Pau > Laruns

NEW AQUITAINE REGION

Departments : Charente, Charente-Maritime, Corrèze, Creuse, Dordogne, Gironde, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Deux-Sèvres, Vienne, Haute-Vienne.
Population: 6 million
Prefecture: Bordeaux
Area: 2,011 km2
Specialities: Bordeaux wines, Cognac, Armagnac, Espelette chilli pepper, Périgord walnuts, Marmande tomatoes, oysters from the Arcachon basin, Salers meat, Aquitaine cow, Bayonne ham, Pauillac lamb, Bordeaux canelés. Goose, duck, Sarlat apples, Basque chicken, garbure, lamprey. Black truffle.
Sport clubs: Girondins de Bordeaux (football), Stade Montois, Union Sportive Dacquoise, Aviron Bayonnais, Union Bordeaux Bègles Atlantique, Stade Rochelais, CA Brive Corrèze Limousin, Section Paloise, Biarritz Olympique, SU Agen (rugby), Elan Béarnais Pau-Orthez, CSP Limoges (basketball). 
Competitions: Tour de France, surfing in Lacanau (Lacanau Pro) and Biarritz. Tour du Limousin.  
Festivals: Bayonne festival, Dax festival, Madeleine festival in Mont-de-Marsan, Francofolies in La Rochelle, Angoulême comic book festival, Brive book fair, Nuits de nacre in Tulle, Grand Pavois in La Rochelle, Garorock in Marmande, Cognac detective film festival
Economy: Bordeaux wines, Cognac and Armagnac, aeronautics and space industry, biotechnologies, chemistry, scientific research. Image and digital sector. Agri-food industry. Port of Bordeaux. Tourism. Universities.
Sights: Bordeaux, Saint-Emilion, La Rochelle, Biarritz, Arcachon basin, Dune du Pilat, Lascaux caves, Futuroscope in Poitiers, Lacanau beaches, Biarritz, Biscarosse, Hourtin, Carcans, Soulac-sur-Mer, Gironde river mouth, Bordeaux vineyards, Dordogne castles, Pau castle, Pyrenees, Oleron island, Ré island.  
Websites and social networks: www.nouvelle-aquitaine.fr

JURANÇON (Pop: 7,100)

Jurançon is world famous for its white wines (a dry AOC since 1975 and a sweet AOC since 1936), which were often served on the table of Henri IV and were particularly appreciated by novelist Colette. Legend has it that Henri IV was baptized by having his lips rubbed with a clove of garlic and jurançon. The main grape varieties of the appellation are Petit and Gros Manseng. These wines can be discovered at the Maison du Jurançon and at the Cave du Jurançon, located in Gan. Jurançon is the birthplace of skier Annie Famose, double Olympic medallist at the 1968 Grenoble Olympics, and one of the founders of the resort of Avoriaz in the Alps. The city was also the start of an individual time trial won by Primoz Roglic in the last Vuelta. 

OLORON-SAINTE-MARIE 

The city of art and history is known for its rich heritage in the heart of its three historic districts. Oloron-Sainte-Marie displays 2,000 years of history through the treasures of the Sainte-Marie Cathedral, the Grède Tower, the Maison du Patrimoine (House of Heritage) and the Notre-Dame Crypt. The city is also the ideal starting point for venturing into the great valleys of the Atlantic Pyrenees, the Ossau, Aspe and Barétous valleys in the Béarn-Pyrénées region. City of rugby and of poet Jules Supervielle, it is also a cycling town. In 1977, a stage of the Tour set off from Oloron towards Vitoria, where Dietrich Thurau won. Oloron was also the town of Bernard Becaas, Bernard Hinault's and then Laurent Fignon's loyal lieutenant at Renault Gitanes. Winner of a stage in the Giro d'Italia in 1982, he took part in four Tours de France between 1979 and 1983 and died tragically in 2000 in a motorbike accident at the age of 45.   

St. Mary's Cathedral
Construction: 12th to 14th centuries.
Style: Romanesque and Gothic.
History: the church of Oloron was destroyed in 848 by the Vikings. In 1102, the Viscount of Bearn Gaston IV the Crusader decided to build a new cathedral. The Romanesque portal protected by the bell tower remains. The nave was built in the 13th century, as was the current sacristy. In 1569, when the Huguenots of Montgomery arrived in Oloron, the cathedral was pillaged and ravaged. It was returned to Bishop Arnaud de Maytie in 1602, then enlarged by Bishop François de Revol in 1749 with four side chapels with altarpieces on either side of the nave. This cathedral was the seat of the former diocese of Oloron, abolished in 1802. In 1909, the bishop of Bayonne took over the title of bishop of Oloron and Lescar. Since then, the diocese of Bayonne, Lescar and Oloron has had one mother church (Bayonne cathedral) and two co-cathedrals (Oloron cathedral and Lescar cathedral).
Characteristics: its sculpted Romanesque portal from the 12th century is what makes it so famous. The treasure, located inside the building, hides a small Béarnais cot, a collection of clothes and numerous pieces of silverware. Unfortunately, parts of the treasure were stolen in November 2019. 
Listing: Historical Monument since 1939. Unesco World Heritage Site in 1998 as part of the Pilgrimage Route to Santiago de Compostela.  

Grède Tower
Construction: 13th century.
History: the building was probably dedicated to trade in the 14th century. In the following century, the building grew in size as its owners wished to show their affluence through original architecture.
Current use: the tower currently houses a collection of local fauna. Its belvedere, at the top, offers a panoramic view of the city and the Pyrenees.
Listing: Historical Monument since 1943.

ARAMITS

This is the village of Aramis, one of Alexandre Dumas' three musketeers.  

The Musketeers of Barétous
With no less than three musketeers having a link with the valley, Barétous can pride itself on being the valley of the musketeers. The village of Aramits, the capital of Barétous, is undoubtedly the birthplace of the Aramitz family, whose Henri, born around 1620, inspired Alexandre Dumas' Aramis. A few leagues away, near the church of Lanne, a large square house would have belonged to a nephew of Isaac de Portau, alias Dumas' Porthos. Even more than Aramis, this character, who is so alive in the novel, has left few clues to his history. Of the four musketeers, Athos, who was born near Sauveterre around 1620, has nothing to do with the valley, although he was related to the Count de Tréville. Mr de Tréville was born in Oloron in 1958 to Jean de Peyrer and Marie d'Aramitz (sister of the musketeer Charles), whose real name was Arnaud Jean du Peyrer, and whose mother had strong ties to Barétous. He took up the profession of arms at the age of 17 and, thanks to his bravery, rose through the military hierarchy until he was given command of the musketeers in 1634. As we can see, the true history of the musketeers fully justifies the valley's claim to a part of their history. Under these conditions, it is not surprising that its rallying cry is now "One for all, all for Barétous!  

Aventure Parc® Aramits
This amusement park offers acrobatic courses in height: more than 120 games in the trees in unlimited on thirteen adventure courses of different levels. Activities for all, access to games from a height of one metre: jumping mattresses, AirBag Adventure, paintball in the forest. The Adventure Catapult propels visitors into the air at a height of over twenty metres.

SAINTE-ENGRÂCE 

Surrounded by forests, mossy hills and meadows suitable for pastoral activity, the village of Santa Engràce is famous for the Kakuetta Caves, but also for its 11th-century Romanesque church, Santa Grazi. The Navarrese Abbey of Leire founded the Romanesque church of Santa Grazi (1085), named after a young Portuguese noblewoman who took refuge here to escape persecution. With its hospital for pilgrims, the abbey became an important stop on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. The only survivor of its heyday is the listed 11th century church, a rare example of Romanesque architecture.  

Kakuetta Gorge
Opened to the public in 1966, the Kakuetta Gorge immediately catches the visitor's eye with its beauty: a turquoise lake, a canyon, a waterfall of more than 20 m, vertiginous walls shining with fresh water and luxuriant vegetation. In this Upper Swabian country, only smugglers used to take the steep paths. It took the audacity of a caving enthusiast, Edouard-Alfred Martel, to dare to venture into this labyrinth of rocks and faults at the beginning of the 20th century. In the past, the farmers used to bring down the wheat from the high cliffs to the water mill installed at the entrance of the Kakuetta Gorge (the latter was washed away by the 1937 floods), and then they would bring up the heavy sacks of flour by the same route.  

Verna Cave
Accessible by reservation only, the La Verna cave is known throughout the world for its extraordinary dimensions. It is part of the la Pierre-Saint-Martin pit, which is very popular with sports cavers. It is one of the ten largest underground chambers in the world: 245 metres in diameter and 194 metres high (it could contain up to six Notre-Dame de Paris cathedrals). The extraordinary human adventure linked to the discovery of the Verna is the main theme of the guided and commented tour, which follows a secure 800-metre route, accessible to people with reduced mobility.

ARETTE

On 13 August 1967, the village of Arette was 80 pc destroyed by an earthquake of magnitude 5.5, which killed one person. It was the strongest earthquake in France since 1909. The former president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, Nelson Paillou, who died in 1997, lived in Arette. The Pierre Saint-Martin resort, the finish of a stage of the 2015 Tour, won by Chris Froome, lies in the commune of Arette. 

The House of Barétous
In the heart of the village of Arette, the museographic space La Maison du Barétous opened its doors in July 2009, to allow visitors to discover the Barétous valley, a land of movement and traditions with multiple facets, detailed in different exhibition rooms. Speleology, seismology, pastoralism, musketeers, emigrations... so many riches that have made the history of the Barétous valley.

MARIE BLANQUE PASS 

It links the valleys of Aspe and Ossau. The Tour de France has been riding it regularly since 1978. In 2020, it was Marc Hirschi who was in the lead.

BIELLE

On the left bank of the Gave d'Ossau, the commune is the capital of the Ossau valley. The church of Saint-Vivien was built in the 15th and 16th centuries in a flamboyant gothic style with cross and tierceron vaults, a polygonal apse, sculpted capitals, keystones and lampposts, Gallo-Roman columns, embattled doors and a square bell tower.

The Vulture Cliff
In the communes of Bielle, Aste-Béon, Bilhères and Castet, there is a natural reserve for the nesting of griffon vultures, created by ministerial decree on 11 December 1974. The reserve is managed by the Pyrenees National Park. Two sites on a total area of 82.3 hectares, on a cliff at an altitude of 1,000 m, have been protected to favour the reproduction of griffon vultures, which need abundant food and perfect tranquility. The reserve is also home to 5 or 6 couples of Egyptian vultures.

Gave d'Ossau
Main tributary, by its flow, of the Gave d'Oloron, it springs at altitude (Pic du Midi d'Ossau, 2,884 m). A mountain torrent in its upper course, its bed widens between Arudy and Laruns. The valley, 35 km long, stretches from the Spanish border to the plain of Pau, and is one of the 3 Bearn valleys. It is a pastoral valley with its transhumance and its ancestral traditions. Its flagship product is the pure ewe's milk cheese called Laruns. The Ossau valley is also a skiing haven with its resorts of Artouste-Fabrèges and Gourette, a valley where you can treat yourself or get back into shape with its thermal spas. When looking at the mountains from Pau’s Boulevard des Pyrénées, it is the Ossau massif that is in sight.

On the French side of the Pyrenees mountains, reaching towards the Atlantic ocean, discover nature at its finest. From the snow-topped ski slopes and majestic waterfalls, to rugged hiking trails and vast stretches of greenery. Whether you choose snow sports, dry land of water-based activities, this invigorating area has plenty to offer adventurers throughout the year. Between the peaks and rivers, you'll find charming French towns steeped in history and local culture. The region's capital, Pau, home to an imperial Château and several museums, is a highlight for lovers of architecture and fine arts. Nearby Tarbes offers something for more modern history buffs, surrounded by equally splendid gardens and riverways.

5 things you must see in the French Pyrenees

1.  The picturesque town of Pau        
2.  Panoramic views from the Pic du Midi   
3.  The parks and gardens of Tarbes
4.  Pilgrimage site, Lourdes, its grotto and basilicas
5.  UNESCO World Heritage site, Cirque de Gavarnie

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