Did you know that Bayonne - a typical Basque city with a beautiful cathedral - is known as the Chocolate Capital of France?
Chocolate holds important history in this city. Jewish immigrants fleeing Spanish Inquisition in the 17th century settled here and brought their chocolate-making skills with them. Locals assimilated this new craft and chocolate knowledge spread between generations. While only a few of these historical chocolate shops now remain - in part due to 20th century industrialisation - chocolate (and hot chocolate, in particular) is still engrained in Bayonne's culinary history. Click here to watch a video (in English) outlining some of this chocolatey history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCMlTd2XVns.
Chocolaterie Cazenave - a chocolate institution created in 1854 - serves a 'chocolat mousseux', an extremely light and frothy hot chocolate. We recommend you give this iconic address a try - in a fantastically decorated 'salon de thé' (tearoom)
Recently (this Christmas 2024), in the cold winter weather, we wanted a hot chocolate in Bayonne. We tried Chocolaterie Puyodebat and were really impressed by their upstairs 'salon de thé' (called 'La tasse à Moustache', or, 'The Moustache teacup') - warmly decorated - and their delicious hot chocolate. Puyodebat has been in the Basque Country for over 20 years and offers really delicious chocolatey treats.
Here's a little photo guide of our time there:
Why not come stay in Biarritz - another iconic Basque city - and pop in to Bayonne for a chocolatey adventure?
Our guest house, Les Tourelles, is approximately 15-20 minutes away from Bayonne by car and 30 minutes by bus (check out the local Txik Txak bus routes here).
Click here to learn more about chocolate shops in Bayonne: https://www.visitbayonne.com/en/preparing-your-stay/restaurants-flavours-and-local-products/chocolatiers/.
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