Driving route from Bordeaux to visit Dordogne, Basque France/Spain and laRioja

I'd go to ViaMicehlin for the route.
I did travel along the coast west of San Sebastian several years ago (to Urdaibai), and it was wild and lovely.

A few weeks back I stayed near Castelnaud-la-Chapelle (south of Sarlat) and St. Cirq-la-Popie. The area south of Sarlat-la-Canada is really lovely and very worth exploring. Had not the time to see evering but once I wil certainly go back for more. Several stretches of the road -D703- along the Dordogne river between Montfort and Beynac-et-Cazenac are very scenic. The same for the D53 between Castelnaud-la-Chapelle and Château des Milandes, the latter once home to Josephine Baker. Missed for instance the gardens of Marquessac, but saw images on TV5 (French channel), both the gardens and the view from there over the valley are stunning, the same from hill top village Domme.

Worth is driving from St. Cirq-la-Popie to Calvignac, at both sides of the river Lot. The latter lies (also) on top of a cliff you can see driving further upstream. Larnagol is lovely as well as the old part of Carjac. Didn’t explore much further there, nevertheless worth doing to my opinion.

Cahors has a pleasant vibe, but was not as charming as for instance Sarlat. Maybe the weather was too hot, so not so good for sightseeing, some nice things to see but for me not the highlight for my stay in the area there.

At some stretches the roads are very windy and bumpy, so after a while happy arriving at my destination.

Thank you valadelphia. I should have mentioned that I have been playing with both via Michelin and google maps.

What I'm looking for is a circular route to visit my cities that doesn't cover the same area more than once that is scenic and relatively efficient.

Thank you Wil for the suggestions along the Lot. You mentioned a couple towns that were not on my radar. I will take a look. I'm interested in Cahors for a couple reasons. They are known for a particular red wine and my recollection is that there is a lovely bridge. Did you see the bridge? If so, worth the drive to get there? I do dislike really hot weather when sightseeing. On a previous draft itinerary, I planned to visit Cahors from St-Cirq-Lapopie

Bayonne, Biaritz/St Jean de. Luz and St. Jean pied de-Port are relatively close together so you could use one of them as a base, then take day trips to the others. St. Jean Pied du Port is small, but busy because of it being the beginning of the French Camino. To me it was worth a couple hours at most since there’s very little to see there. I’d then drive to Hondarrbia, San Sebastián, Bilbao, and Guernica. From Guernica you could drop down to Logroño and Estella. No idea where you plan to visit from there. Since you will have a car and to save time, plug free parking lots into your GPS, or bookmark them on Google maps. In Logroño there are free parking lots along Calle Del Norte. In Estella, we parked at Aparcamiento Gratuito off of Calle San Francisco Javier, but there are other free lots too.

In Estella is Iglesia de San Pedro de la Rúa. By its alter is a pillar carved like serpents. It also has a pretty cloister. Very near to Estella (10km) is the Monastery of Iranzu. It too is worth visiting. If you’re interested in the Camino then consider visiting Iglesia de Santa María de Eunate, Alto de Perdón, and the Free Wine Fountain at Bodegas Irache. All are near Puente de la Reina or Estella. In Puente de la Reina we parked in the free lot at Av. Pamplona, 1. There are also some spots along Calle Cerco Viejo.

Have seen the Pont Valentré. This is a bit difficult, maybe it had to do with the hot weather (around 30 °C) but it didn't overwhelm me like the other places I visited first. Hopefully there are more here on the forum giving their opinion as it is very well possible that someone really liked it. However liked visiting Cahors, but with lower temperatures preferably around 20 °C. it would have been more enjoyable. Nevertheless don't feel the ambition going back, knowing there is so much more nice places to see in the region.

Some stretches of the D622 between St. Cirq and Cahors are scenic. I use the well detailed Departemental maps of Michelin, showing touristic routes and suggestions for scenic itineraries.

Thank you Jaimie, my recollection is that you and I tend to like similar things. Estella,Iranzu, Irache, etc. is in the plans. "Logrono Dave" and I have done some discussing of that area. Glad to hear you like it, too. I think I will come out of Spain on N135 which goes thru Saint-Jean Pied-De-Port. So thinking we'd stop there for a few hours and then overnight in Sauveterre De Bearn/Salies-de Bearn. Have you been in that area?

In terms of Bayonne, Biarritz, St-Jean-De-Luz(love France, dislike all their complicated city names) I think we'd also like to see Esplelette and Ainhoa. On one of my cancelled itinerary iterations, I was in Bayonne for a night and then Sare for a couple, to get those other cities. Unless someone provides a compelling reason otherwise, I think we want to spend just a couple hours in Biarritz and St-Jean-de-luz. There is a museum in Bayonne we want to see, also its old town. Do you think staying in just one town covers sightseeing for this area? Which one? Which of them have the easiest, less expensive parking options? We despise driving around old towns and congested areas looking for parking. We are type A people by nature that like to travel in more like Type B style if that makes any sense.

When you are near St-Jean de Luz make sure you visit some of the most beautiful Basque villages in France in the foothills of Pyrenees such as Sarè, Ainhoa. Ascain,Espelette( home to the famous peppers.) We were staying in Hondarribia, Spain and toured those villages twice, charming. We are considering a stay in one of the villages.

@Suki, Of St Jean de luz, Biaritz, Sare, Ainhoe, Ascain and Espelette, where would you stay? Considering convenience, parking, price, "charming factor"? I am thinking maybe it makes sense to stay one night in Bayonne and then move for several nights to a spot close to those towns.

Back in 2017 we spent a night at the Ibis Styles Bayonne Center Gare. Since it was a holiday the day we were there we got parking right behind the hotel and it was free because of the holiday. If there are no spaces available by the hotel then there is parking at the nearby train station. We liked the location because right across the bridge was old town Bayonne. We had visited st Jean de Luz years ago and skipped it, and only spent an hour or so in Biarritz before moving on to St Jean Pied du Port. In St. Jean we walked around the town and had a pastry and tea/coffee. From it we took the N135 to Pamplona passing through Roncevalles. We stopped there for a few minutes since it is on the Camino and was in the movie “The Way.” St. Jean is also in the movie and it was nice to see the filming locations. We haven’t been in the Sauveterre de Bears area. The N135 is a 2-lane road and in good condition.

Thanks Jaimie, good to know that the Ibis in Bayonne is nice and convenient. It is on my past itineraries.

We stayed in Sare quite a few years ago, and it is high on charm. Esplette is also very cute, but may be overdoing the red pepper feature a little. A very worthwhile stop in that area is the home of Edmund Rostand, author of Cyrano de Bergerac, in the town of Cambo-les-Bains. Its a beautiful Basque style villa with gorgeous gardens. Inside there are many artifacts from his life and work.

Rosalyn, thanks for the tip. That sounds like something we'd want to do!

Thanks for the suggestions. Our driving route is:
Bordeaux
La Roque Gageac (Dordogne/Lot rivers)
Cahors/Armagnac area
Bayonne
Sare/French Basque villages
Hondarribia/San Sebastian
Gernika/Bilbao
Logrono
Elizondo--EDITED
Salies-de-Bearn
Bordeaux

I looked at your itinerary in the southwest (I live in this region), and in Spain and I find it good. However, if I may, I have a few comments to make.

Be aware that if you want to avoid the freeways (which is a good thing) don't rely on Google to give you the correct travel times. If you like to stop in nice villages or enjoy the landscapes (and I hope you will do it), from La Roque Gageac, Perigord, Dordogne, Lot and up to Cahors on all these departmental roads where you drive, you can easily spend double the time that Goggle told you.

I agree with the idea of ​​spending only one night in Bayonne and looking for accommodation in a village in the Basque Country. This region deserves better than spending nights in an Ibis in town. It's like stopping to sleep in a Motel 6 next to the Grand Canyon without going to see it.

This link might help you:

https://www.en-pays-basque.fr/en/

https://www.guide-du-paysbasque.com/en/tourism/discover/the-basque-country.html

I also know the roads in Spain between Vitoria-Gasteiz and Pamplona (I'll be on these roads Saturday morning) Yyou will cross flat arid and dusty areas (especially in September) which will sometimes look like western landscapes. If that does not suit you, do not hesitate to take the motorways (eg the AP68 after Logrono). I say that because every time I go through this area I'm happy to leave it and advance towards the relief and the greenery of the Pyrenees mountains.
But that may not be very objective.

Contrary to what JoLui said, on my recent trip traveling the back roads of mostly Aragón and La Rioja, I found the travel times provided by Google maps to be fairly accurate. I also don’t think you’ll find the countryside quite as flat and bleak as he/she makes it sound. There is some very pretty scenery in that area.

I liked Laguardia better than Pamplona. I admit the large running of the bulls sculpture in Pamplona is cool.

About the travel times indicated by Google, I was only talking about the Dordogne, Lot part in France.

And for certain sections in Spain it is undoubtedly my need for greenery that speaks and I specified that it was not necessarily objective. Still, the landscape is very dry and unrelated to the Pyrenees just above

Hello all, love all the input. Any kind of heads up about drive times is helpful. I do look at both google maps and Michelin for estimates. I always figure unless its an interstate type road, the amount of time for us will be at least double the estimates since we stop so much for views and photos. I usually also add time to get lost, find parking and to visit towns.

@Ann, Pamplona wasn't high on my list, either, and we may not spend much time there. The sculpture sounds interesting, though not to be culturally insensitive, but the whole running of the bulls thing is not of any interest. Supposedly the old town area is interesting. We will be in LaGuardia/Logrono/Haro for 3 nights and Pamplona is a stop between Logrono and Salies de Bearn. Pamplona also has the appeal of being on the Camino.

@joloi, love the Grand Canyon analogy. I'll go further, you can't really appreciate the Grand Canyon unless you get into it. We've hiked down the south rim and halfway up the north. Highly recommend. Sorry for the diversion.

For the most part, I'm trying to use the inns that I planned for previous versions of the trip. I'd be interested in inn and restaurant suggestions for Armagnac, Sare/surrounding, Pamplona, Salies de Bearn.

Thanks

I'll be interested in your reaction to Pamplona. The historic center seemed quite small to me, and of course it's very touristy. It's large enough that I suspect it will take some time to drive into town and get the car parked.

@acraven. I think you are right and probably know me fairly well at this point. I've changed our stop from Pamplona to Elizondo. On vacation we have little tolerance for traffic and searching for parking. I can have that kind of fun at home.

Jules m, I would be very interested in your feedback on the itinerary you used for your roundtrip from Bordeaux. I am in the early stages of planning a similar trip for the fall of 2023. I plan to start in Bordeaux then Sarlat and the Dordogne region then travel thru the Lot region and then on to Basque country, getting as far south as Bilbao and then returning to Bordeaux. Your thoughts on the route you took and places you stayed would be most appreciated. Thank you! You can reply by private message if you prefer.

Hello, M.E., I've been occupied with family issues, so I apologize for the late response. At some point, I'll try to do a trip report, but maybe a rough/quick sketch of the trip is helpful? If you have specific questions or need suggestions for inns and restaurants I'll respond.

We had a fabulous time on a trip we cancelled twice due to COVID. I had a lot of great help on my trip planning. "Rioja"Dave was a remarkable resource as was MikelBasqueguide. Carlos is always a great help for Spain (and Poland!) and Ann C. has been helpful for all our trips.

Rough Itinerary and Specific notes:

1. Flew to Bordeaux connecting thru Paris. Is was easy to get to the city on the city bus. We stayed by the train station. We explored Bordeaux. One highlight was Le bar a vin. We walked in and said we were fairly knowledgeable about wine, but would like to be introduced to Bordeaux wines. The waiter put together 5 wines for us with some charcuterie. He was so knowledgeable and friendly and the final tab was VERY inexpensive. We toured wineries in Blaye and Medoc the next day.
2. Drove to Bergerac with a stop St Emilion. (Highly recommend Chateau Grangey
3. From Bergerac drove to Sarlat for Saturday market and then to La Roque Gageac for 3 nights. We stayed at La Belle Etoile. We ate there one night and wished we'd eaten there every night. Be sure to make advance reservation. One day we drove to St Cirq Lapopie which was gorgeous as well as the drive. We took a slight detour on the way back and stopped in Rocamadour. It took a while to find parking and in the end we found the walk up to the top disappointing. We were, however, very happy to drive there for the views of Rocamadour and found several pretty spots for pictures.
4. Drove to Armagnac area. Stopped in Cahors and walked around the bridge/old town and tasted Malbec at Mas Del Perie-Fabien (recommended) Stayed in Mouchan at Las Baillargues de haut (recommended).
5. Drove to Bayonne. We had planned to stop in Biarittz but it was pouring rain. The next day we went to the excellent Basque museum in Bayonne and got rained on some more.
6. Drove to Ascain. We saw a glimpse of sun so we stopped in St Jean de Luz. We were glad we stopped though we got soaked again. Finally some nice weather in the Basque villages. We stayed at Hotel Alaia (highly recommend) We spent a day driving around the little villages.
7. Drove to San Sebastian. We stopped in Hondaribbia. Highly, highly recommend. Stayed 3 nights in San Sebastian. Its beautiful, we could have spent more nights to eat pinchos, but we were running out of things to do during the day.
8. Drove along the coast to Bilbao and stayed 2 nights. The drive along the coast was lovely, when we could see it. It was foggy and we had difficulty finding places to park in the cities, so that my husband, who drove could enjoy the views. We stopped in Guernika on the way. Highly recommend the assembly house, must make a reservation. We wished we had more info on Guernika in advance. We arrived midday, everything was closed. The tourist maps/signs were old and not legible. While the RS guide recommends sites, the guide does not have a map. Bilbao was fun, picturesque river. Their Basque museum was closed. I don't think it will be open any time soon. We felt the pinchos were less reliable than San Sebastian. However, recommendations from the forum we very helpful.
9. Drove to Bodegas Valdelana (where we stayed 2 nights,recommend) in Rioja with a 3 hour stop in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Excellent tourist office, fabulous little city, lantern museum was free and quite unique. We visited several wineries, Lecea a favorite (as well as Valdelana where we had a free tour included with our stay)
10. Drove to Logrono for a night of tapas with Dave. In addition to helping with trip planning, Dave's an excellent host.
11. Drove to Elizondo, a pretty and very interesting town, with some stops at some of the Camino de Santiago sights.
    More to come

M.E., my trip was very different from Jules' because I didn't have a car. In case it's helpful, I found all of these places picturesque and fun to explore (in addition to places on Jules' list that I did visit): Perigueux, Brive-la-Gaillarde, Figeac and Bergerac. They're sizable places, not cute little villages, so if would be prudent to research the parking situation before arrival. Of those four, I based in all except Figeac, which turned out to especially appeal to me. It's hilly, which made the town seem especially interesting, and it has a large reproduction of the Rosetta Stone serving as pavement of the square in front of the Champollion Museum. That was an unexpected treat.

As Ann infers, the trip is very different without a car. When we travel in Europe our first choice is always public transportation. For what we wanted to do on this trip, we elected a car. So, some of my choices would have been very different had we not had a car. We stayed on the outskirts of Bergerac, Bayonne and Bilbao to take advantage of free parking. In general, my preference would be to stay city center. The place we stayed at in Bilbao was perfect for this trip (Hotel Artetxe) Parking at the hotel was free and was a couple miles from the funicular that goes right into the heart of Bilbao. In San Sebastian we stayed in the heart of old town which was fantastic for sight seeing and "pinxtos hopping". Our inn had suggested that we park in a ramp more in what I'd call a downtown area. It was quite inexpensive but did require about a mile walk to the inn, which we are used to from other travels.

Sarlat is probably the best place to stay in Dordogne without a car. It seems to have the best transportation options to get to other cities.

I'm not sure the French Basque cities are doable without a car. We sure enjoyed them--Ascain, Espellette, Cambo, Ainhoa. Rolling hills and lovely homes. We picked up St Jean Pied de Port when we came out of Spain, which I'll outline in another post.

Hi,

Try to include Lourdes on your trip. A couple of hours is enough, it’s strangely attractive (I’m not religious myself).

Han

Jules,

Your trip sounds like it was fantastic! Sarlat, Toulouse, Carcassone, and Albi are all high on my list.

Looking at Northern Spain a bit -- Which would you like better for an extended "slow travel" stay -- Hondarribia or San Sebastian? They seem somewhat similar to me although San Sebastian has a much bigger population, making it more of a city perhaps? We would day trip to the Guggenheim in Bilbao and up to Biaritz/St Jean de. Luz and St. Jean pied de-Port perhaps.

Funny, sometimes when I am readying Rick's website or blog copy, I get the feeling he doesn't like the San Sebastian or the Basque area that much....

Also, did you stay in Santiago de Compostela? I just read on Rick's site that he says: "Santiago rivals Granada as the most magical city in Spain." What an ENDORSEMENT!! Perhaps that is the town we should base out of for a couple of weeks.

Thanks!

@Calimom, We didn't go to Santiago de Compostela. The furthest west we went was Bilbao. Santiago de Compostela is quite a bit further a way. We will probably go there when we go to Portugal. Also, Granada is really interesting, but I'm not sure I'd call it the most magical city in Spain. I would consider Sevilla and Cordoba and maybe even Barcelona (with Girona and Besalu) more "magical" than Granada

We also didn't get to Toulouse, Carcassone, and Albi. We'll hit those when we go to southern France. We did go to Cahors which I do recommend.

Obviously, there are different philosophies on travel. We don't day trip anywhere that is more than an hour a way, except in more unusual circumstances. We don't mind changing places a little more often so as to not cover the same ground 2 or 3 times. We stopped in Hondaribbia on the way from Ascain to San Sebastian. Hondaribbia is beautiful and quite interesting and would make a nice day trip from San Sebastian. I think Hondaribbia and San Sebastian are quite different, unless you are just looking at the beach aspect of the cities. When we got to San Sebastian we parked our car and left it for 3 days. I wouldn't have wanted the hassle of driving in and out of San Sebastian and looking for parking spots. We enjoyed being in the center of San Sebastian old town. I feel Bilbao is too interesting and too far to be a day trip from San Sebastian. There is a lot more in Bilbao besides the Guggenheim. We really enjoyed San Sebastian in the evening, and the pinxtos "hopping".

I haven't felt like RS dislikes San Sebastian and/or the Basque area. He has a tv episode in San Sebastian. He has a guidebook and runs a tour to the Basque areas of France and Spain.

Jules M: no need to apologize for late response. I took a break from this trip planning and went on an actual trip. Now back into planning mode and your itinerary is very helpful, especially how to go south from Sarlat to the Lot river and then into Armagnac region. I'm checking out Mouchan to see if that would be a good overnight. Many thanks for your input.

Still working on an itinerary for our mid-September trip. We'll arrive in Bordeaux and spend 3 days there then get a car and head east. So far have an apartment in Sarlat for a week to use as a base for exploring. Then one day driving to Cahors via Figeac sightseeing along the way. Just one night in Cahors and then on to Condom for one night. Found a nice B&B there plan to check out the prunes in Agen along the way and hopefully taste some armagnac. Plan to go south from there to Pau but did not find any interesting places to stay in Pau and it seems a little bigger than what we like. Any suggestions got 1-2 overnights along the way from Condom to Bayonne? We may be tired of one night stands by then so something worth a 2-night stay. It seems like many of the B&B's near Pau did not survive Covid as many have had no reviews since 2019.

Many thanks!

@M.E., we didn't visit Pau. We really enjoyed our overnight in Salies de Bearne. We stayed at Chambre d'hôtes les Orchidées 10 Rue Loume. Loved the cute BnB on a tiny street and ate at an amazing restaurant. I can look for the name if you are interested in Salies. Another option prior to Bayonne would be one of the very cute French Basque villages. We stayed in and enjoyed Ascain. We stayed at Hotel Alaia, and enjoyed both of the restaurants they recommended.

Dear Jules, thank you for the suggestion to stay in Salies de Bearn at Les Orchidees. I've booked a room for two nights. It seems exactly what I was hoping to find and sounds much more interesting that Pau (my apologies to any Pau afficionados).
Still very roughly into itinerary planning and already having to shuffle flight days and B&B dates. So far, here is what I've got. Arrive in Bordeaux. Stay for 3-1/2 days than drive to Sarlat and have an apartment in the city for a week. I hope this gives us ample time to the Dordogne. No specific daily itineraries there except to go to the Friday market in Sarlat. Then I plan on a relatively leisurely drive south, staying one night in Cahors, one night in Condom and two nights in S de B. Then continuing west to Bayonne visiting small Basque towns along the way and going, I think as far south as Bilbao, but returning to Bordeaux a week after our stay in S de B. Right now I am somewhat ambivalent about Bilbao.
I ended up rescheduling our flight home because I didn't think I had given us enough time for this latter part of the trip. Any suggestions for itineraries for this last week would be greatly appreciated or for anything else in my planning. This forum and the individuals providing input is invaluable. Thank you all so much.

@M.E. Salies de Bearns is good choice. Let me suggest the book Summer of Katya. It is a novel set in Salies in the summer of 1914.

I'm sure that you have San Juan Pie de Puerto on you list of places to visit, if you have time for it, you should go to Saint-Etienne-de-Baïgorry, and then up to Puerto de Izpegi, which is the border between France and Spain. There are some incredible views from there of the valley and the Pyrenees. you can also have lunch there or a drink and enjoy the view.

@Jules was the the restaurant "Restaurant des Voisins"?

Dave, I believe you recommended Voisins, but it was closed. The BnB where we stayed recommended A la Fraich which we really enjoyed. Interestingly, they have two menus, one was contemporary French, the other was pizza. We ordered from the French but the pizzas did look good. They also had a nice selection of curated local wines

dlindstrom: thank you for that book recommendation and the sites to visit. They will go into my itinerary (still in the process of making sure we have a place to stay each night).

Just ordered the book from my library!

I'm still working on my itinerary and will post it when I've completed it. Right now I am trying to decide whether to stay in Bordeaux or St. Emilion. We arrive on a Saturday and then head out to Sarlat on Wednesday. Our goal is to do a lot of exploring of the western Aquitaine before heading east to Sarlat. I may have overestimated how much time we should spend in the Bordeaux area but we will be jet lagged and we enjoy wine so I'm sure the time will be well spent. I do know I want to get some oysters along the coast.
So, the question is what location would be better for our base for this first portion and what recommendations would you have where to sleep? I'm not limited to these two places so if there is a better choice put it out there.
Many thanks for your collective wisdom.

We did a driving trip very similar to your plan, 3 years ago.
In and out of Bordeaux, on Air Transat….excellent! Bordeaux airport is small and user-friendly.

The day we went to St Jean de Luz was teeming rain, so we only really had lunch and a brief walkabout. We then cut SE to Zaragoza….a real surprise and a highlight! The aquarium there is amazing! And the moorish castle beautiful: it was the prototype for the Alhambra. We then cut across to Barcelona. A lovely drive! Excellent road, and lots of beautiful nature to observe. After Barcelona, we drove up the coast into Provence for a week. Then North via Carcassonne and Albi to Bordeaux. Our favourite place in Bordeaux is the lovely Château de la Grave, near Bourg. An easy drive to Bordeaux itself, and also excellent as a base for touring the wine region. HIGHLY recommended! We are returning there in May. Yahoo!

Dear manager:
Glad to hear some else has done a similar itinerary. We are finding out now that there is the World Cup of Rugy being held in Bordeaux this September during out stay. Checking for accommodations has been very frustrating. I reached out to Des Voyageurs directly to see if they had anything. Our daughter stayed there 2 years ago and loved it. Fortunately they were able to accommodate us. Anyone familiar with it? Now asking about restaurant recommendations.
This forum is so helpful. Thanks again, everyone, for your help.

Still sorting out the itinerary. Initially I was planning on spending 2 nights in Salies de Bearn from Condom and then heading to Bilbao. Needed to do some jiggling of dates so wanted to spend only one night in SdeB but having difficulty doing that at the moment. If that does not work I need a half way stop between Condom and Bilbao. I'm thinking Bayonne. On the return trip we will be spending a few nights in St. Jean de Luz and exploring the small towns from there. Google indicates driving time from Condom directly to Bilbao is 4+ hours. Don't really want to do that much just distance driving. Any suggestions?

M.E., there are a lot of options, it just depends on how far you want to drive. From Condom, we stopped in the French Basque area, staying in both Bayonne and Ascain, and from there headed to San Sebastian. We actually went to Salies de Bearne after being in Spain for a while.

FYI, we stayed at a place in Bilbao above the city and about a mile from the funnicular that goes into city center. Parking was free so it was both cost effective and convenient.

I'd recommend that you start a new post with your questions. I'm happy to answer your posts on my thread, but I think you'd get more responses from other people if you had your own post.

Lastly, It is such a great area to explore, that I don't think you can really make any mistakes in terms of the cities you stay in.

Just finished the book, The Summer of Anya. It was amazing. So much description and drama in so short a book. I will reread it when we return from our trip Thank you for the suggestion.
M.E.