The Motor Routes of France: To the Châteaux of Touraine, Biarritz, the Pyrenees, the Riviera, & the Rhone ValleyHome, Gordon
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The Motor Routes of France: To the Châteaux of Touraine, Biarritz, the Pyrenees, the Riviera, & the Rhone Valley
Home, Gordon
Automobile travel -- France -- Guidebooks; France -- Description and travel
=Pamplona to San Sebastian.=--This is a good but dusty road, except on the
very steep gradients which occur about halfway. There is a very steep
and very dangerous winding descent on leaving a long and narrow ravine,
but otherwise the descent towards the coast is gentle and continuous.
It is wise to carry provisions in the car for this journey, as the
villages do not cater for visitors or tourists. The _fonda_ at
Sant’ Esteban can provide, however, a most excellent lunch,
although giving only the slightest signs of such a possibility. The
Hôtel la Perla at Pamplona is clean and the food excellent.
PLACES OF INTEREST ON THE ROUTE
=St. Jean de Luz.=--Picturesque town on level ground, with a small
bay, old houses, curious church, and Château de Louis XIV.
Wellington’s headquarters in 1813-1814.
=Béhobie.=--A frontier village by the international bridge over the
Bidassoa.
=Irurita.=--An old and very quaint Spanish town, with several houses
ornamented with the armorial bearings of their noble owners.
=Col de Velate.=--A pass through the Pyrenees at a height of 2,717
feet, guarded by soldiers to prevent brigandage.
=Villava.=--Has the ruins of an ancient convent and some Renaissance
houses.
=Pamplona.=--A large walled city, the capital of Navarre; has no
great attractions beyond its situation, its massive walls, and the
Spanish life of the streets. (1) Cathedral founded in 1397, and
façade rebuilt in 1783; (2) Church of San Nicolás, twelfth and
thirteenth centuries; (3) San Saturnino, a curious building, much
altered since the fourteenth century; (4) the citadel has seen much
fighting, down to the Carlist War of 1875-1876.
=Road to Tolosa.=--Through a long ravine for a great part of the way;
small, scattered villages here and there.
=Tolosa.=--A small town, with dark and narrow streets; Church of
Santa Maria has elaborate classic front.
=San Sebastian.=--A large and very attractive Spanish watering-place,
frequently visited by the King of Spain; citadel, on Mont Orgullo,
is all that remains of the defences of the town, besieged by the
English in the Peninsular War; Churches of Santa Maria, built in
1743, and San Vicente, rebuilt in 1507; modern bull-ring.
=Irun.=--A small town of little interest; the church dates from 1508.
=Fuentarrabia.=--A very quaint old walled town, at the mouth of the
Bidassoa, about 3 kilometres from the main road at Irun.
This section of the tour is a two days’ journey to and from Pamplona,
the capital of Navarre. It is recommended on account of the scenery of
the passes of the Pyrenees which are traversed rather than for any
architectural or archæological interest, beyond the picturesqueness of
the houses of the wayside villages.
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