Monday 5/20/19 – I love this little seaside village! St-Jean-de-Luz (san zhahn-duh-lews) sits cradled between its small port and gentle bay. And it’s got the Pyrenees mountains behind it. It’s technically on the Atlantic Ocean but there’s a crescent shaped bay that surrounds it. It used to make all its wealth from whaling, cod fishing and pirating, but now its main revenue is tourism. It’s a quaint little town where all the little side streets lead right to the beach.
It’s one main tourist site (other than the beach) and what put it on the map is the Church of St. Jean-Baptiste. The marriage of Louis XIV and Marie-Therese took place here. The ultimate in political marriages, the knot tied between Louis XIV and Marie-Therese in 1660, also cinched a reconciliation deal between Europe’s two most powerful countries. The king of Spain, Philip IV – who lived in El Escorial palace – gave his daughter in marriage to the king of France, who lived in Versailles. This marriage united Europe’s two largest palaces. Little St-Jean-de-Luz was selected because it was roughly halfway between Madrid and Paris and virtually on the France-Spain border.
The first two pics show a little of the inside of the church. The three foot long paddle wheel ship hanging from the ceiling was a gift from Napoleon III’s wife, Eugenie. It’s a model of an ill-fated ship that had almost sunk just offshore when she was on it. Behind the ship you can also see the dark wood balconies which segregated the men from the women and children. The number of levels of balconies depended on the importance of the church and this church, with three levels, is the largest Basque church in France. The 1670 Baroque altar features 20 French saints with the city’s patron saint, St. John the Baptist, placed prominently in the center.
I walked all over the town and along the beach. I then took the trail up to the little White House on the hill and walked along the coast. The views were really pretty. The remaining pics I took along my walks. The one pic of the store Maison Adam shows huge strands of red peppers above the store. These are the AOC red peppers from the town of Esplette (piments d’Esplette) that are there for good luck.
The last few pics are of the sun setting over St-Jean-de-Luz. What’s bizarre is the sun does not set here until 9:30 PM! So I’m guessing on the longest day of the year (June 20th?), the sun must not set until like midnight! Lol. Crazy. But I’m enjoying the longer days and additional sunlight!
Hope everyone had a good Monday! Enjoy!
Jeff
The Wandering Italian 