We’ll pick up where left off at the end of the previous article on Hondarribia: on the ferry across the Bay of Txingudi, crossing from the Spanish side of Basque Country, to the French side. Our destination today is a little town called Hendaye. Pretty much the ONLY thing I knew about Hendaye when I arrived here was that is was Basque. I had long been fascinated with Basque Country, but had only ever thought about it through a Spanish context. This, however, is an incomplete picture of the Basque culture, because it actually straddles this international border in the Bay of Biscay. Both sides deserve thorough exploration… and as far as the French side is concerned… this ain’t it. Admittedly, it’s not the deepest incursion into French Basque Country, but it will hopefully provide a feel for the area.
When you fly into Madeira—assuming you are coming from Europe, which is undoubtedly the most common flight path—you will fly over this jagged, sun-soaked rocky outcropping. Even from the window of the plane, it seems really long. It makes an impression on you immediately that Madeira is going to be a rocky, mountainous place. Which is true. I had sort of forgotten about this little land formation until I looked at the map on the morning of this hike (I wasn’t responsible for planning this portion of the trip 😂)—it turned out, we would be hiking out to the very end of it!
At the time of our visit, Farol da Ponta de São Lourenço was the 2nd most popular hike in Maderia on AllTrails, which I just found out has this cool map embed feature. So here’s the info from AllTrails: it’s categorized as an “intermediate” hike, and you can probably knock it out in a few hours. There are definitely som very steep stretches of trail, but there are also flatter portions where you can catch your breath. And there is also a little oasis in the middle of it in the form of a cafe! I have no idea how these restock that place.
Pretty much the only city in Thailand that anybody outside of the region has ever heard of is Bangkok, both famous as a tourist destination and infamous for the debauchery it plays host to. Chiang Mai also gets a good bit of press. But there was a time when the center of culture and politics was entirely different. Have you ever heard of Siam?
