Bayonne

Chocolate reached France through Bayonne: Jewish families expelled from Spain and Portugal settled in the Saint-Esprit quarter across the river in the sixteenth century, bringing the craft with them, and the city became the country's first chocolate-making centre; a row of makers still works along the arcaded Rue Port-Neuf. Bayonne ham, salted and air-dried on the Adour, carries the other name. The old town is tall Basque houses in white with red and green shutters along two rivers, and the Musee Basque covers the culture in depth. The summer fetes in late July fill the city with crowds dressed in white and red.

History

Traces of people from the Middle Palaeolithic have been found around Bayonne, and the hill of the present cathedral quarter, about 14 metres high above the Nive and once surrounded by the Adour marshes, was probably always inhabited, overlooking the meeting of the two rivers, a "Bayonne Sea" that may have been some 1,200 metres wide. Excavations in 1995 along the foundations of the Gothic cathedral found pottery, bowls and amphorae of the late 1st century and coins of the 3rd, and a Roman castrum of the end of the 4th century, Lapurdum, was a fortified place of Novempopulania whose name passed to the province of Labourd, while Baiona named the city, its port and its cathedral (Wikipedia, Bayonne).

What to look for

• The chocolate makers - the arcaded street of France's oldest chocolate trade.
• The Basque museum - a thorough collection on Basque culture.
• The white and red houses - tall Basque facades along the Nive.
• The July fetes - five days of crowds dressed in white and red.

When to go

April to June and September to October; the fetes in late July or early August are the biggest event and fill everything. The Saturday market on the Nive is good.

Before you go

Fete week is loud, packed and not to everyone's taste, with accommodation booked months ahead. Chocolate shops are small and busy. Parking in the old town is essentially impossible.

Nearby

Biarritz lies west; Espelette is south inland.

Key facts