FRENCH BASQUE COUNTRY 687 © Lonely Planet Publications Planet Lonely © St-Jean Pied de Port Bayonne Biarritz La Rhune St-Jean de Luz AREA : 13,400 SQ KM 13,400 SQ KM : AREA „ Le ( p702 ) ( p704 ) St-Jean de Luz St-Jean ( p704 ) ( p691 ) ( p694 ) St-Jean Pied de Port Pied St-Jean Biarritz Bayonne freshly caught seafood at freshly at the farmers market in the age-old pilgrims’ outpost, café terraces or ride the waves yourself in and yourself in and or ride the waves café terraces around scrumptious during a behind-the-scenes factory tour in Petit Train de la Rhune Petit

traditional Basque dishes incorporating Taste Browse local produce and handmade products Watch world-class surfers from fashionable so just what makes the local chocolate Discover Chug up the scenic mountainside railway, POPULATION: 600,000 600,000 POPULATION:

„ „ „ „ „ HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS Up in the French Basque Country’s lush hills, little one-street villages and green valleys Country’s lush hills, little one-street Basque villages and green Up in the French To the southwest of this conurbation is St-Jean de Luz, a delightful seaside township and de Luz, To the southwest of this conurbation is St-Jean Together with sprawling Anglet and Bayonne, 8km to the east, Biarritz forms an urban area forms an urban area Anglet and Bayonne, 8km to the east, Biarritz Together with sprawling The French side (or as it’s diplomatically referred to here, the ‘northernto here, side’; ‘Iparralde’ in side (or as it’s diplomatically referred French The

„ an age-old pit stop for pilgrims heading over the border to Santiago de Compostela. the border to Santiago an age-old over pit stop for pilgrims heading traversed by hiking trails are easily explored from the walled town of St-Jean Pied de Port, Pied from the walled town of St-Jean by hiking explored easily traversed trails are working fishing port. local culture, and its good transport and its good the region. local culture, links make it an ideal base for discovering ence of rivers. Traditional Basque music, sports and festivals are an integral part an integral of Bayonne’s music, sports Traditional Basque are and festivals ence of rivers. Bayonne, whose authentically preserved old town is bisected by bridges arcing over its conflu- by bridges arcing over old town is bisected preserved Bayonne, whose authentically the trio. Easily the most Basque is the French Basque Country’s cultural and economic capital, Basque Country’s cultural and economic Basque is the French Easily the most the trio. often called BAB, with a population around 110,000. Biarritz, however, is the least Basque of however, BAB, with a population around 110,000. Biarritz, called often sun-seekers pack its beaches like glistening sardines. sun-seekers sardines. like pack its beaches glistening resort, Biarritz. Bronzed surfers Biarritz’s hilly coastline on mopeds, and oiled zoom around resort, Biarritz. Bronzed Basque) accounts for roughly 20% of the Basque country, and is famed for its glitzy beach 20% of the Basque country, and is famed Basque) accounts for roughly profoundly different from either of the nation states that have adopted it. adopted that have nation states from either of the profoundly different French) straddles modern-day France and Spain. Yet this feisty, independent land remains independent land remains this feisty, Yet straddles modern-day France and Spain. French) of Biscay, the Basque Country (Euskal Herria in the Basque language; Le Pays Basque in Basque in Pays Country (Euskalof Biscay, the Basque Le Herria in the Basque language; Gently sloping from the western foothills of the Pyrenees into the deep sapphire-blue into Bay the Pyrenees foothills of from the western Gently sloping

Country French Basque French FRENCH BASQUE COUNTRY port in2007 thatkilledtwo people),butit’s a flares up(such onMadrid astheattack air- negotiations mean troubleoccasionallystill ists have inFrance. Failed sanctuary sought (ETA) Azkatasuna Spanish Euskadita terror- Pyrenees sheltered inFrance. More recently, Franco guerrillasfromtheotherside of the nationalistsandanti- 1975, manyBasque the deathof Franco,in theSpanishdictator during theSpanishCivilWar(1936–39). Until until the mid-15th century. Plantagenet rulefromthemid-12thcentury then partof theduchy of wasunder Aquitaine, TheFrenchthe Revolution. Country, Basque autonomy, which theyretained inFranceuntil turbulent MiddleAges withasignificantlocal both sidesof thePyrenees emerged fromthe known fortheir strong Catholicism. Christianity inthe10thcentury,theyare still to live offfishingintheocean.Converting to able toshelter andcontinue inthemountains conquer thearea, were astheBasques however, managedthe 6thcentury.TheRomansnever to took over whatisnowsouthwestern Francein ing inthearea andit’sattested thattheBasques sources mentionatribecalledtheVascones liv- duringthelasticeage. still inhabitable Roman was madepossiblebythefact have remained intheirregion forsolong.This 30,000 years –theonlypeopleinEuropeto people have inhabited theregion foratleast Recent DNAtesting showsthattheBasque 688 History Hendaye (10km) Sebastián To San COUNTRY FRENCH BASQUE Irún A63 After resisting on invasions,theBasques Basque nationalism flourishedBasque before and Ciboure Socoa B AYOF B ISCAY RNHBSU ONR • Byne FRENCH BASQUECOUNTRY••Bayonne Guéthary

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Irissarry 5 miles 10 km (75km) To Pau Bayonne, withriversideBayonne, buildingscladinred streets of Petitsulting inthenarrow,curved to buildoutsidethetown’sfortifications,re- compactness. Until1907,itwasforbidden and thesmallerRiver Nive, aswellbyits so-name ‘river junction’of theRiver Adour isdefinedbythe inBasque) (Baiona Bayonne pop 44,200 BAYONNE destinations. totheUK,Ireland andotherEuropean services aswell and Biarritzhasdomesticflights twicedaily– Sebastián see p693 . Spain, viaBiarritz,St-Jean deLuzandSan Sebastián. San shuttle trainthatrunsregularly viaIrúnto miliarly knownas‘ElTopo’(TheMole),a where youcanpickuptheEuskoTren, fa- is narrower. Take anSNCFtraintoHendaye, at thefrontiersinceSpanishtrackgauge France. of which is easily accessiblefromtherest Getting There&Away ing of thecity’s new university. morenow buzzes even with therecent open- Thisalready-lively fishingBasque fleet. town the coastof Newfoundland bythesubstantial scented thanthetonnes of off codcaught cargoes much more valuable andsweeter privateers,was fuelledbyBasque wholanded 18th-centurycommercialprosperity sequent Thetown’s sub- kings whoruledAquitaine. turies undertheprotection of thePlantagenet prosperedBayonne fromthe13thto15th cen- History on ruedesFaures (‘Blacksmiths’ Street’). baïonnette famous foritsprimecured ham,andforthe andremnantscases, of its past. medieval discovering itshiddenlanewaysandstair- about 15minutes, youcaneasilyspendhours towncentrechitecturally onfootin preserved restaurants. youcancrossthe ar- Although and green shutters and shoals of waterside All roadsandtrainlinesleadtoBayonne, in the region. the peacefulnationalismthatpredominates small, extremist reflect minoritythatdoesn’t The airport( p693 Bayonne ) serving travel toSpaininvolvesRail switching trains In additiontoitschocolates, is Bayonne Buses travel andBilbao, Buses Bayonne between (bayonet), developed here (bayonet),developed in 1640 lonelyplanet.com