the photos I walked away with at the end of the day … apologies in advance.

Despite the weather, locals walk onto the seawall to welcome us.

The weather being so soggy, we decided to have lunch at the Terrace Café first instead of hurrying off the ship for our afternoon call on St Jean-de-Luz.  Even then, with the ship’s tours not due to meet until 1:00p, we had no problems getting tickets for the third tender going ashore.  Despite the drizzle, the streets were crowded.  I wasn’t expecting so many people … beach season has not yet arrived after all.  Turns out there was a Basque festival being held further down the waterfront and the crowds were here to check it out.

We’ll be on the next tender going ashore.

Joined in town by Sonia and Boris, we walked to the Church of St John the Baptist, one of the few public landmarks open on this Sunday afternoon.  Thought to have been constructed on the site of an older church, the present one is dedicated to the town’s patron saint.  Built mostly during the 17th century, the oldest portions of the building date back to the 14th and 15th centuries.  In fact, the church was not yet complete when Louis XIV married the Spanish Infanta María-Teresa here in 1660.  Despite the gloomy interior — due to the lights being off for most of our time there — the magnificence of the gilt altar was quite apparent.  But the highlight for me — as always — was the exquisite stained glass windows.

After visiting the church, we meandered along the narrow side streets.  Getting our bearings, we followed the suggested walking route to the waterfront.  The beach was deserted … the only action was the breakers rolling ashore.  We walked along the promenade to La Pergola, a building that was designed to look like a cruise liner when it was built in 1928.  At the time, it housed a hotel and a casino.  Additions and changes over the years have caused the ship’s silhouette to disappear.  Once a favored spot of jet-setters, today the covered arcade is filled with restaurants and shops that still attract visitors.

On a warm summer day, I bet the beach is bustling … not so much on a cool summer day.

At this point, it was still raining.  Though our walking mates were ready to return to Insignia, we decided to press on and follow the rest of the promenade through the rather quiet festival area to the green-clad peninsula at the end.  The walk gave us a chance to stretch our legs and enjoy the expansive views of the town and cliffs from a higher vantage point.

The cliffs of Socoa and Sainte Barbe were once the primary defense the town had against the rough surf of the sea.  But these cliffs were so eroded by the sea, rain, and winds that by the mid 19th century, St Jean-de-Luz was in danger of total destruction.  The coast was receding — by 3-10 feet (1-3 m) per year — and a quarter of the town had already been swept away by the sea.  In 1854, Napoleon III ordered the construction of new sea defenses — three sea walls.  It was another 10 years, however, before construction of the first of the walls began.  We saw the walls in action today.  The waves breaking over them looked ferocious from where we stood on the peninsula … can’t imagine what they must have been like down on the walls.  No wonder the town adds some 50 of the 50-ton concrete blocks to the walls every year to continue to strengthen them so that they don’t fail.

No bandwidth for the video of the wave action … the best I can do is share a still image.

If you have the bandwidth for the wave action … click the video to start it.

Retracing our steps, we made our way back to the tender pier.  The ship was not due to sail until 7:00p.  But we were ready to leave the lackluster rainy day behind and go back to Insignia.  Having logged 13,866 steps, we were back on the ship by 4:00p.

On a blue-sky day, I bet this town has a lot of charm … not so much on a damp, overcast day like the one we had today.  Keeping fingers crossed for better conditions tomorrow.

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