January is without doubt one of the coldest months in Europe. As I am not a fan of winters and being traumatized by a bad ski experience (no, I didn’t break my leg), I definitely tend to avoid popular winter destinations. If you ask me, I’d rather escape the rough European winter and travel to some tropical country, but I find millions of good excuses, such as – pandemic, college projects, shortage of money, and… being fine in my comfort zone.

This year, however, I’m definitely in the mood to explore something new. I take a look at my bucket list and I realize that I desperately need some vitamin ‘sea’. This idea led me to a charming French town on the Atlantic coast called Biarritz.

Located around 35 kilometers from the Spanish border, Biarritz is an attractive seaside tourist destination known for its casinos and its surfing culture. Be sure that I didn’t pick this town for its surfing culture!

I wasn’t surprised that surfers were indeed present even in January. Like any other sport, surfing needs dedication and consistency, and cold weather is a challenge to level up your mindset and perform better. 

As expected, the town is pretty much empty and there are very few surfers. The weather is one of a kind in winter and the agitated sea waves crashing against steep cliffs is an unforgettable view. 

What I usually search for in a new place is to understand the life of locals. Knowing more about them, I am no longer a foreigner and I am much more than a tourist. During my stay, I wanted to live the life they live, eat the food they eat, think the way they think. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Biarritz is a town in the French Basque region where you’ll certainly find lots of Basque cultural traits, such as charming houses and their red and green windows.

It’s impossible not to notice the Basque flag (white cross over a green saltire on a red field) everywhere in the streets.

The Basques obviously have their own language – Basque, or Euskara, although in Biarritz you’ll rarely hear it. It appears that the well-known patriotic pride that Basques have about their ethnic and cultural identity is more present in Spain than in France.

The Basque language has always confused the linguists – what we know for sure is that it is an isolated language without any common traits with today’s European languages. As is the case with many minority languages, fewer people now speak it because of the government’s repressive policies in the past.

However, the Basque culture is predominant in this region of France and if there is something you should absolutely not miss, it’s the traditional dessert called Gâteau Basque or Cake of the house. 

January 8 is the day I arrive in Biarritz and as you can imagine, it’s raining cats and dogs! What else can you expect, silly? Mojito and reggaeton parties? It’s freaking January!

I open my umbrella and it gets completely ruined by the strong wind. That’s precisely the moment when my dad video calls me and, seeing me drowning in the rain, he asks: “Do you even know where you’re going?”
“I have no idea where I’m going, but I’m absolutely loving it!”, and that’s how my adventure starts.

The forces of nature actually made me stronger and grateful for the little things that reveal the beauty of life, such as water in all of its forms and air at all of its temperatures. This, indeed, is what travel is all about: transform your worldview and make you grow. Once you decide to take that bus, train, or plane, you experience the new and embrace the unknown. After this, you’ll never be the same.

I challenge you to visit a popular tourist destination in its least popular season and find beauty in the coldest winds coming from the Atlantic. I wanted to avoid the cold at all costs but I ended up embracing the charm of the bittersweet chilly town of Biarritz.

I am sure the experience in summer is different and I can’t wait to discover it! Until then, I let the cold waves toughen me up, repeating these wise Stoic’s words: “Be like a rocky promontory against which the restless surf continually pounds; it stands fast while the churning sea is lulled to sleep at its feet.”