63 - Paupe-Verified Immaculate Jurançon - Pau, Jurançon, & Lourdes

Saturday, May 04

I mulled over my initial plan for today while enjoying breakfast at the hotel.  When I checked in late last night, I learned that breakfast was included in my nightly rate, so might as well enjoy a nice café au lait and a mini croissant.  I say "mulled" but monitoring the forecast was more like it, ultimately I decided to pull the trigger and give it a shot.  Around 11 AM, I hit the road with some light rain headed for Pau.

There was a surprising number of very elderly people making their way around the hotel this morning, they were all funneling towards a conference room near the hotel's breakfast area.  A seminar about cremation seemed a bit bleak for the morning but I think they were also serving free breakfast.

The drive to Pau went well and I arrived to much improved weather.  Parking near the old town was a cinch and I started my stroll around town.  The streets wound me through a lot of shops and restaurants before I made it to a central plaza filled with tents and eventually a view of the mountains.  At the edge of the walled city, I took lunch; I'd hoped for an outdoor seat but settled for an indoor one and a full belly.  While waiting for my food, I did a bit of reading about Pau and what to look out for; apparently Pau is/was the capital of the Béarnaise region.  

Now *that's* how you know you're in Pau

The fountain near the appellate court wasn't on just yet, maybe they're still worried about freezing weather?

Though the fountains in Place Clemenceau had no issue

After lunch, the weather had improved even more such that I could very clearly see a good amount of the mountains.  I descended from the walled city by the funicular and walked around the area near the river (le Gave de Pau).  Then I worked my way up around the walled city and ascended via the chateau.  I didn't visit the museum in the chateau but did enjoy walking through its courtyard, apparently the castle was part of Henry IV's childhood.  

The Bordelaise platter was a hearty meal: sausage, black pudding, ham, and a fried egg

There was a surprising number of palm trees in Pau and some were getting ready to put out fruit

Les Pyrénées came out to play

Funiculi funicula; this one was free and ran every 15 minutes.  The bottom is right in front of the train station and the top is very close to the cool stuff of the haute ville

Also near the bottom of the funicular was this open air museum about the Tour de France

I found the slew of years that Lance Armstrong won.  I'm kinda surprised they're still up

2023's winner hasn't been installed just yet

The Gave de Pau is a fairly calm stream when it runs along the length of the city

So that's why they call it the hauteville

You know, this wall around the city is fairly impressive

The bees' hotel!

These guys were setting up for some sort of weird extreme sport video.  They had their boards staged and a rope running underneath the mill and along the canal.  What the plan was, I have no idea.

This area was under repairs but I thought it interesting to be able to see some of brickwork under the outer layer

I worked my way across the river to get a view of the castle; other than this view, I'm not sure there was much on this side of the river.

More management of the Gave.

While walking along the wall near the castle, I heard some intense buzzing overhead.  I guess these bees found an AirBnB instead of the hotel.

The walk along the wall near the castle was quite pleasant; there was an interesting blend of old building architecture and signs of people just living in these places.

Another angle on the mountains from the castle gardens.

Le chateau, walking the grounds is free but the museum inside has a reasonably priced admission.

What the dog doin'?

By all means, it's a fairly impressive castle 

A plaza just outside the castle with a nice tower

Can't have a castle without a pointy church/cathedral too

Here's where I realized what had stuck out so much to me: Pau has a surprising amount of verticality.  Instead of a centreville, it has an hauteville.  This neighborhood (called Le Hedas) was built along a tributary of the Gave and was a water source for the city during the middle ages; later, it gained more industry to the point that the water was too polluted for consumption and was made into a sewer.  It got a large influx of people fleeing the civil war in Spain and now is a nice little neighborhood under the bridge to the hauteville.

There was a lot of young adults wandering about, I wonder if Pau is a big university town...

My last thing in Pau before moving on was a stop at an umbrella store.  This place still makes shepherd (les bergers)-style umbrellas by hand; the guy at the desk was working one when he wasn't putting things on display for me.  I was tempted to buy one as a souvenir, but I hardly use my $5 cheap umbrella; maybe I need to get more used to using umbrellas before I drop €100 on a quality one.  

I didn't realize umbrellas could be made by hand; but then again, if not by hand, how was the first umbrella made?  Pretty neat to see the skeleton of an umbrella and rolls of cloth.

From Pau, I headed a bit further south to one of its constituent regions: Jurançon.  This region has its own wine appellation (potentially the furthest south in mainland France) and I was on the hunt for a tasting at a winery.  The first one I visited had a great view of the mountains but the owner wasn't home.  So I went a little further down the road and found one who's owner could open up the cave for me.  Jurançon does only white wines and I got to try several of his sec and moelleux offerings as well as see some of the vessels he has for fermenting and resting wine.  I also learned from him that the mountain I could almost see the twin peaks of is called the Pic du midi d'Ossau.

The owner of the first vineyard wasn't home, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a greeting party.

After following me around for a bit and feeling sufficiently petted, the dog set down next to the closed gate.  

This first winery had a nice view of the mountains, it's a shame I missed the owner.

I could almost make out what looked like two peaks joined together; if only a cloud could move along or push further back...

The 2nd vineyard.  The owner was mowing grass right next to this door but needed to go into his house to get the keys.  

Can't have a vineyard without some vines in the yard.

One of the dry (sec) wines I tasted was aged in this cuve shaped like an egg!  I found it very different from anything I'd tasted before.  I was searching for the words to describe it when he offered the perfect descriptor: wet leaves.  Sure, that doesn't sound appetizing but it raised my eyebrow and is better than you'd think.   

The rest of his cuves; some wood and some ceramic.

I used my credit card to buy a couple bottles, here he is trying to improve the wifi signal on the card reader 😂

A map of wine appelations in the Sud-ouest of France.  He recommended Jurançon, Madiran, & Irouléguy; when I asked about Béarn-Bellocq, he said it was skippable 🤣

With my knowledge of Jurançon improved, I set off for my final item on the itinerary: the city of Lourdes.  Looks like I'll be turning wine into water.

Spotted along the drive from Jurançon to Lourdes: the Saint Peter Church in the town of Saint Pé de Bigorre.  It originates from a Benedictine monastery.

Lourdes features a Sanctuary based off of the vision of the Immaculate Conception by one Bernadette Soubirous.  The sanctuary/basicila is quite an impressive installation and completely dominates the town; the seemingly only vestige of the town not tied to tourism for the sanctuary is an old fort on the hill in town.  I found the sanctuary to feel a bit like what one would envision a basilica in a theme park to feel like: so over-the-top but also so on brand.  I also found the newer art pieces/murals to be interesting, they were breaths of fresh air compared to the typical murals I've seen in cathedrals.  

The view of Lourdes from the hill of the Sanctuary.  

The hill of the Sanctuary features a walk decorated with scenes of the crucifixion.  The sign saying to scale the stairs on your knees confused me

They really went all out on these sculptures 

Spotted this bird for the first time atop the hill; Google Lens says it's an Eurasian Jay

I noticed that there's a heck of a lot less gorse on the mountains in this area, I guess the vegetation and wildlife have to change as you head east/west along the mountain range

This place was huge and there were a lot of people milling about.  

The sanctuary appears to be relatively new in construction and features a surprising amount of reliefs of male priests/cardinals/bishops/etc for a sanctuary dedicated to the apparition of Mary.  I personally found the design of the place to be reminiscent of the Zora's Domain in the latest Legend of Zelda Games.

People were lining up and filling huge containers of water from the fountains down below

Inside, the place has a modern style of decoration; I still liked the decoration but it's very different from ye oldes cathedrals.

This mozaic nestled into the wall caught my eye for having some real texture; some of the pieces used had hug angled sections sticking out.

#YES

The big thing (religiously) for the site is the cave that I guess Bernadette's vision told her to build a chapel at.  I'm guessing the water of Lourdes is also expected to have healing properties because the wall of water spouts and the water in the cave all seemed to have some significance.  I wonder if the water from the spring is rich in the medical elements of helium, curium, or barium?  It was unfortunate that the information office was closed by the time I arrived, I don't think I'd have time for a tour but maybe a brochure explaining the history could've been useful.  Having seen the sanctuary campus and viewed inside the basilicas, I took a quick stroll around the town of Lourdes. 

Here's the cave; the spring is off in a corner of it with a glass window to allow a partial view of the water flowing.  I was respectful while walking through the cave; some people seemed to be having a real moment, I think one woman was on the verge of tears while kneeling on a pew just outside the cave. 

Just a reminder of the sheer scale of this place 

Is it sacred healing water or holy water?  Per the Player's Handbook for D&D, €2 is a steal for a phial of holy water compared to 25 gold pieces.

And don't worry, they take credit card.

The rest of Lourdes was laid out basically radiating from the entrances to the sanctuary.  I guess a lot of international travelers come here because it felt like a main tourist strip with souvenir shops and restaurants.

Most of the souvenir shops had appropriate sanctuary-adjacent gear.  

This store stuck out to me as the two brands a Frenchman had told me made/sold good quality, French clothing.

I'd hoped to walk to the top of the fortress but the gate was already closed for the evening.  

Lourdes was under occupation: hundreds of men and women in military-style garb (the men looked like pretty military while the women were somewhere between medics & nuns) were wandering the city.  Reading a few of the their patches and emblems, I've come to the conclusion that there was a massive gathering of members of the Order of Malta; perhaps in preparation for Ascension?  And I think the Order of Malta is related to the Knights Templar or something.

I saw badges on people's clothing indicating country of origin; many Italy, France, Belgium, and Spain badges but I heard a few English speaking people about too.

"Nothing is true; everything is permitted"