Today's plans were to go to the highest dunes in Europe, dune du Pilat. We get there by taking a 45 minute train ride to Arcachon and from there get a local bus to the dunes which takes about 25 minutes. In the summer they have an express bus to the dunes, but right now we do the full town tour picking up a few locals along the way going about their business.
Arrive at the dunes and it is so much better than I had even imagined. Wow, so impressive. It is huge, there are stairs that are put out starting in April for the summer, I am so glad they are there now or I am not sure if I would have made it to the top. 160 stairs to climb, then you finish the rest on your own. The dunes are 3km long and 110m in height. They get more then 2 million visitors every year, we can sure see why. Lots of families out today, it is a beautiful day and a Saturday. The kids are having a fantastic time rolling around in the sand, sliding down some of the slopes on their bums. It was a great couple of hours that we spent here. We had a bit of a wait for the bus while they were on lunch break so were able to watch a movie on the dunes as well. They expand from 1-5 metres every year depending on the section of the dune you are looking at, simply amazing.
Next off we took the bus back to Arcachon which is a very nice beach city within a very large bay. We unfortunately missed tourist information as they were on lunch break so we were on our own to explore. A very nice pedestrian street leads to the water and wharfs to visit. A stop for ice cream and then walked along the boardwalk to the marina, lots and lots of people out walking. We saw a couple of people in the water, I was still in jacket on jacket off mode, I can't imagine how cold the water was, we are on the Atlantic Ocean here.
One thing I had read about are the Oyster Shacks. Andre was able to find one on the GPS so we walked along the boardwalk for about 2KM more along and there were quite a few oyster shacks, but only 1 was serving, all the others looked closed. It was a beautiful spot, but like so many Instagram pictures the picture I saw was misleading, there are lots of big apartments behind them, but you can angle the camera so you don't see any of them. We shared a plate of 12 oysters and 1/2 bottle of delicious local white wine while enjoying the amazing scenery. Saw a flock of sandpipers go by, and in the distance we could see about a dozen kite surfers.
Walked extremely fast back to the train station and made the train with 5 minutes to spare. We walked through town as the most direct route and were surprised at the architecture, it looked quite German. It was 2 developers that mixed different architectures styles to entice people to buy homes. They called it a winter town in the mid 1800 to encourage people to come and get fresh air in the winter to avoid being sick as penicillin was not yet invented.
Back home after another fantastic outing day. Tomorrow we are staying around Bordeaux, we have one area we have not visited yet that is on our list, so that is on the agenda. Them we are off to our last city for 6 nights before we head home. Wow, 3 months has gone by quickly!
Steps today 20,000 or 13 KM
At Bordeaux St-Jean station
Ville l’hiver’ to the south of the main beach, is known for its extravagant 19th century villas, a wonderful mix of styles including Swiss chalet, Moorish, Neo-classical, and neo-Gothic, all set in manicured gardens on wide pine-shaded streets.
In the absence of penicillin and other medical marvels, fresh air was believed to be a cure for many illnesses, but mostly tuberculosis. Usually referred to as ‘consumption’ in the 19th century, this wasting disease had no cure until French bacteriologists created a vaccine in 1921. Before this, the sick were sent to various sanitoriums; or if they were wealthy, to Switzerland.
And so, an opportunity was created – bring Switzerland to the southwest coast of France, and the sick would follow. A large area of land at the highest point of Arcachon was chosen, and in the 1860s a housing estate like no other was born.
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