BAYONNE, 123 miles from Bordeaux, 487 miles from Paris. HOTELS.-Commerce; St. Étienne; Des Bains; Du Midi; Du Grand d'Espagne; De Providence. Omnibuses from the station to the town, 25 centimes; 25 centimes for each package. High Post Office, end of Rue du Gouvernement. water, at full and change, 3h. 30m., the tide rising 14 feet. English Consul, F. Graham, Esq., of whom passports for Spain may be had. Population, 25,611. A sous-préfecture in department Basses-Pyrenées (part of Gascony), seat of a bishopric, fortress of the first class, on the Spanish frontier, and a thriving Port, on the Adour, where the Nive joins it, about three miles from the Bay of Biscay. It has a good harbour (as the name signifies in the Basque language, Baia and Ona), at their junction, close to Pont Mayour, but the mouth is obstructed by a dangerous bar, near which the Duke of Wellington crossed the Adour, February, 1814, on a bridge of boats. The town was founded in the 10th or 11th century; and having come to the English, was taken from them, 1451, being the last place they retained in France, except Calais. It is defended by high and strong ramparts, and divided by the rivers into three parts, viz., Grand and Petit Bayonne, and the suburb of St. Esprit, which stands on the right bank of the Adour, and contains the Citadel (as above mentioned), which commands the town and country around. There is a noble prospect hence over the town, the wide estuary of the Adour, and the forests at its mouth, the Nive, Biarritz, &c., with the snowy peaks of the Pyrenées to the south. Underneath is the English cemetery, where several officers of the Coldstreams are buried, who fell when Bayonne was invested, 1814. A bridge of boats crosses this part of the Adour, and two bridges cross the Nive. The main street is good, but the rest are narrow; houses of stone, three or four stories high. Place Grammont is the best and the liveliest spot; there is a beautiful walk along the Allées Maritimes, a sort of jetty, one mile long, near the quays, with good prospects. The Bayonnaise women are considered pretty. The small Cathedral (in course of restoration) is of the 13th to 16th centuries, and is 256 feet long, but hemmed in with houses. The large cloisters were built by the English. Notice a new altar of 1854, the handsome pavement in the sanctuary, and the cross of St. Francis de Sales. The diocese is as old as the 4th century. The new church of St. André is in the style of the 13th century. Observe also the Hôtel de Ville, douane. and theatre in one pile, surrounded by arcades; the old château, built in the 12th century, by its last counts, with round towers of the 15th century, now a barrack; the Château Neuf, between the Adair and Nive; the arsenal armoury; new military hospital, built 1841, on the site of a convent; the mint and naval dock, &c. There are a chamber of commerce and navigation school. In Rue Lormaud, No. 8, is an inscription to a "beinfacteur de Bayonne," who left property for repairing the cathedral. A large proportion of the population is Jewish, that body being very wealthy, in consequence of the flourishing condition of the smuggling business which is carried on with Spain by the contrabandistas. General Harispe, Lafitte, the banker, Admiral Bruix, and Duverger de Hauranne, the friend of Jansenius, were natives. The bayonette, they say, was invented here; and here at Château de Marrac (burnt 1825), Napoléon kidnapped Charles IV. of Spain, with his queen and his son, Ferdinand, 1808. Its frontier position has necessarily made it a place for many interviews between French and Spanish personages, of historical importance. Manufactures-eaux-de-vie d' Hendaye, glass bottles (sand being plentiful), hams (cured at Othez, Dax, &c.), chocolate, sugar, &c.; and a trade with Spain in timber, wool, wines, drugs, resin, fish, &c. Conveyances to Biarritz, Pau, St. Sebastian (in SPAIN), on the way to Madrid. A railway runs in this direction, past Irun, St. Sebastian, Tolosa, Bilboa, Vittoria, Burgos, Valladolid, &c., to Madrid, 390 miles long. (See BRADSHAW's Hand-Book to Spain). Madrid time is 25 minutes later than Paris. There is a steamer on the Adour. From Bayonne by rail (leaving the road into Spain) beyond Anglet, you come to Biarritz (6 miles). Hotels. D'Angleterre, excellent accommodation, ederate charges; Les Ambassadeurs, excellent table d'hôte (Spanish) Des Princes; Dumont; De l'Europe; De l'Ocean. English Church Service; and resident Physiqu This favourite bathing-place of the late Emperor, after his marriage, is on the Bay of Biscay, here lined with picturesque limestone cliffs, 50 to 120 feet high, hollowed into caves, as the Chamber of Love, near the Pharos, on Cape St. Marten, &c. The country people ride en cacolet, that is, in a pannier on one side of a horse, the other being filled by the driver. Population, 2,800. It is laid out with streets and squares, and has the usual conveniences of a frequented resort. Here Bismarck met the Emperor, October, 1865, before the battle of Sadowa. The Pyrenees, 5,000 feet high, are in view. Population, 2,800. The Villa Eugenie, and the new church, are at Côte du Moulins (or des Fous), on a pretty bay, divided by the promontory of Atalaye (and its old castle) from petit port and Vieux Port. Both this and Côte du Moulin are abundantly supplied with lodging-houses, machines, &c., and there s good bathing on fine soft sand. At BIDART (11 kil. from Bayonne), the Basque nationality begins to appear. St. Jean de Luz (8 miles), a fortified town of 2,668 souls, at the Nivelle's mouth, once of greater importance, and now growing into a bathing-place. At the Château Louis XIV.'s marriage with the Infanta Maria Theresa was celebrated, 1660. There are other old houses to be seen. The line in its progress passes by URRUGNE (5 kil.), near Montagne d'Arrhune, in the Lower Pyrenées mountains, and the Bidassoa, which divides France and Spain. The heights were defended by Soult against Wellington, who passed this way, October, 1813, into France. A bridge crosses the river at BEBOBIA (the last French post town and custom-house) towards Irun; which the rail turns from to go on to ROUTE 64. From Morcenx to Mont-de-Marsan, St. Sever, Tarbes, Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Picdu-Midi, &c. Distance to Bagnères, about 72 miles. Morcenx Station on the Bordeaux and Bayonne rail (Route 63). Thence, passing Arjuzanx (8 miles) on the Bez, to Aroengosse (23 miles). Population, 900. Ortolans are eaten in August. Population, 5,570. Chief town of department Landes (in the old province of Gascony), in a sandy hollow on the Douze, where the Midou joins it, thus forming the Medouze. After its first foundation by Charlemagne, on a slight eminence (from which it obtained the name of Montagne de Mars), it was ruined by the Normans in the 11th century, and then rebuilt once more by the Counts de Marsan, 1140, taken by the Protestant leader, Montgomery, 1560, and united to the crown, with Henry IV.'s other possessions. The rivers form a little port at Place de Commerce, and are crossed by five or six bridges. It is regularly built, and has many fountains and public baths, one is a cold ferruginous spring. The chief edifices are the préfecture, palais de justice, house of detention, the barracks, and a Hendaya (8 miles), or Andaya, at the mouth of pepinière, or nursery of plants, &c., for the depart the river, on the French side, with Fuentarabia (truly Spanish) on the opposite. Hence to Irun (1 mile), and the line for Madrid. (a) Up the Nive you pass Ureury (20 kil.), near Cambo Spa, which Napoléon visited, 1808; then Irassari (20 kil.); then St. Jean Pied-de-Port (12 kil.), the old capital of Navarre; beyond which, in a gorge of the Pyrenées, is Roncevaux, or Roncesvalles (in Spain), where Roland and his brave peers were killed by the Saracens, 778. At Oroquieta, in this neighbourhood, Don Carlos was defeated in the rising of 1872. ment, where there is a pleasant promenade. There are small, but pretty, and simply dressed. English Church Service. Conveyances: By rail and coach to St. Save Grenade, Cazeres, Aire, Barcelonne (in Gers), Riscles, Castelnau, Rivière-Basse, Maubourget, Vic-Bigorre, Tarbes, Bagnères-de-Bigorre. The country to the south presents an inviting contrast to that of the Landes, which still prevails on the north, west, and east. "Nothing is seen for miles but extensive marshy wastes without any sign of habitation, beyond here and there a turf hovel to afford shelter to the peasantry, who are employed to superintend the flocks of sheep, and whose aspect is sufficiently indicative of the malarious influence of the locality. A man, woman, and child frequently go together, walking on their stilts, the woman being usually employed in knitting; and, seen from afar, the group presents rather a grotesque appearance." (Lee's Companion to the Continent). [At 22 kil. north-west of Mont-de-Marsan, is ROQUEFORT, on the high road to Bordeaux, at the junction of the Douze and Estampon; on the rocks above which stand an old castle and a modern château.] The first place on the Tarbes line is Grenade-sur-l'Adour (8 miles), a little village on the Adour, where Marshal Perrignon was born. [About 6 kil. down the river is ST. SEVER, a sous-préfecture of 4,820 souls, in a pleasant hollow; having an old church, which was p art of a Benedictine abbey, founded 993; also, remains of the château of the Dukes of Gascony. It was taken from the English, 1426. There is a column to General Lamargue, a native. At Peulvan (near the town), and Peyrelongue (8 kil. off), Druid stones are seen. Hotel.-Des Voyageurs. About 14 kil. south of St. Sever on the Loute, at Hagetman, is an old castle of the kings of Navarre. Orthez is 39 kil. from St. Sever.] Cazères-sur-l'Adour (5 miles), followed by Aire (5 miles), near the head of the Adour, where the roads to Auch and Agen turn off; an old decayed place of 4,150 population, and seat of a bishopric, having, on Mas-d'Aire hill, remains of the seat of the Visigoth king, Alaric II., who here promulgated the Theodosian code. It suffered from the ravages of the Normans and the English; and in the religious wars which followed at a later The direct road to Tarbes is by way of Madiran (28 kil.) and Vic-en-Bigorre (26 kil.); or up the Adour, following the rail to Riscle (9 miles); Castelnau d'Est or de Rive Basse (53 miles) in Hautes Pyrenées; Maubourguet (4 miles); to Vic-en-Bigorre (5 miles), where the line from Agen comes in. It is a pretty village (population, 3,800) on the Salat, in Hautes Pyrenées, with a ruined castle and walls. Andrest (4 miles), about 6 miles from TARBES, HOTELS.-Du Grand Soleil; De l'Europe; Dela Paix. Population, 15,000. Chief town of department Hautes Pyrenées, seat of a bishopric, &c. It was formerly called Turta, and was the capital of the Bigerrones, who gave name to the surrounding district of Bigorre, which, as part of Guienne, was held by the English till the time of Charles VII. It stands on the Adour, in the midst of a rich and wide plain (1,000 feet above sea), watered by the numerous branches of that river and the Garonne, and crowded with villages and fragments of rock washed from the Pyrenées-with the Pic du Midi de Bigorre in view, on the south. The floods of 1875 destroyed a bridge here; and swept away the small village of Verdun, except two houses. The roads to the watering-places and passes of the mountains strike out here, as from a centre; and a convenient market is, therefore, held every other week, attended by the country people; when corn, potatoes, cheese, salt provisions, tools, cattle, sheep, goats, horses, mules, linens, and other nécessaries are sold. Here you may see the Béarnais, with his white blouse, and blue berret or cap; the women with their red capulets; the Spanish muleteer; and a variety of picturesque costumes. Streams The town is regular and well-built. of water run through the streets, which are lined with houses of brick and pebbles, or of native Each has its own marble, roofed with slate. garden. It includes five suburbs or faubourgs; a good six- | let) and hill of Olivet; and is regularly built, with arch stone bridge crosses the river, near Place Mercadieu, where the markets are held. Maubourguet is at the centre of the town. is a well-planted walk on the Prado. Place There The Cathedral, called La Sède, is not remarkable, except for a fine altar under columns of Italian breccia. It stands on the site of the ancient Castrum Bigorra. St. Thèrese's church has a tall spire. The old palace of the bishops is used for the préfecture; and the château of its counts, in Place de la Portèle, is used for a prison. Here are a cavalry barrack and riding school; with another barrack in the old Ursuline convent; a government cannon factory; a theatre, a hospital, priests' seminary, college, school of design, baths, &c. Marshal de Castelnau (ambassador to England in the 16th century), and General Dembarrère, as well as the infamous Barère, of the Convention, were natives. Paper, copper goods, cutlery, nails, carts, &c., are made; trade in white wines, spirits, leather, marble, oil, grain, hams, horses, cattle, &c. Rail to Pau and Bayonne (see Routes 63, 65). Pau is 66 kil. west. Also, to Auch, Bordeaux, Agen, Toulouse (Route 66), St. Gaudens, Bagnères-deBigorre, Montréjean (for Bagnères-de-Luchon.) Various Excursions may be made to Lourdes, Argèles, Val d'Azur, Arrens, and Poucy-la-Huc chapels, St. Savin church and its fine view over the Vallée de Devantaygue, Luz, St. Sauveur, Gavarnie fall, Héas chapel, Baréges, the Pic du Midi, Ossun Castle, near a Roman camp, &c. The rail runs up the Adour, past Bernac-Debat (5 miles), to Montgaillard (3 miles), whence it is 5 miles to BAGNERES-DE-BIGORRE. HOTELS.-De Paris; De France; De Londres; De Frascati; De la Providence; Du Grand Soleil. Cafés: Des Voyageurs; De Paris; De l'Union. English Church Service. A sous-préfecture of 9,200 population, the second town in the department, and the "Bath" of France, being the best and most fashionable watering-place in the country. It stands on the Adour (crossed by two bridges), at the entrance of the Val de Campan, in a flat cultivated spot, 1,820 feet above the sea, between the gave (i.e., burn or rivy no remarkable edifices, though lodgings, hotels cafés, and other accommodations for strangers, are abundant and cheap. The season lasts from May to October, when the population is doubled by invalids and pleasure seekers. Lodgings cost from 1 to 2 francs a-day; sometimes much more. Orchards, vineyards, bright green meadows (a rare thing in France), fields of buckwheat, &c., are seen in the neighbourhood, with woods of oak and beech on the hills, and something like the parks and gardens of England. The air is pure and delightful. The people are tall and well made. Houses are built of limestone, while cool streams run all day long from the river, through the streets, which are paved with pebble mosaic. Le Coustou, or the Parc, a shady place in the centre of the town, is the chief rendezvous. Here are the cafés, theatre (over the chapel of St. Jean, belonging to the Knights of Malta), and the large parish church of St. Vincent, which has a steeple and some carvings on wood. Other walks are the Allées Bourbon, and the Elysées Cottin and Azais, named after those authors. One avenue leads from the Hôtel des Thermes bathing-house (built of marble, in 1823, and 207 feet long), to the Bains de Salut, in a limestone ravine in Monné hill, behind which is Mont Bédat, and its grotto. The baths of Lapoyriè, Grand Pré, CarrèreLannes, and Versailles, are to be found on this road. Those of Cazaux, Théas, &c., are under Olivet hill. Petit-Prieur supplies the civil hospital, for the poor; the remainder take the names Bellevue (from the prospect near it), Morat, Lasserre, Pinac, la Gautière, and de Salie-the last being especially useful in the cure of old wounds. About thirty springs are counted, varying from 90 to 135° temperature, and supplying eighty-five marble baignoires. They are usually taken in the morning. They contain iron, with salts of soda and magnesia, and are tasteless, clear, aperient, and tonic. The fontaines d'Angoulême and des Demoiselles Carrère are chiefly iron. A sulphur spring, called Labasserre, is 8 kil. off, on the Loussonet. The price of a bath is 1 franc. To the Romans these waters were known as the Vicus Aquensis; and they have kept up their reputation to the present day, on the left, and the Pic du Midi de Bigorre, on the right. The latter is 9,430 feet above sea to its sharp top, which commands a noble prospect. The pass itself is 2,300 feet lower. The town was made over to the Black Prince by | below), leaving the Pic d'Espade, Néouvielle, &c., John of France. An old Gothic tower of the Jacobins' convent remains. Among the conveniences for visitors are Jalons' Musée des Pyrenées and reading-room, Dossun's library, and the Frascati athenæum and music hall. Horses (at 5 francs a day), mules, donkey chaises, haises à porteur (20 francs) for ladies and invalids, and other conveyances abound; guides 5 francs a day. Paper (at Lasserre's factory), warm woollen and knitted crepes de Baréges, are manufactured here. Here Grenzet's marble works (the veined Marbre de Campan), may also be visited. The Archives Évangéliques," a Protestant journal, published at Bagnères. Rail and Coaches to Tarbes, Barèges, St. Sauveur, Cauterets, Bagnères-de-Luchon, Pau, Toulouse, Auch, St. Gaudens, Condom, Marmande, Grip, Oloron, Agen. Excursions from Bagnères.-Near the town are the heights of Chipolou (above the fontaine d'Angoulême), the farms of Mentilo and Métaon, the promenade of Monto-Pouzac (where the races are held), and its Roman camp. Other points of interest are Val de Campan and its grotto (3 kil.), Grip (12 kil.), Vals de Tribons and de l'Esponne, Médows convent, Ordinséde, Barèges, Pic du Midi (16 kil.), Penn de l'Héris, &c. Ascending the Adour, you pass Aste and Baudéan (where Larrey the surgeon was born), beyond which the fine Val de l'Esponne joins, leading up to Lac Bleu in Pic de Montaigu, past l'Esponne and Traonessaron. Further up the Adour is Campan (6 kil. from Bagnères), which gives name to a beautiful valley, one of the richest in the department for its verdure and scenery. Population, 4,171. It stands under the precipices of the Penn de l' Heris, or Lleyris, about 6,300 feet above sea. Further on is St. Marie (5 kil.), where the southeast head of the Adour runs up past the marble quarries of Peyrehite and Espinadet (8 kil.), to Col d'Aspin, whence it is about 10 kil. to Arreau, in Val d'Aure (see Route 67), and from which there is a path over the mountains to Bagnères-deLuchon. From St. Marie, up the south-west or main head of the Adour, you come to the pretty falls of Grip and Artigues (8 kil.); thence the path leads (15 kil.) over the Tourmalet Pass to Barèges (in Route 65, R ROUTE 65. Dax (or Bayonne), to Orthez, Pau, EauxBonnes, Cauterets, St. Sauveur, Barèges, Mont Perdu, &c. Distance, about 106 to 116 miles. Dax Station, as in Route 63, on the Bordeaux and Bayonne line. The next station is Mimbaste (8 miles), near the river Luy; followed by Misson-Habas (5 miles), and Puyoo (6 miles), a pretty spot in department Basses-Pyrenées, on the Gave de Pau; where the branch line from Bayonne comes in. [This branch passes up the Adour, near the Pau road, to Urt (10 miles from Bayonne); then Peyrehorade (8 miles), another pretty spot, in department Landes, where the Gave d'Oloron (gave, a mountain torrent) joins that of Pau. It has an old castle, flanked by great towers; and stone quarries. Population, 2,700. The next stations are Labatut (52 miles), and Puyoo (5 miles), as above.] Baigts (3 miles); followed by Orthez (5 miles), or Orthes, a well-built souspréfecture, of 6,730 souls, in department BassesPyrenées, pleasantly seated, where six roads join, on a hill-side by the Gave de Pau, at the old Gothic bridge, which has a ruined tower on it. It was taken from the Counts of Dax by Gaston III., one of the Princes of Béarn, whose seat was at the decayed Château de Moncade, where Blanche of Castile was poisoned by her sister, the wife of Gaston IV., and where Gaston, surnamed Phoebus, killed his own son, and died. The castle tower commands a good view. In the town is a new Hôtel de Ville. It was a flourishing place, and the seat of a Protestant University, founded by Henri Quatre's mother, till the revocation of the edict of Nantes. On the hills above it, the Duke of Wellington beat the French, 27th February, 1814, after crossing the Pyrenées. Bayonne hams cured here; there are large sawworks, and a trade in goose feathers. |