Bayonne

April 29, 2024 – La Bastide Clairence to Bayonne – 28 kms – Temporesidences Cathedral

April 30 and May 1, 2024 – Rest days in Bayonne – Temporesidences Cathedral 

When we passed through Bayonne years ago we were struck by the beauty of the place.  So with more time available on this trip, we chose to stay here for our first rest day since Arles.  Today a wall of rain sweeps over the region, so we have extended our stay to a third night.

The site of the city, at the conjunction of the Adour and Nive rivers, and a few kilometres from the sea, has been continuously inhabited since the Neolithic.  Until 1907 it was illegal to build outside the city walls (designed by Vaubin) so the resulting city is tight and medieval in its layout.  The constraints on lateral expansion meant that residents built up, leaving picturesque half timbered buildings that are in some cases only two windows wide and five stories high.  It’s a photographer’s dream.

The cathedral is everything that a French gothic church should be: high and bright, with light streaming through stained glass windows depicting martyred saints carrying their heads in their hands.  There is also a delicate 15th century gothic cloister.

Bayonne is the unofficial capital of the French portion of the Pays Basque.  There is a wonderful museum on the Basque culture housed in a 16th century building.  Since my DNA indicates that I’m three percent Basque, I felt right at home.

Fun fact (or not so fun if you were at the wrong end of one): Bayonne is the city where the bayonet was invented in the 17th century.

I was honestly disappointed when we decided not to cross the Somport Pass.  However, by continuing on to the coast, we are now in a position to take some lesser used routes on our way to Santiago.  Reports we are hearing suggest that the pilgrim traffic on both the Camino Frances and Camino del Norte is very heavy.  We have therefore decided to follow a course between these two routes.  We will take the Camino Vasco (also called the Tunnel Route) southwest from Irún, and then connect with the Camino Olvidado (the Forgotten Way) to La Robla, north of Leon on the San Salvador Way. I’m excited to be following these little used routes in the Cantabrian mountains.