When the Duke of Buckingham was endeavouring to assist the Huguenots of La Rochelle in their desperate resistance to the huge forces brought against it by Richelieu, St. Jean de Luz sent fifty ships to the help of the garrison of the Île de Rhé, which had been blockaded by the English fleet, and Buckingham, having failed in his final assault, was forced to sail homewards and leave the Protestant town to fight the whole forces of France. It held out for fifteen months, capitulating in October, 1628.
The pretty village of Urrugne, with its curious classic church, stands close to the foot-hills of the mountain chain which almost touches the sea at this point.
The curves of the road give beautiful views over the sea—a lovely blue flecked with breaking waves—and the green valleys dotted with white houses between the bare, buff-coloured mountain ridges.
BÉHOBIE (the Franco-Spanish frontier village)
In the little street of this village on the Bidassoa one must come to a halt at the sentry-box by the international bridge, where the official enters particulars of the car in a book, salutes, and allows one to cross the river. On the other side Spanish officials direct one to turn to the right to reach the Customs-house, where, if all arrangements have been made at home, it is only necessary to produce the triptique, and pay a small sum, according to one’s destination and the amount of petrol in the tank, which is calculated by depth only, and not capacity!
When the officials are satisfied, one is free to go where one chooses without any more trouble; but before leaving Béhobie it is worth while to look at the Île des Faisans, an island in the Bidassoa famous for the meetings and conferences it has witnessed. The most memorable are the meeting of Louis XI. and Henry IV. of Castile in 1463, the farewell of François to his two sons on their way to Spain as hostages in 1526, and the meeting in 1565 between Charles IX. and Catherine de Medici with her daughter Elizabeth, wife of Philip II. of Spain.
‘Their majesties of France,’ says an old chronicler, ‘having heard through Monsieur d’Orléans that the Queen of Spain was to cross the river which separateth the two kingdoms on the South, dined full early, and, straightway after dinner, they set off for this same river, adjoining the which they caused leafy bowers to be builded, about two leagues distant from St. Jehan de Luz; where they, having come, waited some two hours for her approach in a heat so desperate, that five or six soldiers of Strozzi’s troops died, suffocated in their armour. At last, towards two o’clock, the Court of the Queen was beheld drawing near, then the Queen-Mother, seized with a great joy, crossed the river, and found herself face to face with her whom she had so long desired.’
In 1660 Louis XIV. met his future bride at Béhobie, and a great pavilion was put up for their reception. It was decorated by Velasquez, who caught a fever there, and died shortly after his return to Madrid.
The first turning to the left after crossing the bridge over the Bidassoa is taken, and for several miles the road follows the river in a narrowing valley.
At the bridge where the road takes to the right bank of the river there is a charge of 5 pesetas made for automobiles.