Wintering in the Riviera: With Notes of Travel in Italy and France, and Practical Hints to Travellers
John Stuart Mill · en
We arrived at Pau on the Saturday afternoon, and left it on the
following Tuesday morning—just having time to rest. I reserve,
therefore, any observations regarding Pau till our return journey,
when we spent a longer time there. The railway ride (between sixty
and seventy miles) from Pau to Bayonne is very beautiful, part of
the way being by the banks of the Adour, which, as it approaches
Bayonne, becomes wide, and is, indeed, navigable for forty miles up.
We were advised to book to Bayonne, and hire thence to Biarritz; but
I found the fares asked for the drive so excessive, occasioned, as we
afterwards learnt, by races being then held at Bayonne, that we took
the train just about to start on to Biarritz. The station La Negresse
proved, however, to be two miles out of Biarritz, and only one carriage
was waiting disengaged. For this short distance I was charged 8 francs;
certainly exorbitant, but during the season at Biarritz everything
is very high, and the races had then taken off the usual supply of
vehicles, so that we were at the mercy of the gorgeously–attired
coachman, who drove us in by a pretty rural road between trees and
hedges. In all likelihood he had driven a party to join the train we
had just left, so that we may have been indebted even to this chance
for finding any conveyance waiting. I do not know why the railway
company laid their line so far away from the town, unless it was that
they did not appreciate the importance of the station. As an attempt
to remedy the evil, a short line intended to connect Bayonne specially
with Biarritz has been made; but though the Biarritz terminus is
tolerably near the centre of the town, the other terminus does not
enter Bayonne, and is a long way from the general railway terminus. It
may be useful for excursionists, but it is useless for other traffic,
and I should hardly think it would pay.