Summer hols. Lots of sun, sandy beaches and sea, clearly not in Blighty. Small touristy port near Bordeaux.
The Highlight of the stay was the annual Sardine festival.
Essentially a big knees up based around the theme of Sardines. The posters and flyers were all over the port which must have mobilized most of the able bodied inhabitants to execute. It looked like it was going to be big.
We even came back from the beach early to get ready, which meant I had to have a shower and use soap. Apparently the shower at the side of the beach doesn’t count as a real wash.
We missed the initial bits and prize giving, somehow we got the wrong location in the port, which is quite impressive seeing as you can walk from one side to the other in about 15 minutes. We are not sure what prizes could have been give as they don’t catch any sardines nor was anyone dressed up in a sardine outfit. But sure it was well deserved whatever it was for.
We did manage to get there for the massive queue for the all-you-can-eat grilled sardine banquet. The menu was quite simple – piles of grilled sardines, and a bit of bread. Which is great as I like grilled sardines and bread.
The queue was long but they did give us some thimbles of Sangria to ease the pain of the wait. Which was the other odd thing. We are in the middle of Bordeaux wine country, and all we had on offer was Sangria. Thankfully it was chilled which was quite nice and refreshing as it was still fairly warm in the evening.
It was worth the wait, lovely crispy Sardines in a fresh bit of baguette. A true feast.
But the real highlight was the DJ and dancing. It wasn’t quite David Guetta. I think the DJ might have played a couple of tunes from this century, but that didn’t seem to stop everyone from dancing. One lady “of a certain age” even needed help getting to the dance floor. But still managed to shake a leg all evening.
There were even “slow” dances. Which was a strange experience as I only recall doing that kind of caper in a darkened scout hut, not in a public village fete dance. I think The Wife was also a bit surprised, but I like to keep her on her toes and keep a bit of spice and excitement in the air. Plus I reckoned it was cheaper than a Spa mini break.
Number 1 was very embarrassed, although not as embarrassed as when I started cutting shapes to some unknown 80’s French pop tune. Number 2 was a bit more philosophical, “shouldn’t you sit down now, as you do have a bad back, and it might get worse with those kinds of movements – but I suppose it’s OK as it might be the last time?”
We all had a great time. Some good old fashion cheap fun, with not a screen in sight (no wifi).
A memorable evening with a load of local French fishermen pretending they were in Spain.