Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

October 6, 2023

Rest day (sort of)

Today`s post will be short as it is our first rest day on this tour, although Pat has questioned the legitimacy of calling this a rest day as we did some riding up a hill.

Our check out time from Hôtel Juantorena was at 11:00 and we just barely met that deadline. Today was a day to break the tempo of touring (some say rest day) and take our time and slow down. We had a short ride to our next stop of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and the plan was enjoy this village that most people that we met had positive things to say about.

Basque housing style along the main strreet in Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry.

One last picture of the Roman bridge. Everyone must take a picture of this view. It really is great.

Leaving town, the hillsides are full of terraced crops. From a distance they look like peppers but they might be grapes as well.

Wow. Great scenery on our short ride as we climbed out of town.

It did not take us long to complete our short ride today, arriving in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port well before our checkin of 4pm. We found a place just outside the door of our hotel to stash our bikes and stopped for great coffee a few doors down. We then spent the next few hours looking around the village.

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is one of France`s Les Plus Beaux Villages =a recognition for their distinctive historic character. It is also famous for being the official starting point of the Camino de Santiago route. Pilgrims arrive at the medieval village to embark on their journey to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia Spain. The Camino France is an 800 km journey and the town was full of the hikers or pilgrims as they are known. The town did not look really busy but there were not a lot of choices available when we booked our hotel. Our choice of the Maison Simonenia was excellent!

Our welcoming committee was a bit blasé about our arrival to town.

Lots of pink umbrellas on the main street. We have seen a variety of displays of these umbrellas in all of the towns in which we have stayed. They recognize the October breast cancer awareness campaign.

The clock tower, bridge and village gate into the old part of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. Our hotel was just up the steep cobble stone street and we had to push our bikes up the incline.

Mother and child inset in the clock tower.

Crossing the bridge looking at the River Nive. The river had great historical importance for the town`s industry.

Inside the church at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.

The route planner wanted to come this way because Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port was described as an "Historic staging post for the Pyrénées mountains routes". Several passes were within reach of the town and most importantly, ¨they have always been considered to offer easy passage through the Pyrénées.¨ Let`s hope they're right!

The view beyond the walls of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. It is quite a spread out community.

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is a fortified medieval village with significant historical infrastructure still in place. This is the 17th century citadel that is now being used as a school.

Large line up of pilgrims waiting to restister and get their passport book which will be stamped as they follow the Camino de Santiago.

There were a number of shops catering to the needs of the walkers. They will not be needing one of these in the next few days.

We thought later that we should have investigated this service about moving our panniers to our next stop.

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and the Nive River,

End of the day, walking up our street back to our hotel.

We enjoyed our time in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. Tomorrow is the big day when we ride through a pass in Pyrenees to reach Spain.

Heart

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Today's ride: 12 km (7 miles)
Total: 470 km (292 miles)

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David MathersSounds like the perfect ‘rest’ day. We loved cycling through this part of Basque Country. Enjoy tomorrow!
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7 months ago