Pau has no must-see sights or museums, enabling you to enjoy its relaxed and friendly elegance without any sense of guilt. The parts to wander are the streets behind the boulevard des Pyrénées, especially the western end, which stretches along the rim of the scarp above the Gave de Pau, from the castle to the Palais de Beaumont, now a convention centre, in the English-style Parc Beaumont. On a (rare) clear day, the view from the boulevard is out of this world, encompassing a hundred-kilometre sweep of the highest Pyrenean peaks, with the distinctive Pic du Midi d'Ossau slap in front of you.In the narrow streets around the castle and down in the gully of the chemin du Hédas are numerous cafés, restaurants, bars and boutiques, with the main market in the halles just northeast on place de la République each Saturday morning. The Château itself (one-hour guided tours daily: April to mid-June & mid-Sept to Oct 9.30–11.45am & 2–4.15pm; mid-June to mid-Sept 9.30am–12.15pm & 1.30–5.45pm; Nov–Mar 9.30–11.45am & 2–4.15pm; €4.42) is very much a landmark building. Not much remains of its original appearance beyond the brick keep built by Gaston Fébus in 1370. The handsome Renaissance windows and other details on the inner courtyard were added by Henri d'Albret. Louis-Philippe renovated it in the nineteenth century after it had stood empty for two hundred years, and Napoléon III and Eugénie titivated it further to make it suitable for weekend house parties. The visitable apartments are essentially theirs, with some fine tapestries and bits of Henri-IV memorabilia, like the turtle shell that allegedly served him for a cradle. A short distance northeast of the Château, the mildly interesting Musée Bernadotte, 6 rue Tran (Tues–Sun 10am–noon & 2–6pm; €1.80), is the birthplace of the man who, having served as one of Napoléon's commanders, went on to become Charles XIV of Sweden. As well as fine pieces of traditional Béarnais furniture, the house contains some valuable works of art collected over his lifetime. Pau's other museum, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in rue Mathieu-Lalanne (daily except Tues 10am–noon & 2–6pm; €1.80), has an eclectic collection of little-known works from various European schools spanning the fourteenth to twentieth centuries; the only really world-class items are Rubens' The Last Judgement and Degas' The Cotton Exchange, a slice of finely observed Belle Époque New Orleans life.
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