FRANCE!

Well, I finally found internet access. Yes, I´m in France. I landed in Biarritz about 4 o´clock, and caught a bus to Bayonne. I bought a train ticket to St. Jean Pied-de-port, and had three great hours to hang in Bayonne. I visited the Cathedral there--very beautiful on the interior, but the exterior facades had been destroyed during the French Revolution (you may know that the revolutionaries didn´t take kindly to the church´s support of the aristocracy). Bayonne sits astride a river with a beautiful river walk (a real river--not exactly like San Antonio). I wish I could load pictures, but so far none of the computers allow access.

Anyway, I road the train into the Pyrenees and to St. Jean, arriving a little after 10 at night. I was very lucky to find a hostel still open and with one spot left. In the morning I awoke to view a small, Medieval town. It´s really astounding--this town guarded the pass (the Pas du Napoleon!) between France and Spain for 1,000 years. The four town walls were erected between 1100 and 1200. All four gates still exist; one even still has the original timbers and iron work. One wall traces along the river Nive; the first bridge over the river (12th century) served pilgrims for 900 years. There was a citadel that sits within the walls overlooking the pass. Its original walls and building were 14th century, but they had been improved in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Hey, Chuck and John--you´d have loved touring the citadel--the ¨new¨construction was added to funnel attackers down walled corridors where they would have been vulnerable from both sides. It´s just like a citadel described in a Sharpe novel! The church, that is part of the actual wall and pilgrim gate, was built in the 14th century. It was simple, but beautiful with three panels of stained glass mostly in red. I lit two candles during the pilgrim mass--one for myself and one for my family.

Finally, I have to add a word about my first hostel--wonderful! Two Dutch brothers ran the place (very new--built in 1696), and one, Klaus, gave me lots of much-needed information (I sent 3.3 kilos of unnecessary junk home at the post office). Klaus was kind and helpful; he won my instant affection when at breakfast he was playing a CD of the Cantigas de Santa Maria. No one leaves Klaús´hostel without a hug, a little card with a devotional poem, and a sincere ¨buen Camino!¨ I´m making the first mountain stage to Orisson.