Bordeaux intends do it. Already on the map—and now increasingly so for Americans thanks to its cheery cycling PR—the city is now planning its own beacon of a museum, the Cité des Civilisations du Vin, dedicated presenting the pairing of wine with culture and with civilization, on the drawing board for 2016.

Between the two there’s Biarritz, a thick dot on the map ever since Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugenia began vacationing here in the 1854 (see this Biarritz Hotels article for more history). But for long-distance travelers the Biarritz brand is no longer as evocative as Bilbao or Bordeaux

In the early 1990s, I remember, Biarritz was all the rage for European-minded Americans who’d heard of the luxurious Hotel du Palais, the renovated aquarium, the particularity of Basque culture and an airport that only the best travel agents knew about. As a playground for surfing, golf and runs on the beach and as a destination for seawater therapy, Biarritz didn’t need a major museum to call attention to itself.

Well aware of the intense competition for the short attention span of those long-distance traveler (the one who counts if you want to fill your tax coffers and create a few jobs) and the absence of high-tech or research companies (the ones who count if you want the national government to take notice), the powers that be—first among them Didier Borotra, mayor since 1991—thought it was high time to rebuild the Biarritz brand. And so about a decade ago they began toying with the idea of declaring Biarritz a resort town—and why not a business-friendly town, too—with a special relationship with the ocean: think Biarritz, think ocean; think ocean think Biarritz: Biarritz Ocean, for short.

The project came to fruition with the restoration and expansion of the town’s aquarium, le Musée de la Mer (the Sea Museum), and the creation of a new museum la Cité de l’Océan (Ocean City), both inaugurated in 2011.

Musée de la Mer, the Aquarium

Biarritz now has one of France’s largest aquariums. American visitors may have seen larger, more kid-friendly aquariums, complete with live dolphin shows and high-sensation films.  Despite the feeding of the seals and of the sharks, there’s less showmanship here. Nevertheless, the Sea Museum does indeed echo the town’s relationship with the Atlantic Ocean.

Facing the sea in a stylish Art Deco building of 1933 that was renovated and expanded in 2011 as part of the Biarritz Ocean project, the museum-aquarium follows the Gulf Stream in its presentation of a Caribbean lagoon, sharks, seals, rays and barracudas, while also presenting examples of life in the Indo-Pacific region.

East Coast Americans like to claim the Gulf Stream as their own, as it follows the hurricane track from the Caribbean to Maine, with a Canadian afterthought while passing by Newfoundland, after which it disappears from our maps and minds. Yet its current and climatic influence continue on the other side of the ocean where the North Atlantic’s wide river branches north toward Ireland and Scandinavia and south toward Africa.

As a grown-up destination Biarritz and the surrounding Basque Country has much to offer in terms of culture, food, sports and romance, and a fascinating cross-cultural trip could include Spanish Basque Country (Bilbao et al.). Yet the town and its surrounding also offer a nice backdrop for family fun, and the aquarium is a part of that.

Cité de l’Ocean

Another part of that is the Cité de l’Océan, the major project of Biarritz’s reinforced relationship with the ocean.

The building, designed by the American architect Steven Holl in collaboration with the Brazilan Solange Fabiao, takes the form of a simple wave unfurling toward the beach, with life visible under the swell, i.e. underground. It’s an easy metaphor though not exciting architecture.

Unfortunately, the wave building sinks unobtrusively in the landscape 500 yards from the beach and a long mile from the center of town, so it takes some effort getting to and from. An argument can be made for taking a healthy walk along the beach to get there, but it’s an argument that few will buy into, opting instead for one’s rental car, a taxi or the regular bus service from the aquarium. As a vote for the bus route, combining the aquarium with the Cité de l’Océan is the most direct way to get into the spirit of Biarritz Ocean.

Through interactive exhibits in French, Spanish and English, 3D films and daily activities, the Cité de l’Océan informs about various aspects of the oceans and our relationship with it: origins, tides, waves, myths and legends associated with the ocean, the evolution of life-forms (with the whale as the prime example) and the weather (visitors “ride” a boat through a storm).

Early on in the town’s reflections on a new museum a decade ago there were voices in favor of devoting it to surfing, then to incorporating surfing as a secondary aspect. But by the time it opened surfing appeared as minor afterthought, with only a small portion devoted to the sport, which is something of a shame given Biarritz’s history with surfing, not to mention my own surfing lesson (as told here).

The museum largely targets a family audience with children 7 to 13 years old, though older children and adults have much to learn here. It’s a natural complement to a visit to the aquarium, which can appeal to all ages. At the Cité de l’Océan I found myself interested though not impressed, entertained by not enthralled. A more sensational interactivity would help, but it is indeed informative if you pay attention. They have managed to keep the museum from being “chiantifique,” loosely meaning boring science, but haven’t quite made a thrilling museum either inside or out. Nevertheless, presenting the high stakes of climate change, biodiversity, over-fishing, the effect of a heavily populated coastline, the need to creating drinking water by desalinization and the acidification of the ocean was never going to be as sexy as a photogenic piece of contemporary art à la Bilbao or a museum explaining how Europe owes its existence to wine à la Bordeaux.

The museum is far from being an international calling card. Though most of its eggs are currently in the tourism basket, Biarritz (population 30,000 and home to 10,000 secondary residences) still aspires to attract research and production companies involved with the ocean. This has yet to materialize. Whether Biarritz can indeed develop its brand association with the ocean remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, Biarritz’s attempts to getting mileage from its historical relationship with the ocean are not far-fetched; though less evocative than Bordeaux’s relationship with wine, it has more historical basis than Bilbao did with contemporary art two decades ago. There’s still room for the project to develop.

Meanwhile, the Cité de l’Océan does have a nice enough restaurant, Le Sin, in its favor.

For the international traveler, these museums remain are secondary to the overall attraction of Biarritz. The town’s major assets are its exceptional site and all it has to offer in terms of sports, spas, a daily food market and the weather. You don’t need museums to enjoy that, but it’s nice to know they’re there in case you’ve brought along the kids or in case it rains.

© 2013, Gary Lee Kraut

Biarritz Océan is the umbrella title for the Musée de la Mer Aquarium and the Cité de l’Océan. The museums are open daily except Mondays  November to March (open Mondays of French school vacations during those months). Closed the three middle weeks of January. Joint tickets are available for the two museums. The Cité de l’Océan is free for children under 6; the aquarium is free for children under 4.

For more on Biarritz on France Revisited read: Biarritz: The Surfing Lesson and Biarritz Hotels.

Official site of the Biarritz Tourist Office: http://tourisme.biarritz.fr/en

Getting to Biarritz: There are direct flights to Biarritz from Paris and other French cities as well as from various northern European capitals (London, Dublin, Copenhagen, Brussels, Rotterdam, Stockholm). By train, Biarritz is 5:20 from Paris and 2:00 from Bordeaux.

The post Biarritz Ocean: The Brand Between Bilbao and Bordeaux appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

* * *

Joël de Ronay pushes me from behind by the pool at the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz.

“You’re goofy-footed,” he says when I fall forward on my right foot.

“Is that good or bad for my future as a surfer?” I ask.

“That depends on you. You’ll see tomorrow,” he says.

But I suspect that time is not on my side, not just because I’m over 50 but because I’ve only signed up for a 90-minute surfing lesson the following morning.

Mr. de Rosnay, on the other hand, has been surfing since before I was born. He is a celebrity in surfing circles, one of the pioneers of the sport in France—indeed in Europe. He first took board to wave in the summer of ’57 when surfing first took off on the shores of the continent, starting right here at Biarritz. Now in his 70s, Mr. de Rosnay still looks as though he could as confidently ride the waves as he can address an audience about the relationship between man and the ocean and between technology and the environment. We’d been discussing those relationships (the real reason for my visit to Biarritz) before I mentioned tomorrow’s surfing class (the reason for this text).

A brief history of surfing on the Basque coast

Surfing was well on its way to becoming a pop culture phenomenon in California when, in 1956, a couple of Californians recognized the potential of the waves along the Basque coast while here to make the film adaptation of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, which was being partially shot along the beaches of Biarritz. Peter Viertel, the screenwriter, and Darryl Zanuck, the film’s director, could largely only admire the waves from the beach since there were no suitable surfboards to be had. Returning in 1957, Viertel brought over his own boards, one of which he lent to Joel de Rosnay, a young man from Paris then on vacation in Biarritz. They were soon joined by others and news began to spread that a new sensational sport had arrived.

The first French championship took place here in September 1960, with Mr. de Rosnay crowned as champion. The following year the first European championship was held on these bikini-clad shores. Mr. de Rosnay placed fourth, but more significantly, that event affirmed Biarritz’s place as the European capital of surfing and, when wind of the championships reached California, put the town on the map for American surfers seeking thrills in Europe.

Biarritz had had a British connection ever since British aristocracy learned in 1854 that Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugenia were building a palace (eventually transformed into the Hotel du Palais) overlooking the beach. Now, a century later, it had an American connection beyond the Hollywood set. (Just as it took over 40 years from the creation of the imperial palace before Queen Victoria visited in 1899, it took over 40 years from the initiation of surfing in Biarritz for the Beach Boys—well, at least Mike Love an Bruce Johnston—to play here in 2001.)

In 1963, an international championship, won by Australia’s Peter Troy, was held a few miles north of Biarritz at the mouth of the Adour River.

By the end of the decade, T-shirts, Bermuda shorts, Frisbees, skateboards and shortboards had arrived along with Flower Power and Volkswagen buses. Within another decade the business of surfing had taken firm hold in Biarritz and the sport was claiming waves all along France’s Basque coast and north along the coast of the Landes (Hossegor, Lacanau). Meanwhile, kamikaze surfers began to gather round the campfire to tell stories of monster waves at Le Furoncle, just north of Biarritz, at Vanthrax, near the Spanish border, and about rare 30-foot swells 1½ mile from the coast at Belharra, just south of Biarritz.

Surf school

For my part, I head out the following day to confront the waves at the Plage de la Côte des Basques, where it all began.

Waves, however, may not be the word for what I confront this exceeding calm morning: 12-inch swells tumbling over to form a line of foam not even high enough to knock over a 3-year-old. In fact, the 3-year-olds are already surfing.

The baby of our group of five newbies is in her late 30s. You’re never too old to learn, I suppose, but you can be too claustrophobic to zip up a wet suit. I’m nearly prepared to call the whole thing off, but a couple passing by on the beach just then gives me the up-and-down with a smile that makes me think maybe that I look ménage-à-trois sexy in the tight suit.

I then reread their up-and-down and realized that it goes from the words on my chest (Biarritz Surf Training) to the height of my surfboard, longboard that looms over my head, and that their smile is at best one of pity. Anyway, I forget the strangling wetsuit and carry my board to join the others on the sand.

The Bay of Biscay as it washes against portions of the coasts of France and Spain can be too moody in some parts to be associated with smooth sailing, backstroking and first-time surfing. But Biarritz’s coastline is known for the consistency of its surf, making it a fine place for beginner and intermediate surfers, especially from May to early October when the water temperature is sufficiently warm. There are often also plenty of more unruly waves for experienced surfers both at Biarritz and north and south along the Basque coast.

The town’s historic focal point, however, is less the beach than the rocky outcrop at the center of the town’s coastline, where the striking Art Deco aquarium and the old port are. The outcrop is surrounded by tremendous boulders, possibly hurled by the gods to instill fear in the hearts of inhabitants tempted to search for Atlantis, which is somewhere out there.

In 1864, on one of the rocks resembling an overturned boat, locals sought to assuage that fear by planting a statue of the goddess Mary. An iron foot bridge, built by Gustave Eiffel’s company to replace an earlier wooden bridge, leads out to the Rock of the Virgin and no promenade in Biarritz is complete without crossing it.

That rocky outcrop separates the two central stretches of beaches: la Plage de la Côte des Basques to the south and la Grande Plage and la Plage Miramar to the north. The Hotel du Palais overlooks the central portion of the northern stretch, between la Grande Plage and la Plage Miramar.

My surfing lesson on the Plage de la Côte des Basques is with Philippe Beudin, director of Biarritz Surf Training, one of nine surfing schools in Biarritz.

It’s a beautiful morning, already 80 degrees and on its way to being a springtime scorcher.

“A perfect day for a first lesson,” Mr. Beudin announces to the five of us in the class.

We are all excited. The class looks longing toward the water but Mr. Beudin keeps us on the sand, where we practice standing up on boards, trying to memorize steps that undoubtedly come naturally to kids.

Born in 1962 and a native of Biarritz, a Biarrot, Mr. Beudin grew up at a time when surfing was finding firm footing as a sport of freedom on this coast. But he didn’t seriously take up the sport until his late teens, meaning in the early 1980s, the period in which surfing grabbed hold as a mass market sport in these parts. He has since traveled far and wide with his board, naturally including Hawaii, before returning home to create his surfing school.

We eventually take our longboards into the water until we are about waist deep, where the waves don’t break so much as push a pile of foam toward the shore. Mr. Beudin’s instructions are clear, patient and encouraging, yet none of us manages to stand up on our boards. I try not to feel past my prime when a six-year-old glides by and waves. But little by little we all make progress. My hour in the water goes something like this:

Foot forward, fall… foot forward, fall… foot forward, fall… push up, fall… foot forward, fall… push up, fall… push up, fall… half-stand, fall… foot forward, fall… push up, fall… half-stand, fall, drink seawater… half-stand, fall… stand, fall… stand, fall… half-stand, fall… stand one second, fall… stand two seconds, fall… and finally: stand one, two, three, four, five, si-, fall—a magnificent ride on a foot-high wave. Cowabunga!

Several hours later I cross paths with Joël de Rosnay again while having lunch at Le Sin, the restaurant at the Cité de l’Océan (described in the next article in this series to be posted this week), a museum dedicated to the ocean. Seated with a group of well-dressed lunch companions, this is clearly not an aging beach bum but rather a successful consultant and entrepreneur.

Indeed, for Mr. de Rosnay surfing wasn’t so much a lifestyle as a trampoline from which he followed his interests and opportunities in a varied career that has led him to make his name in the various fields of sports, technology, food and the environment. Surfing may have been his early attraction to visiting the United States but it was far from his last, as his CV includes a stint as research associate at MIT in the field of biology and computer graphics and Scientific Attaché to the French Embassy in the U.S. He currently serves as the president of Biotics International, a consulting company specialized in the impact of new technologies on industries. He is the author of books on his various fields of interest and expertise and has most recently published Surfer la vie: comment sur-vivre dans la société fluide (Surfing through Life: How to sur-vive in Fluid Society).

I reintroduce myself as the fellow he pushed by the pool yesterday. I tell him briefly about my first surfing experience, a story he’s certainly heard a thousand times.

“It’s a start,” he says.

He asks how I like the museum.

I say the same thing.

I ask to take his picture and he obliges.

That afternoon I decide to stay in Biarritz an entire week to learn how to surf.

I imagine the days ahead: morning lessons with Philippe Beudin, a chat with my favorite Basque merchants at the daily morning food market,

… an excursion to Saint Jean de Luz, then back to Biarritz to meet new-found surfing buddies for dinner at La Plancha or for a sunset picnic on the beach,

… and eventually attacking three- and four-foot walls by the end of the week.

It isn’t actually a decision. It’s a travel fantasy before flying home at the end of the day.

© 2013, Gary Lee Kraut

For more information about Biarritz on France Revisited read: Biarritz Ocean: The Brand Between Bilbao and Bordeaux and Biarritz Hotels.

Official site of the Biarritz Tourist Office: tourisme.biarritz.fr/en.  The tourist office a second site dedicated specifically to surfing: surf-biarritz-paysbasque.com/en/.

Biarritz Surf Training, 102 rue de Pierre Chevigné, 64200 Biarritz. Tel. 05 59 23 15 31. www.surftraining.com. Open April to November. See website for pricing for 1-10 lessons and for intensive or leisure weekend or week-long lessons/training. Surfboard (or bodyboard) and wetsuit included. Philippe Beudin, director.

Reservations of several weeks in advance are recommended for surfing lessons in July and August, but for much of the rest of the surfing season little advance planning is necessary. The seasons runs April to early November, with ideal time being the long spring days from mid-May (when the water has warmed a bit) through June and in the often very pleasant back season of September and October.

Philippe Beudin has teamed up with the local Alliance Francaise for a combined surfing and language vacation, with French language lessons in the morning and surfing in the afternoon, so that on returning home you can impress your friends not only with your surfing skills but also with your Basque accent.

A list of all of the surfing schools of Biarritz can be found here.

Other sports in Biarritz

Surfing isn’t the only sport for which Biarritz and the French Basque coast are known. Long before the Californians arrived with surfboards the British were coming with golf clubs. The Golf de Biarritz Le Phare dates to 1888, making it old enough that it’s now surrounded by city. The International Training Center at the Golf d’Ilbiarritz is south of the city. There are also nine other greens within a 20-mile radius. As a sign of the importance of golf here, Biarritz has been linked as a sister city with Augusta, Georgia since 1992.

More indigenous is Basque pelota (pelote basque), played in a variety of ways, whether barehanded, with racket/paddle or with a basket-type racket.

Finally, southwest France is rugby country and Biarritz’s team, Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque (BOPB or simply BO) is a premier league team. The season runs mid-August to early May, followed by three weeks of playoffs.

Then there’s the great sport of spa treatments and seawater cures (thalassothérapie) for which Biarritz is also well know. Thalassotherapie is practiced at two centers: Thalassa Biarritz at the Sofitel Biarritz Le Miramar and Thalmar, directly accessible from the Hotel le Biarritz. Hotel du Palais, the town’s most luxurious hotel, has a beautiful spa called The Imperial Spa (with Guerlain).

Getting to Biarritz

There are direct flights to Biarritz from Paris and other French cities as well as from various northern European capitals (London, Dublin, Copenhagen, Brussels, Rotterdam, Stockholm). By train, Biarritz is 5:20 from Paris and 2:00 from Bordeaux.

The post Biarritz: The Surfing Lesson appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.