What's In A Name? A Lot If Its Biarritz

Monte Carlo or St Tropez - there is something inherently glamorous in what the place happens to be called. Biarritz has that magical name and The Hotel du Palais and Biarritz are inseparable to most visitors to this turn the 20th century seaside resort.

Napoléon III and Empress Eugénie (of France) put the initial oomph into Biarritz when they built a holiday palace on a headland in 1854. The place suddenly became party central, drawing the great, the good and idle loafers from across Europe. Napoléon’s reign burnt out in 1870, the palace shortly afterwards — only to be rebuilt on an even grander scale as the Hôtel du Palais.

And the party continued. England's Edward VII (Queen Victoria's son) as a winter regular. The Duke of Windsor and Frank Sinatra, too. Deborah Kerr’s husband, Peter Viertel, took a plank out to sea, and so introduced surfing to Europe. This area is now a big surfers paradise, believe it or not.

Life slowed down in the 1950s and 1960s, but is speeding up again now. Brighter Parisians prefer it to the Riviera. Alain Prost and Karl Lagerfeld have houses in town. But the background, thank heavens, remains Basque, with its taste for berets, boisterousness in bars and putting the rest of the world right about rugby. If you want to dispute this, try the Red Café, on Avenue Foch.

The presence of the royal French couple and their court attracted the wealthy English. And they imported their favorite sport, golf. Biarritz boasted the first golf course in France. Today, an air of English gentility still wafts over Biarritz, adding to its nostalgic charm and distinguishing it from the lustier, more folkloric towns around it, which form part of the Pays Basque, as the region is known.

I was there in April and feel in love with the hotel and the town. You feel here, that time has stopped and you are plunged back in the early 20th century.
To sit in hotels lobby and take a glass of wine and look out, on to the sea is worth the price of admission. One of my great experiences of traveling in France.

I promise that ,the beautiful and chic GM, Jeanne MARCHETTI will take good care of you, as she did myself and Actress, Michelle Pfeiffer and her movie company who were there filming, Colette's "Cheri" ( soon to be released this fall.)



PS: For great custom made jewelry,you must visit ( just across the street from the hotel) Dora Zee.