As much as I regretted leaving the Languedoc, I was very eager to discover Le Pays Basque, French Basque country.
Basque country, which straddles the Pyrenees Mountains, lies within the borders of both France and Spain. The larger area and population are on the Spanish side of the border. In total, the Basques number about 3 million people. I quickly learned that they identify more as Basque rather than French or Spanish. They have their own flag and their own language, which is not related to any other European language. Here’s an example: Euskal Herria, which means “Basque Country” in the Basque language. Fiercely independent, Basque country has enjoyed a great deal of autonomy for centuries.
Bayonne is the largest city in French Basque country. It’s located 5 miles from the coast, at the confluence of two rivers, the Nive and the Adour.
Bayonne's location near the Pyrenees Mountains that separate the Iberian peninsula from the rest of Europe gives the city a strategic importance that was recognized as long ago as Roman times.
Two thousand years ago, the Romans built walls around the city and established a military camp to control the port and the passage across the Pyrenees. As you walk through Bayonne, you can see markers in the sidewalk that indicate where Roman walls were once located.
After the Romans left Bayonne in the 4th century CE, the city came under the control of the Vascones, a pre-Roman tribe.
With the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II of England in the 12th century, Bayonne came under English rule, which lasted about 200 years before passing to French rule at the end of the Hundred Years War.
Today, Bayonne (Baiona in the Basque language) is a multicultural city of about 50,000 people. Throughout Bayonne (and all of French Basque country), you’ll see signs in French, Basque, and Gascon (a Latin-based dialect of the medieval language of Occitania mixed with some Basque influences).
Cyril warned us that it’s notoriously rainy in Basque country but we were fortunate to have warm and sunny weather during most of our stay in the region. After settling into our hotel in Bayonne, I joined a small group of fellow travelers for a dinner at a riverside table overlooking the Nive.
During guided and independent walks through the city, I explored many sides of Bayonne. One architectural feature that immediately stood out was the dark red color of the shutters and doors, especially in the older part of the city. According to our guide, the color was originally obtained from the blood of oxen – hence, the color we now refer to as “oxblood red.”
The oldest part of the city, known as Grand Bayonne, is where the bayonet was developed in the 17thcentury. In addition, this is where you’ll find the distinctive half-timbered buildings. The oldest surviving building in this style dates back to 1690.
We came across a building in Grand Bayonne that reminded me of New York City’s Flatiron building.
You can still find portions of Roman structures in Grand Bayonne. Towers and sections of ancient walls have been incorporated into more recent construction that is now used as apartments, restaurants, and shops.
The earliest parts of the Vieux Chateau (Old Chateau) date back to the 12th century. It was built on the site of the ancient Roman military camp.
Since Bayonne is located on one of the main routes (the French Way) leading to Santiago de Compostela, many Christian pilgrims have visited the city over the centuries. Bayonne welcomed the pilgrims with its Cathedrale de Sainte-Marie. Construction of the yellow sandstone Gothic church and the adjoining cloisters began in the 13th century.
A single neo-classical building from the 19th century houses Bayonne’s City Hall and municipal theater.
In the culinary world, Jambon de Bayonne, a salt-cured ham, is world famous. The pigs who provide the meat are traditionally fed nuts from the beech, oak, and chestnut trees. Every year, Bayonne holds a ham festival, a tradition that has been going on for over 500 years.
And speaking of food, Bayonne is called the historical chocolate capital of France. Chocolate production goes back nearly 500 years, to the time Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal in the late 1400s. Many of the Jewish refugees fleeing the Iberian peninsula settled in Bayonne and brought with them the knowledge of chocolate making. On rue Pont Neuf, I stopped into several legendary chocolate shops to sample their confections.
Bayonne’s typical gateau Basque, a cake filled with cheese or cherries, is available throughout the city.
The traditional Basque sport is pelota, a game which uses a ball and either a hand or racket to hit the ball. Pelota can be played against a wall or face to face. We watched an indoor match at a club in Bayonne.
On the weekend we spent in Bayonne, it seemed like everyone came out to enjoy the beautiful spring weather. Our group joined the crowds in the market area before heading to another outdoor lunch near the river. This time, I tried chipirons (small squid).
Bayonne’s ethnographic museum, the Musée Basque, is a great place to spend a couple of hours learning about the Basque way of life and the history of the Basque people. I learned that the ancestors of the Basques were mostly likely present in the area during the Neolithic period (4500-2000BCE). They were described as the “oldest continuously surviving people inhabiting a particular location in Europe.”
Farming and fishing played important roles in the lives of the Basque. They also made their own wine (note the wine press).
Basque craftsmen developed a high level of expertise in ironworking and woodworking.
In earlier times, Basques peasants would make their own sabots (wooden shoes with two straps of leather).
Disc-shaped stele (burial stones) are a type of Basque funerary monument that pre-dates Christianity. More recent examples are often decorated with a combination of pagan and Christian symbols.
The museum also displayed several ritual objects from the community of Sephardic Jews that made their home in French Basque country following their expulsion from Spain and Portugal. Although subject to discriminatory laws, they were allowed to practice their religion freely.
An 1863 painting in the museum depicted a game of pelota played against the ramparts in a Basque town.
Only four miles from Bayonne is Biarritz, the second largest city in French Basque country. Located on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, it has long been a popular holiday destination. In the late 19th and early 20thcenturies, many wealthy British tourists came to spend the winter in Biarritz.
In the mid-19th century, French Emperor Napoleon III built a palace in Biarritz for his wife, Empress Eugenie. Later, the palace was converted into a luxury hotel.
Nowadays, Biarritz still attracts a wide range of tourists, including surfers who live in vans on the outskirts of the city. The tourist season lasts from April through October. The 1830 lighthouse is still in use.
I’m glad we had a chance to visit the small village of Espelette (population 2000) while we were in French Basque country.
Since it was a Sunday morning, we stopped in to the Eglise Saint-Etienne, a village church, and sat in the balcony while a service, conducted in the Basque language, was going on.
I couldn’t help noticing the long strands of dried red peppers adorning the façades of many of the buildings in the center of the village.
Espelette is known for a distinctive type of pepper, called piment d’Espelette. In the open-air market and in the many shops catering to tourists, you can buy an endless variety of products featuring the espelette pepper, as well as household items decorated with the lauburu, or Basque cross. This is an ancient symbol that represents the sun.
The biggest town close to the border with Spain is St. Jean de Luz, located on the coast. It was traditionally a fishing village, and many residents continue to make their living from fishing. After strolling through the lively town, our group stopped for a mid-day meal featuring jambon de Bayonne followed by fresh fish and pomme frites.
As we continued on our way after lunch, I bid au revoir to France. Soon we’d be crossing the border en route to Bilbao, the capital of Spanish Basque country.
