September 6 was a sunny and hot morning, with the temperature at about 90 degrees. After standing at the back of a long line of people who were waiting for a cab for quite awhile with no cabs in sight, we decided that Plan B was in order. We walked across the airport to the bus stop. We had been told that we could  pay the fare directly to the driver, but an American from Iowa approached us, saying that he had  just learned that that we (he included) needed to get tickets from a nearby  machine.

How would we find our hotel from the bus stop? Nick and I had  different methods. I approached several passersby and asked “Où est l’hotel Les Basses Pyrenees?” The locals I asked had never heard of  either the hotel or the street on which it was located. Nick checked his phone, and it gave us directions. We walked 3/10 mile, and were not surprised that no one  with whom I spoke had ever  heard of the hotel. It was the only building on a small street that was off another small street.

It was too late to get a cooked  lunch at the hotel restaurant, but they were pleased to provide us with a cold gravlax  and avocado salad.

After a nap, we had our first exploration of Bayonne.

We walked along both sides of the river, passing many cafes that served  what we know as tapas but in Basque Country, they are called pintxos, pronounced peen-chos. We were aware that a typical evening for locals would be ordering a pintxo and a glass of wine at one cafe, and then doing the same at another.  We  decided to sit down at a cafe and  enjoy pintos al fresco. We ordered Basque paté and Basque jambon. Cured ham is very popular in France and  Spain, and in Italy, too, where it’s called  prosciutto. After consuming  our pintxos, we couldn’t even think of ordering more food.

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