France Trip: Narbonne

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

There is absolutely no reason for tourists to visit the small town of Narbonne. Unless, of course, you're following a personal rule of not transferring at train stations. So I spent one night in this delightful little town, absolutely and utterly charmed by how pleasant it is. There's a lovely canal to walk around. Little shops tucked into small roads around le Place de l'Hôtel de Ville.

Dinner was duck confit pizza from Restaurant L'Ave, with a view of the Roman Road (la Via Domitia). Not much else was open, 'think I must've arrived on a Sunday (an hebdomodaire-ly issue for us travelers). Breakfast before heading back to the train station was an over-the-top strawberry pâte à choux from Monsieur Pâte à Choux.

There was a free shuttle that dropped me off near my AirBnB and the train station. Once I found the stop near the train station (took a bit of effort), it was smooth sailing! However, my AirBnB in Narbonne had the smallest spiral staircase of my entire trip...and then the host had given me the wrong code for the door. Nothing says fun like sitting at the top of an un-air-conditioned "European death stairs" siphoning wifi from underneath the door of your AirBnB while waiting for a response from your host! But all travel is expected to have moments like these. After 15 minutes, it was resolved and everything was great.

France Trip: Carcassone

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Carcassonne was delightful. Surprisingly delightful. Europeans are not the greatest fans as it was basically reconstructed by an architect in the 1800s, and it's not 100% historically accurate, but the restorations have resulted in an absolutely enjoyable, beautiful little tourist trap.

I walked around the ramparts for hours. And then greatly enjoyed wandering the tangle of little historic streets lined with shops and restaurants. Had some regionally-appropriate cassoulé for lunch, ended up at a café in a dusty courtyard for Aperol Spritzes. Just a wonderful way to spend the day.

The only place where you see reference to The Carcassonne Board Game is in the Tourist Fffice, where you can purchase various versions of the game...as well as some over-sized wooden meeples pieces.

I took a full-day bus tour from Toulouse, and rather than return on the tour back to the Pink City...I hitched a ride on Le Petit Train Touristique Carcassonne back to the SNCF train station to head to my next stop!

France Trip: Toulouse

Friday, May 8, 2026

Not gonna lie, by the time I got to Toulouse, I was a bit dead. My feet had blisters that wouldn't heal, there were chafing issues, and I'd basically been in a perpetual heat wave since I left Sancerre. The heat only got worse for my 2-night stop in Toulouse. So I spent my 1 full day there doing a little walking, but mostly sitting on Le Petit Train Touristique Toulouse and doing both routes, to avoid having to hike about too much in the heat.

Toulouse is known as the 'Pink City' / 'Ville Rose', and you can see why - all those buildings, all pink!

France Trip: Bayonne

Thursday, May 7, 2026

A day trip by bus (from Biarritz) to see the historic Basque city of Bayonne! Such lovely architecture! So very different from Biarritz!

Did quite a bit of walking around, admiring the town, but eventually made it to the Musée Basque et l'Histoire du Bayonne, which was very interesting. Bordeaux was part of ancient Aquitaine, Bayonne part of Basque country, which really gives the two regions very different cultures and feels.

France Trip: Biarritz

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

After 5 nights in Bordeaux, off to Biarritz for 2! A Swiss man on my Bordeaux-region winery tour was very disappointed that I chose modern, glitzy Biarritz over Bayonne for my next France Trip stop. However, I needed beach. And, I mean, Biarritz has the Hôtel du Palais which was built for Empress Eugénie around 1855. So, that's historic! At least for an American. Plus, I did a day trip to Bayonne, so I got my dose of history!

My AirBnB was quite close to la Plage de la Côte des Basques, where all the surfers practice and compete. Biarritz is, after all, the surfing capital of France. So I spent a good chunk of time climbing up and down the cliff side to watch the surfers and do a bit of swimming myself.

Also visited la Grande Plage by l'Hôtel du Palais for some beach time as well.

And then there was, of course, the food. Chocolate ice cream in France is a completely different thing than in the 'States. They probably use dark chocolate...and the ice cream tastes like frozen chocolate. Delicious.

France Trip: Bordeaux Cité du Vin

Sunday, May 3, 2026

What a museum the Cité du Vin is! It's Bordeaux's wine museum, and it's hyper modern. Really, really wonderful immersive exhibits. This should be the gold standard for natural/historical museums.

There was a lot of audio-visual involved, but it worked really, really well. And, of course, each visit comes with a glass of wine at the end!

I also did some sort of immersive wine tasting after my visit. They have rooms with 360-degree projection screens to transport you to the places where the wines you're tasting come from. Very lovely. Maybe not as lovely as going to the wineries themselves, but an interesting experience nonetheless.