GREAT DESTINATIONS ❘ THE PYRENEES


miraculous healing power of the waters which spring from the grotto. According to the Church, some people have successfully been healed. Unfortunately, thanks to all the religious tourists, modern Lourdes is now drowning in cheap hotels and tatty souvenir shops offering everything from Jesus snow globes to chintzy Madonnas. Whether you’re religious or not, it’s defi nitely worth a visit though, if only to understand the power of religious faith. Back on the A64, and suitably charged with religious


From top: Lourdes attracts religious tourists and those in search of a cure for their


ailments; the easily recognisable Pic du Midi d’Ossau; the


beautiful city of Pau, home to the Boulevard des Pyrénées


fervour, you’ll soon fi nd yourself arriving in Pau (which, by the way, rhymes with ‘snow’, not ‘now’). This beautiful city has been luring British and American tourists since Victorian times, thanks to its strangely mild climate (it’s not unusual to enjoy 20°C on midwinter afternoons), its spas, and the parks full of sub-tropical plants. On foot, head for the town’s most famous street, the Boulevard des Pyrénées. Stretching east-west for over a mile, and lined with 19th-century mansions, hotels and cafés, it’s essentially one long viewing terrace, offering superb vistas of the Pyrenean


“PAU HAS THE WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL VIEW OF THE EARTH, JUST AS NAPLES HAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VIEW OF THE SEA”


mountains to the south, including the distinctive double summit of Pic du Midi d’Ossau. The 19th- century author Alphonse de Lamartine wasn’t wrong when he wrote: “Pau has the world’s most beautiful view of the Earth, just as Naples has the most beautiful view of the sea.”


BASQUE COUNTRY


At the western end of the boulevard is the Château de Pau, now a national museum. It was here, in 1553, that the fi rst Bourbon king of France, Henri IV, was born, his cradle supposedly an upturned turtle shell, which is still on display today. North of the château is the charming old town. Less than 300m in diameter, it offers hilly, cobbled streets, bars, restaurants and antiques shops. It’s also the start of the famous Rue du Hédas: formerly a giant sewer, in 2016, it was transformed into a pedestrian promenade, with bars, restaurants, gardens, light installations, a playground and a boulodrome. Fortunately the sewer is long gone. Pau is also very well served by sports facilities. Down on the Gave de Pau river, there’s rafting, kayaking and canoeing, plus a whitewater centre, Parc Aquasports. Pau claims to have continental Europe’s oldest golf club, originally established in 1856 by two Scottish ❯❯


116 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Aug/Sep 2022


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