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Separated by a bridge across the Nivelle
river mouth, SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ (in Basque: Bonibane Lohitzun or St.John of the
Marshes) and CIBOURE (in Basque: Zubiburu or “bridge-head”) are the most
picturesque Basque towns on the French coast.
The fishing port, the beautiful Basque architecture and a fine, sheltered beach
and harbor combine to make a superb site and excellent stopover. The town
square, with its outdoor cafes under shady trees where the local artists paint
and display their work (beware of tourist traps!), is one of the most charming
in the region.
The communities were busy fishing and whaling ports and their mariners were
whale-hunting as far as Newfoundland and Labrador in the century. Later the
sailors of Saint-Jean de Luz and Ciboure were renowned for another maritime
tradition: piracy! The Basque “corsairs” ((privateers) sailed under the
authority of the French king and were the scourge of English merchant ships.
St.Jean de Luz became a
veritable “pirates-nest” and many of the fine houses today were built from the
revenues of the corsairs.
The golden age of prosperity for the town was crowned by the marriage in the
Basque church in of Louis XIV and Marie-Thérèse of Spain. The royal wedding took
place in St.Jean de Luz as a result of the “Treaty of the Pyrénées” signed
between France and Spain a year previously. The two houses where the couple
awaited the marriage can be seen on either side of the town square-the house
“Louis XIV” may be visited during the summer months.
The Basque church of St.John the Baptist is of particular interest. The doorway
where the couple left after the ceremony was immediately walled up so that no
one else could use the royal threshold. The interior is one of the fines
examples of Basque religious architecture, a simple structure without columns
but with a magnificent high altar and the classic wooden balconies typical of
Basque churches.
The port of St.Jean de Luz maintains a strong fishing tradition. Sardines are
caught off the Portuguese and Moroccan coast, anchovies in the Bay of Biscay and
tuna off the French coast in summer and northern Africa in the winter.
On the other side of the port, on the quayside of Ciboure lies a large grey
stone house (no 27) built in Dutch style. The great composer Maurice Ravel (who
was half Basque) was born there in 1875 and also worked on the “bolero” there in
1928. |
