August 31st 2017 - Ustaritz

Wed. 31st we left at about 10.30am for Ustaritz. It was a beautiful day and the drive was uneventful except for some mad driving from the French! We arrived in Ustaritz at the exact location - Place de la Mairie. I had put in the postal code so was confident that we were in the right place. (I had chosen this hotel because it was in a town which had several restaurants to which we could walk meaning that Jim would not have to drive and could have a glass of wine.) There was no sign of Auberge Aldabarua and we wandered about in search. Finally we decided to go into the Tourist Information Office in the Place de la Mairie. The woman there said she had never heard of a hotel called Auberge Aldabarua and that she and her colleague - a municipal policewoman called Corinne - were from Ustaritz. Finally she offered to locate a chambres d’hotes for us. The first was just up the hill from there and had a restaurant but it was fully booked. She ended up getting us one 4km from town in the country. That would mean Jim would have to drive when going for dinner so no wine for him! Corinne gave us a police escort to our B&B where we met our hostess Natalia, a woman in her early 50s I’d say. She was so friendly and she offered us something to drink which we declined. She told me the rate was 53euro including breakfast! Then I got on to Hotels.com - a lengthy call but finally he told me I would get a 30 euro voucher as compensation. I got a 25 euro voucher!

We went into town to have a look about. We parked again in the Place de la Mairie and went in to thank the woman there. Then we had a look at the castle and watched 2 men playing pelote. There are 2 pelote courts in Ustaritz.

Ustaritz is in the Basque region of France and this is a typical house in that area.

While these men were using a wooden bat, seemingly lots of people play it using a mitt on their hands.

While we were walking about we came across a church - Chapelle Sainte Catherine I think.

I liked the Stations of the Cross.

Signs were in both French and Basque.

We stopped at a bar for a beer but the restaurants still not open and wouldn't be till 7.30pm. We decided we would go back to the B&B and see if we could get get a taxi so that Jim would not have to drive. We aAsked Natalia about the possibility of getting a taxi and she offered to bring us in to town and to collect us. Wonderful! We tidied up and went into the garden to read and she came out and offered us a beer and a wine. Then at 7.30 she brought us in to La Petit Auberge where she said the food was simple but good. There was another more gastronomic restaurant but we were really happy with what we got. I had croustillant de camembert with salad as a starter and Jim had shrimps in garlic butter and chilli. We both had emince de veau a l’espelette. (Espelette is a type of red chili pepper that gets its name from the town of Espelette nearby.) Delicious!  For dessert I had Mamia - a goats yogurt with local honey which is a Basque dessert- really good. Jim had a chocolate fondant. When we were ready we phoned Natalia and within 10 minutes she was there. We had to collect her foster son and then it was home to bed as we were getting up early to be in Zaragoza for 12.30.