Of travel and tourism...
Travelling has been on top gear for the past six weeks and I am not even halfway through with my travel plans. I haven't written for quite some time so this entry is gonna be a pretty long one.
It started with the a long weekend in the middle of August when I spent four days with a few friends of mine from office, in the south west of France, The Basque country. It was the “Bull fight festival” time there, so we could see music, dance, food and wine all around. We spent the first 2 days in the French side of the Basque country where we visited Dax, Bayonne, Biarritz and St Jean de Luz. The picture below is from one of the fabulous beaches of Biarritz.
The third day we decided to step into the Spanish side of Basque native lands, drove around 75 Km into Spain to a city called San Sebastian. To describe it in short, its absolute paradise. Ideal tourist destination with mountains, beaches, islands, market place, excellent ancient architecture and to top it all spanish gourmet food. I guess the picture below give a brief idea of what San Sebastian has to offer.
Its got beautiful surfing beaches, Islands, mountains, well maintained ancient architecture and a huge market place. Spent a day admiring the cultural diversity across the border, enjoyed a beautiful sunset near the beach with some authentic Spanish food and by night fall we were back to France.
In the last weekend of August I went to meet up with Ankita and Vineeth in Paris. I have lost count of the number of times I have visited that city already and still I have a craving to spend some more time there. This was undoubtfully the best trip I have had to Paris so far. For once I wasn’t the tourist but the tourist guide. The best part of the trip was when we spent a few hours just sitting on the benches at Champs Elysées, watching Parisian traffic and talking about college days. Saw the majestic view of Paris from the tallest skyscraper of the city from where we could capture the beauty of the eiffel tower in bright sunlight and heavy rain,
A good friend of mine from my Bangalore office, Swaroop, has come down on a similar assignment as mine to France a few weeks back. We have chalked out a travel plan for the next few months and laid the foundation of the tourism down south at the capital of the French Riviera, Nice. There isn’t enough one can do to describe Nice. Fortunately the day we arrived there was the day of the Festival of the port there, so everything around was lit up for the big Fireworks show later in the evening. On the way to a garden on a hill top I was able to get this veiw of Nice city,
Swaroop happens to be an Formula-1 freak, which meant that going to Monaco was unavoidable. We walked around the racing track there and spent sometime trying to figure out how the hell do those drivers manage to drive around that crazy circuit. In the pic below the red scooter is just about to pass the pole position at the starting grid of the race with the podium visible right behind it.
I haven’t really tried adventure sports ever before, partially because i wasn’t really confident abut how safe they are. For the first time I tried parasailing and I realized what I have been missing out on. The thrill part of it was fun but the view of Nice when one is in mid air near the beach, happens to be breathtaking.
Just when I got a bit tired of travelling around I got an invite to spend the last weekend at l’Isle d’Aix. Its a small island in the west of France, surrounded by forts and silt beaches. Its a very small island and it took me around 5 hrs to see the whole place walking around. Walking around that place was like walking in a big designed to perfection garden, with custom built creeks for swimming. I couldn’t take too many pictures there but I could get a nice pic of the sunset at the port.
There is an old cars race in Angouleme this weekend called "Circuit de Remparts" so will watch the 1970s Bugattis in action around the hilly circuit at Angouleme.
Still to plan the next destination on the list, hopefully Germany. For the first time ever, I have been on a move on a regular basis and.... its fun.
It started with the a long weekend in the middle of August when I spent four days with a few friends of mine from office, in the south west of France, The Basque country. It was the “Bull fight festival” time there, so we could see music, dance, food and wine all around. We spent the first 2 days in the French side of the Basque country where we visited Dax, Bayonne, Biarritz and St Jean de Luz. The picture below is from one of the fabulous beaches of Biarritz.
The third day we decided to step into the Spanish side of Basque native lands, drove around 75 Km into Spain to a city called San Sebastian. To describe it in short, its absolute paradise. Ideal tourist destination with mountains, beaches, islands, market place, excellent ancient architecture and to top it all spanish gourmet food. I guess the picture below give a brief idea of what San Sebastian has to offer.
Its got beautiful surfing beaches, Islands, mountains, well maintained ancient architecture and a huge market place. Spent a day admiring the cultural diversity across the border, enjoyed a beautiful sunset near the beach with some authentic Spanish food and by night fall we were back to France.
In the last weekend of August I went to meet up with Ankita and Vineeth in Paris. I have lost count of the number of times I have visited that city already and still I have a craving to spend some more time there. This was undoubtfully the best trip I have had to Paris so far. For once I wasn’t the tourist but the tourist guide. The best part of the trip was when we spent a few hours just sitting on the benches at Champs Elysées, watching Parisian traffic and talking about college days. Saw the majestic view of Paris from the tallest skyscraper of the city from where we could capture the beauty of the eiffel tower in bright sunlight and heavy rain,
A good friend of mine from my Bangalore office, Swaroop, has come down on a similar assignment as mine to France a few weeks back. We have chalked out a travel plan for the next few months and laid the foundation of the tourism down south at the capital of the French Riviera, Nice. There isn’t enough one can do to describe Nice. Fortunately the day we arrived there was the day of the Festival of the port there, so everything around was lit up for the big Fireworks show later in the evening. On the way to a garden on a hill top I was able to get this veiw of Nice city,
Swaroop happens to be an Formula-1 freak, which meant that going to Monaco was unavoidable. We walked around the racing track there and spent sometime trying to figure out how the hell do those drivers manage to drive around that crazy circuit. In the pic below the red scooter is just about to pass the pole position at the starting grid of the race with the podium visible right behind it.
I haven’t really tried adventure sports ever before, partially because i wasn’t really confident abut how safe they are. For the first time I tried parasailing and I realized what I have been missing out on. The thrill part of it was fun but the view of Nice when one is in mid air near the beach, happens to be breathtaking.
Just when I got a bit tired of travelling around I got an invite to spend the last weekend at l’Isle d’Aix. Its a small island in the west of France, surrounded by forts and silt beaches. Its a very small island and it took me around 5 hrs to see the whole place walking around. Walking around that place was like walking in a big designed to perfection garden, with custom built creeks for swimming. I couldn’t take too many pictures there but I could get a nice pic of the sunset at the port.
There is an old cars race in Angouleme this weekend called "Circuit de Remparts" so will watch the 1970s Bugattis in action around the hilly circuit at Angouleme.
Still to plan the next destination on the list, hopefully Germany. For the first time ever, I have been on a move on a regular basis and.... its fun.