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32-686: The three then become the Navarre Route, passing via the French town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and crossing the Pyrenees and the Spanish border by one path or another to Roncesvalles in the Spanish province of Navarre . Together they serve as the principal pilgrimage route across Spain, known as the Camino francés . The fourth French route, the via Tolosane , crosses the Pyrenees at a different point ( Somport ), becomes

64-521: A bakery, lists the price of wheat in 1789. The 14th-century red schist Gothic church, Notre-Dame-du-Bout-du-Pont, stands by the Porte d'Espagne. The original was built by Sancho the Strong of Navarre to commemorate the 1212 Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa where Moorish dominance of Spain was undermined. Above the town at the top of the hill is the citadel , remodelled by Vauban in the 17th century. Outside

96-473: A large market, with sheep and cattle driven into the town. At 5pm, there is a communal game of bare-handed pelote at the fronton . There are large fairs four times a year. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port station is the southern terminus of the railway line from Bayonne through the French Basque Country, along the valley of the river Nive, with several services each day. It is 1 km from the centre of

128-882: A pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. He was the first non-Hispanic to undertake the pilgrimage, leading a large caravan that included members of the clergy, their staff and servants, various nobles and gentlemen, their retainers and men at arms. The route leaves Le Puy-en-Velay and passes Vals-près-le-Puy , Saint-Christophe-sur-Dolaison , Bains , Saint-Privat-d'Allier , Monistrol-d'Allier , Saugues , and Chanaleilles . The route passes Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole , Aumont-Aubrac , Malbouzon , Rieutort-d'Aubrac , Marchastel , and Nasbinals . The route passes Aubrac , Saint-Chély-d'Aubrac , Saint-Côme-d'Olt , Espalion , Bessuéjouls , Estaing , Golinhac , Espeyrac , Sénergues , Conques , Noailhac , Decazeville , and Livinhac-le-Haut . The route passes through Montredon , Saint-Félix , Figeac , and Béduer . A variant route follows

160-533: A small community of rent-paying supporters. With its castle, enclosure, towers and six fortified gateways, the fortified town was the pride of the region. Henry IV, King of France , described it as “one of four keys of the said Quercy land.” Despite this reputation, it was later occupied by the English and suffered attack in the Wars of Religion . Thirteenth century: Alphonse of Poitiers and his wife, Jeanne of Toulouse visited

192-423: A vaulted cellar, which includes a tunnel that reputedly leads to Beaucaire, a hamlet 3 kilometers away. The large arched doorways in merchant homes acted as shop windows. Goods would have been displayed in the upper half, while doors across the lower half would serve as windbreak. The smaller arches beside them entered to the home above. Tiny windows on the next storey provided light to the store rooms. Above these,

224-469: Is about 50 kilometres (31 mi) by air and 75 kilometres (47 mi) on road away from Pamplona ( Basque : Iruña ), the capital of Upper Navarre , across the Spanish border. The original town at nearby Saint-Jean-le-Vieux was razed to the ground in 1177 by the troops of Richard the Lionheart after a siege. The Kings of Navarre refounded the town on its present site shortly afterwards. The town

256-585: Is close to Ostabat in the Pyrenean foothills. The town is also the old capital of the traditional Basque province of Lower Navarre . Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is also a starting point for the French Way Camino Francés , the most popular option for travelling the Camino de Santiago . It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France) Association. The town lies on

288-501: Is in the shape of a basket handle, and the square tower to its right houses the chapel. The school attracted rich young women whose fathers encouraged them to take the veil as the dowry was less than the cost to marry them off. Records indicate widows and unhappy wives resided at the convent as well. The main square, Place des Cornieres, features an uplifted corner of pavers, a unique and whimsical sculpture created in 1988 by local ceramic artist, Jacques Buchholtz whose work also appears in

320-766: Is one of the Most Beautiful Villages of France, a distinction granted to only 155 villages in the country. Founded in the 12th century by the Count of Toulouse , the village is located on the routes of the Santiago de Compostella . In the northwest corner of the Tarn et Garonne department, Lauzerte lies between the foothills of the Massif Central and the Garonne river plain in the region known as Quercy Blanc and Pays de Serres because of

352-530: The Abbaye de Flaran (off the route), Montréal-du-Gers , Lauraët , Lagraulet-du-Gers , Eauze , Manciet , Nogaro , Barcelonne-du-Gers . The route passes Aire-sur-l'Adour , after which hikers and pilgrims can pass by either Pécorade and Geaune or by Miramont-Sensacq . Those two routes converge once more at Pimbo . The route passes Arzacq-Arraziguet , Vignes , Louvigny , Uzan , Pomps , Arthez-de-Béarn , Sauvelade , Navarrenx , Charre , Aroue to reach

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384-543: The Aragonese Way when it enters Spain, and joins the Camino frances further to the west. Before le Puy, the via Gebennensis leaves from Geneva, gathering Swiss and German pilgrims and feeding into the via Podiensis. Though it bears a Latin name, the via Gebennensis is a modern route laid out in 1980-90, though the numerous hospitals it passes testify to the passage of pilgrims along this route in earlier ages. From Geneva to

416-676: The Way of St. James , the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela , as it stands at the base of the Roncevaux Pass across the Pyrenees . Pied-de-Port means 'foot of the pass' in Pyrenean French. The routes from Paris, Vézelay and Le Puy-en-Velay meet at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and it was the pilgrims' last stop before the arduous mountain crossing. In 1998, the Porte St-Jacques (city gate)

448-502: The English. During the Hundred Years' War , Lauzerte was occupied by the English. Despite foreign occupation, some Lauzertins charged interest in exchange for ransom fees to nobility captured by the English. From this same period, legend has it that an old lady named Gandilhonne noticed the English were leaving. Although illiterate, she counted the number departing by putting a chestnut in her pocket to count each individual. She reported

480-506: The Jardin de la Brèche. The local market takes place in the square on Saturday mornings throughout the year. Wrought iron signs hanging from the exterior of a number of buildings indicate the type of business located within. Lauzerte has a lively artistic community with artists working in such mediums as illuminated manuscripts, artist books, pottery, and textiles. Festivals in Lauzerte include

512-615: The Pyrenees, the two routes ( via Gebennensis and via Podiensis ) are waymarked as one of the French major hiking routes , the GR 65 , with a few local variations or detours, including GR 651 through the valley of Célé and GR 652 via Rocamadour . According to the A Guide for the Traveller compiled by Aymeric Picaud in the 12th century, four routes lead to Santiago de Compostella: In 950 or 951, Godescalc , bishop of Le Puy-en-Velay , set off on

544-402: The exodus to the town consuls, who closed the gates, thus preventing the English from reentering. Fourteenth century: A Carmelite convent was established. “Pastoureux”, the shepherds who preyed on pilgrims and other travellers, conducted a massacre of Jews. Sixteenth century: Lauzerte passed first to Protestant control, after a battle resulting in 567 deaths, then back to Catholic control under

576-475: The hospice located here, founded in 1222 ( the oldest building in the village, it still serves 110 pensioners.) When Alphonse died, Lauzerte passed directly to the King of France. The English king contested the will, as The Treaty of Paris had granted Quercy to the King of England who garnered a rent of 3,000 pounds a year. The many weapons and bones in the charnel house indicate the extent of slaughter and resistance to

608-463: The leadership of Terride. Lauzerte continued to prosper for various reasons. It was the seat of a secondary seneschalsy (court of appeals) and administrative center for collecting taxes from the surrounding countryside. The region provided much of the wheat for Cahors. Pilgrims provided income to Lauzerte as well. At the time of the Revolution, the town elected Gouges Cartou, a bourgeois, to represent

640-623: The limestone which predominates in the landscape. The hill town rises above parallel valleys and rivers, the Barguelonnes, the Lendou and the Seoune which feed into the Garonne River. Lauzerte is surrounded by agricultural land known for Melons de Quercy, Chasselas de Moissac (white dessert grapes), and Pruneaux d’Agen (prunes). BC: The discovery of copper coins from several years BC indicate that Lauzerte

672-529: The name: Two interpretations include the possible Latin root of “Villaserta” and more likely, the Gallic root, “lauzes”, flat stones used as paving or roofing, and “erta” from the local Occitan dialect, meaning hill, thus Hill of Stones. The fact that the barbican was exploited as a quarry supports this derivation. A medieval bastide perched above the valleys and hills of the area known as the Quercy Blanc, Lauzerte

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704-444: The pair of long windows serve on to the main living area, whilst the oculus at the top is at the attic level. The half-timbered upstairs additions on some buildings extend out further over the street as a means to increase living area whilst only paying taxes on the area of the ground floor. In addition to the other holy orders located in Lauzerte, the sisters of St. Clare established a school in 1623 on Rue de la Gendarmerie. Its door

736-541: The river Nive , 8 km (5.0 mi) from the Spanish border, and is the head town of the region of Basse-Navarre (Lower Navarre in English) and was classified among the Most Beautiful Villages of France in 2016. The Pays de Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, also called Pays de Cize ( Garazi in Basque ), is the region surrounding Saint-Jean-Pied-Port. The town's layout is essentially one main street with sandstone walls encircling. It

768-520: The stèle of Gibraltar ( Xibaltarre hilarria ) in the village of Uhart-Mixe . The distance from the stele of Gibraltar to Santiago de Compostela is 768 kilometers (477 miles). Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (literally "Saint John [at the] Foot of [the] Pass"; Basque : Donibane Garazi ; Spanish : San Juan Pie de Puerto ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. It

800-525: The town at the new Estates General , the parliament. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Napoleon created the Departement of Tarn et Garonne. Lauzerte, which was until then part of the Lot, was attached to the new Departement. The cellist and composer Louis-Charles-Joseph Rey (1738–1811) was born in Lauzerte as well as his elder brother Jean-Baptiste Rey (1734–1810), conductor and composer. The mairie,

832-631: The town hall, originally housed the Mirepoise Sisters, nuns who founded a school for daughters of the nobility in the eighteenth century. Next to this were housed the “Penitents Bleus”, a Catholic brotherhood and mutual help society. The leather Christ on the Cross displayed in the Church would have been carried in processions by the brothers on Mardi Gras and Good Friday. The senechaussee, the administrative center, constructed between 1360 and 1370 has beneath it

864-517: The town. Biarritz Airport is the closest airport to Saint Jean Pied de Port. Lauzerte Lauzerte ( French pronunciation: [lozɛʁt] ; Languedocien : Lausèrta ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France . It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France) Association. Etymology of

896-696: The valley of the river Lot , passing Gréalou , Cajarc , and Varaire . A second variation passes through the valley of the Célé , Espagnac-Sainte-Eulalie , Marcilhac-sur-Célé , Sauliac-sur-Célé , Cabrerets , Saint-Cirq-Lapopie . The two variants converge and pass through Cahors , Labastide-Marnhac , Lhospitalet , Lascabanes , Montcuq . A third variant running north of the route passes through Rocamadour . The route passes Lauzerte , Moissac , and Auvillar . The route passes Saint-Antoine-sur-l'Arrats , Flamarens , Miradoux , Lectoure , La Romieu , Condom , Valence-sur-Baïse , Larressingle , Beaumont sur l'Osse ,

928-717: The walls is a new town, with the Hôtel de Ville and a pelota fronton . Traditional crafts and foods remain in the town, including Basque linen from the Inchauspé family since 1848. The town is now an important tourist centre for the Pyrenees and the French Basque country and there are shops, restaurants and hotels. St-Jean-Pied-de-Port specializes in goat cheese, like the Ossau-Iraty AOP cheese, artisanal trout breeding and piperade omelette with peppers and Bayonne ham. Mondays see

960-725: Was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites as part of the sites along the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France . The cobbled rue de la Citadelle runs down hill and over the river from the fifteenth century Porte St-Jacques to the Porte d'Espagne by the bridge. From the bridge, there are views of the old houses with balconies overlooking the Nive. Many of the buildings are very old, built of pink and grey schist , and retain distinctive features, including inscriptions over their doors. One,

992-463: Was an oppidum , part of Roman Gaul . Eleventh century: the area belonged to the Lords of Castelnau Montratier. At the end of the twelfth century, two local noblemen approached Raymond V, Count of Toulouse , to establish a castelnau, a plot of 200 houses, prefiguring the bastide movement which would later predominate in the region. The motivation to do so would have been the same, however, to establish

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1024-578: Was thereafter a town of the Kingdom of Navarre , and the seat of the sheriff of the Lower Navarre district ("merindad" of Ultrapuertos or Deça-Ports ). It remained as such up to the period of the Spanish conquest (1512-1528) when King Henry II of Navarre decided to transfer the seat of the royal institutions to Saint Palais (Donapaleu) on safety grounds. The town has traditionally been an important point on

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