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Biarritz's shoreline is stunning. A beach town that was a favourite of Napoleon III (his palace was turned into the Palace Hotel), now hosts tourists, families and surfing enthusiasts. The waves are *huge*! It was almost exactly 9 years ago that I was last here and one of my favourite memories is rolling up my pants and running into the crashing waves.
There is a great seawall path from the Virgin Mary at the top of a huge rock to the lighthouse. At one point, it leads closer to the ocean, causing the huge waves to crash into the rock wall and splash on pedestrians. I must say it's a little scary. I just ran through that part of the path yelling "run!" lol. So much fun.
This time I walked all the way to the lighthouse and climbed it's 243 stairs to the top. I had been wanting to do that. The view was fantastic from the top! Biarritz is all about the view.
Whoever said it was supposed to rain while I was in Biarritz was crazy! It was beautiful. For May, there were quite a few people on the beach and in the ocean. I wasn't going to, but on the 2nd (colder) day, I decided to swim in the Atlantic ocean. I thought it would be colder! It was awesome. I decided to stick to the smaller beach by my hotel room, so unfortunately there was no crashing into waves.
Biarritz has great shopping. People and visiting tourists are big into brand names and pretty clothes & jewelry. I bought a few touristy things, including some small paintings of that view I was talking about, but that's all. I want to keep my purchases (and weight of backpack) to a minimum.
I also visited the museum of the ocean (musee de la mer) which had some cool whale & dolphin skeletons, as well as an aquarium with small sharks, big crabs and seals. Two of the seals were playing, wrestling and chasing each other. So cute.
I had a nice relaxing time in Biarritz. I took tons of pictures too (what's new). Onto Madrid! It should be interesting! I'm not quite sure what to expect.
-Ranelle
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