Theme Week Gascony – Pau

27 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Boulevard des Pyrénées © Flo641/cc-by-sa-3.0

Boulevard des Pyrénées © Flo641/cc-by-sa-3.0

Pau is a commune on the northern edge of the Pyrenees, capital of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques Département in Aquitaine. It was also the capital of the historical Béarn Province. It forms the communauté d’agglomération of Pau-Pyrénées with 13 neighbouring communes to carry out local tasks together. Place Clemenceau, the heart of the downtown area, is the site of many public festivals, great shopping, and a beautiful fountain.   read more…

Bayonne in Basque Country

6 December 2012 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

The Quay of the Admiral Jauréguiberry and the Cathedral © Daniel Villafruela

The Quay of the Admiral Jauréguiberry and the Cathedral © Daniel Villafruela

Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It belongs to both vernacular cultural regions of Basque Country and Gascony. Together with nearby Anglet, Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and several smaller communes, Bayonne forms an urban area with 178,965 inhabitants at the 1999 census, 40,078 of whom lived in the city of Bayonne proper (44,300 as of 2004). The communes of Bayonne, Biarritz, and Anglet have joined into an intercommunal entity called the Communauté d’agglomération de Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz (BAB). Bayonne has the longest tradition of bull-fighting in France and there is a ring beyond the walls of Grand Bayonne. The season runs between July and September. Bull-fighting is part of the five-day Fêtes de Bayonne which starts on the first Wednesday of August and attracts people from across the Basque Country and beyond. Parades, music, dance, fireworks, food and drink all feature in the celebrations. Soon after the Assumption festival of 15 August heralds a few more days of bull-fights.   read more…

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