France
Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
Red-and-white Basque houses on the river where Camino pilgrims take their last deep breath before Spain.
The pilgrims gather in the narrow streets, packs on their backs, checking their boots one last time before the Pyrenees. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port sits below the pass to Roncesvalles — the last town in France on the Camino, the first real test of the road to Santiago — and red-and-white Basque houses line the Nive, their reflections unsteady in the current beneath the old stone bridge.
The name says it: Saint John at the pass's foot. Capital of the Pays de Cize and fifty kilometres from the Basque coast, the town is the final French stage of the Camino Francés before the crossing of the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles, and pilgrims have been walking its Rue de la Citadelle for centuries — in through the Porte Saint-Jacques at the top, down between the pink sandstone houses, and out over the Nive by the bridge everyone calls the Roman bridge for the shape of its arch. The seventeenth-century citadel above the old town looks down the valley towards Spain. The surrounding mountains make Ossau-Iraty, the Basque sheep's-milk cheese with its own appellation, eaten here the local way with black-cherry jam, and the cafés fill each evening with walkers comparing tomorrow's climb.
Solo
Even if you are not walking the Camino, the energy of pilgrims preparing for the pass is infectious. The walled town rewards a slow circuit, and the citadel's view towards Spain puts the road ahead in perspective.
Couple
The Rue de la Citadelle descends through the medieval gate to the river — a walk through pink sandstone and Basque timber to a bridge where the reflections are worth the camera. Ossau-Iraty and cherry jam at a riverside table completes it.
- The Camino's Pyrenean crossing begins here — the last French stage before Roncesvalles, and every pilgrim café buzzes with anticipation.
- Red-and-white Basque houses line the Nive, their reflections wobbling in the current beneath the old bridge.
- The citadel above the walled town looks down the valley towards Spain — the pass is right there.
- Ossau-Iraty sheep's cheese from the surrounding mountains is served with black-cherry jam — sweet, salty, unforgettable.
Ossau-Iraty — nutty sheep's-milk cheese from the Basque mountains — eaten the local way with black-cherry jam.
Axoa — a Basque hash of minced veal with Espelette pepper, onions and green peppers — at a pilgrims' table.
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