Le couche du soleil…

A lazy morning before leaving Bordeaux and heading west to Françoise’s flat at Arcachon on the Atlantic Coast…

It was the most glorious day, blue skies and 22 degrees! And it was also Journées du Patrimoine (Heritage Weekend) so after dropping our luggage off at the flat, we spent the afternoon walking around the ‘Ville d'Hiver’, the area of Arcachon that is famous for its wonderfully decorative villas, built around the 1860s when Arcachon first gained its fame as a health resort for the rich and famous. Several of the villas were open to the public, my favourite being Villa Margerite (extra photo 1) where Debussy used to stay and where he wrote many of his works.

After our cultural visit, we were in need of refreshment so took the coastal road, lined with Maritime Pines (extra photo 2), and headed to a beach side bar with views across the Arcachon Basin to Cap Ferret (extra photos 3 and 4), where we ended up spending several hours, just relaxing and sipping Kirs, while watching the sun set…

(I took about 50 shots of various stages of the sun gradually sinking down and setting behind Cap Ferret, but in the end I chose this photo as I liked the silhouette of the tree against the orange sky... Looks better large!)