Recent Pyrenees Trip

[zakthor]

I was asked about it in another thread so starting new thread to answer.

Spouse and I visited pyrenees this year from late april to early may. A week in besalu in spain, then 2 weeks in a van on the french side.

Van was 22ft renault jumper built out by possl. Jumper is same as ram promaster.

Van had solar, inverter and a big enough battery to run my apnea machine all night. Very cool cartridge toilet, hot water with shower head that could be used outside. Fridge, stove, big table. I'm 6' and slept comfortably because bed was lengthwise. Van held bikes inside.

Trip was 'really great'. We followed the through roads as close to the spanish border as we could, visited a ton of passes. We slept free for every night except the last night when we needed to be near a city to facilitate an early drop off on last day. The rv parks were really sad, bunch of people with great vans that just sit packed together in their lawn chairs.

Advice about the trip:
- the produce in france is insanely good. every grocery we visited had produce as good as we'd ever seen, and a great selection of local cheese.
- the farmers markets were like grocery stores but with much bigger and better selection of produce and cheese.
- because the produce was so good we cooked every meal while we were in the van.
- we intended to drive from med to atlantic and back but... we followed our noses and did what we wanted and went much much slower. 2 weeks we were sort of rushing westward and only made it to col du tourmalet (about half way.) We were slow and should have gone slower.
- camped at passes many times for the silence, great air, views and solitude.
- favorite pass was 'horquette d'ancizan'
- favorite town was bagneres de bigorre, or maybe bossost (in val d'aran, spain but on north side of pyrenees). Occitane people are really terrific.
- visit every farmers market
- ask the butcher ladies in the grocery for wine advice - they know their wine
- bread is awful in spain. don't buy bread in spain. wine: yes, cheese: yes, bread: no!!
- beware the secret code word 'artisnal'. If you see this word it means 'tourist crap'. Everything in france is artisnal, so if the sign says 'artisnal' then its a scam and product is bad. cheese, bread, meat, wine.
- biologique: barnyard - means they put manure in it.
- language: I am the ugly american and speak no french. almost noone cared because we had important stuff to discuss (wine, best trails, hot cheese tips.)

Best food we had:

Lunch at restaurant 'Pont Vell' in Besalu, Spain. Call ahead and reserve. Ask the waiter what to order. He's super opinionated and... correct. Great wine there too. There's a 'vermutheria' in besalu thats run by a south american that is pretty great too.

We're already talking about going back and starting from san sebastian and going east. We brought mountain bikes but the hiking trails are much too steep. Better to bring road bikes and enjoy climbing the lovely passes.

In besalu we stayed a week at an airbnb run by an american. 'Mas Costa Besalu'. Surrounded by catalonian maquis and barley fields. Very very relaxed and away from everything, tons of hiking all around.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by zakthor

I
Advice about the trip:
- the produce in france is insanely good. every grocery we visited had produce as good as we'd ever seen, and a great selection of local cheese.
- the farmers markets were like grocery stores but with much bigger and better selection of produce and cheese.
- because the produce was so good we cooked every meal while we were in the van.
- we intended to drive from med to atlantic and back but... we followed our noses and did what we wanted and went much much slower. 2 weeks we were sort of rushing westward and only made it to col du tourmalet (about half way.) We were slow and should have gone slower.
- camped at passes many times for the silence, great air, views and solitude.
- favorite pass was 'horquette d'ancizan'
- favorite town was bagneres de bigorre, or maybe bossost (in val d'aran, spain but on north side of pyrenees). Occitane people are really terrific.
- visit every farmers market
- ask the butcher ladies in the grocery for wine advice - they know their wine
- bread is awful in spain. don't buy bread in spain. wine: yes, cheese: yes, bread: no!!
- beware the secret code word 'artisnal'. If you see this word it means 'tourist crap'. Everything in france is artisnal, so if the sign says 'artisnal' then its a scam and product is bad. cheese, bread, meat, wine.
- biologique: barnyard - means they put manure in it.
- language: I am the ugly american and speak no french. almost noone cared because we had important stuff to discuss (wine, best trails, hot cheese tips.)

Best food we had:

Lunch at restaurant 'Pont Vell' in Besalu, Spain. Call ahead and reserve. Ask the waiter what to order. He's super opinionated and... correct. Great wine there too. There's a 'vermutheria' in besalu thats run by a south american that is pretty great too.

We're already talking about going back and starting from san sebastian and going east. We brought mountain bikes but the hiking trails are much too steep. Better to bring road bikes and enjoy climbing the lovely passes.

In besalu we stayed a week at an airbnb run by an american. 'Mas Costa Besalu'. Surrounded by catalonian maquis and barley fields. Very very relaxed and away from everything, tons of hiking all around.

Sounds fantastic! A few things.
1 - Wow, Bonne Maman! I'd feel so weird eating that there, since I eat it here, but it's tasty.
2 - Need more pics
3 - Need more anecdotes about places, people, food, etc..
4 - "don't buy bread in spain." Maybe that's a location thing. I spent 2 summers in Spain down near Jerez, and I had some really great bread there.

[zakthor]

Originally Posted by masraum

Sounds fantastic! A few things.
1 - Wow, Bonne Maman! I'd feel so weird eating that there, since I eat it here, but it's tasty.
2 - Need more pics
3 - Need more anecdotes about places, people, food, etc..
4 - "don't buy bread in spain." Maybe that's a location thing. I spent 2 summers in Spain down near Jerez, and I had some really great bread there.

Yeah. I was surprised too. I had suspected it was made in new jersey but its everywhere in france.

But that doesn't matter because there's also this magic stuff that obsoletes butter:



Did you hear that?? Butter is officially obsolete. 2 day old chevre pucks for $3 each.

More pix. Ok, here's scallops at pont vell:


Apple pie with cinnamon ice cream at pont vell:


Anecdotes: nope. You just gotta go. Best analogy, its like if the best part of the cascades went on for 500km and there was a gorgeous town every 5 km that had a great grocery and a farmer's market.

Bread: So... I've been all over spain and with very few exceptions it sucks on the universal bread quality scale. The guy that ran the airbnb was an accomplished baker in the states. He setup an oven and started cranked out legendary loaves and... the spanish thought it was inedible broken product. He gifted us a loaf and it was a crusty glutenous marvel but impossible to even give to spaniards. I can't explain it. France is 5 miles away and you can get good baguette/pain de campagne in any grocery for < 2 euros. The spanish stuff is bone hard in 2 hours - cut your gums biting into it. We ended up buying wassa crackers in spain because the bread was just inedible.



That Bethmale vache for $28/kg! The most wonderful cheese you've ever had and its $13/lb. Vache au piment had hot peppers innit. That was real great too. That cheese will light your world on fire.

[masraum]

The cheese is what would get me. I LOVE cheese. I would have cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

[MMARSH]

Thats great. Super pictures. Thanks for posting, Looking forward to going there.

[LWJ]

I am vibrating with desire. Awesome. What a great trip. Thanks!