The City
France > Pyrénées > Pays Basque > Côte Basque > Bayonne > The City

Cathedral of Bayonne © Gerald Reman

Although there are no great sights in Bayonne, it's a pleasure to wander the narrow streets of the old town, bisected by the river Nive and still encircled by Vauban's defences. The cathedral is on the west bank in Grand Bayonne, and the museums east of the river in Petit Bayonne.

The Cathédrale Ste-Marie (Mon–Sat 7.30am–noon & 3–7pm, Sun 3.30–6.30pm), on the magnolia-shaded place Pasteur, with its twin towers and steeple rising with airy grace above the houses, is best seen from a distance. Up close, the yellowish stone reveals bad weathering, with most of the decorative detail lost. Inside, its most impressive features are the height of the nave and some sixteenth-century glass, set off by the prevailing gloom. Like other southern Gothic cathedrals of the period (around 1260), it was based on more famous northern models, in this case Soissons and Reims. On the south side is a quiet, secretive cloister (daily 9am–12.30pm & 2–6/7pm), with a lawn, cypress trees and beds of begonias.

The smartest streets in town are those around the cathedral: rue d'Espagne, the old commercial centre, heading south, and rue de la Monnaie, leading into rue Port-Neuf, with its aromatic pâtisseries and confiseries, running north. Southwest of the cathedral, along rue des Faures and the streets above the old walls, there is a distinctly Spanish feel, with washing strung at the windows and strains of music drifting from dark interiors.

Below the cathedral, the riverside quays of the Nive are the city's most picturesque focus, with sixteenth-century arcaded houses on the Petit Bayonne side, one of which contains the excellent Basque ethnographic museum, the Musée Basque (May–Oct Tues–Sun 10am–6.30pm; Nov–April 10am–12.30pm & 2–6pm ; €5.50, €9.15 with Musée Bonnat). Its exhibits illustrate Basque life through the centuries, and include reconstructed farm buildings, house interiors, implements, tools and makhilas – innocent-looking carved, wooden walking sticks with a concealed steel spear tip at one end, used by pilgrims and shepherds for self-protection if need be. There's also a section on Basque seagoing activities (Columbus's skipper was a Basque), and rooms on pelota – its history and stars – and famous Basques.

The city's second museum, the Musée Bonnat, close by at 5 rue Jacques-Lafitte (Wed–Sun 10am–12.30pm & 2–6pm; €5.50, €9.15 with Musée Basque), with an annexe at 9 rue Fredéric-Bastiat, provides an unexpected treasury of art. Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italian art is well represented, as are most periods before Impressionism. Highlights include Goya's Self-Portrait and Portrait of Don Francisco de Borja, Rubens' powerful Apollo and Daphne and The Triumph of Venus, plus works by Murrillo, El Greco and Ingrès. A whole gallery is devoted to high-society portraits by Léon Bonnat (1833–1922), whose personal collection formed the original core of the museum. There are also frequent temporary exhibits of the work of prominent artists, well worth catching.

Apart from savouring the wide river skies, there is little to draw you to the northern bank of the Adour. The church of St-Esprit, opposite the station, is all that remains of a hostel that once ministered to the sore feet and other ailments of the Santiago pilgrims – worth a peek inside for an interesting wood sculpture of The Flight into Egypt. Just behind the station is Vauban's massive citadelle; built in 1680 to defend the town against Spanish attack, it actually saw little action until the Napoleonic wars, when its garrison resisted a siege by Wellington for four months in 1813. Don't miss the beautiful Jardin Botanique inside the castle walls, with its huge collection of plants labelled in French, Basque and Latin (daily: mid-April to mid-Oct 9am–noon & 2–6pm; free).

If you have a car, it's worth making an evening trip northwest through the industrial suburb of Boucau and out to the breakwater, La Barre, that protects the mouth of the Adour. It's a pleasant place to sit and watch the leaden-hued Atlantic rollers come in; if you're tempted to swim off the beautiful white beach that stretches from here to Bordeaux, remember that there are lethal currents close inshore, so be extremely careful.