Tours and guides to the Basque Country and Northern Spain
Tours and guides to the Basque Country
and Northern Spain
Two Basque resorts that share similar noble origins.
BiarritzBiarritz is a large town with several quartiers and is one of the principal resorts on the C™te Basque, and probably the most famous part of the Pays Basque. Biarritz came to fame in the mid 19th Century, when Empress Eugenie (the wife of Napoleon III) fell in love with this part of the Basque country and built a Palace on the beach at Biarritz (which is now the world class Hotel du Palais) and a centre with natural springs at Eugenie les Bains in the Landes. Eugenie invited foreign royalty to stay with their entourages and courtiers; Queen Victoria of Britain, who came regularly over a period of 30 years, and sundry Spanish, Swedish, Dutch, German, Russian nobility. The Russians built their own magnificent Orthodox Church next to the Palace. |
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| Eugenia de Montijo |
The
principle architecture in Biarritz was not typically Basque, but rather a blend
of 19th century city residences, large and expansive, made of local stone bricks.
If you bought one of these houses now, you would probably find titles such as
the Prince, Duke, Baron, Marquee etc. on the title deeds. Biarritz has a lot
more than beautiful buildings to offer today. It's a vibrant cosmopolitan town
with magnificent beaches, golf courses and numerous sporting facilities, not
forgetting the surf. Surfing started in France here in Biarritz and surfers
come from all over the world to ride the waves. The Biarritz Surf Festival brings
together surfers from Hawaii, California and Australia every year to celebrate
the birth of surfing in Biarritz.
More info: Biarritz Tourist Office
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San Sebastian The doctor
treating Queen Isabel II recommended that she bathe in the Bay of Biscay
to improve her skin problem. She chose San Sebasti‡n. For more than two
decades until her exile, the Queen was faithful to her summer rendezvous
with the city, a habit likewise adopted by her courtiers. In 1863, Isabel
II fulfilled an old dream on ordering demolition of the walls preventing
the expansion of an enclave restricted to the Parte Vieja. No longer walled
in, San Sebasti‡n spread over the reclaimed marshes in the shape of a
suburb, designed by Antonio Cort‡zar, comprising regular streets and stately
buildings. Deve- lopment of the new centre was rounded off with the construction
of highly symbolic buildings such as the Gran Casino, now home of the
Town Hall. |
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| Queen Maria Cristina | Queen Isabel II and her son Alfonso XII |
Gambling and the summer court - the Queen Regent Mar’a Cristina continued the tradition - gave rise to what was to become known as the Belle ƒpoque, a period starting towards the end of the 19th and tape- ring out over the first two decades of the 20th century, during which San Sebasti‡n became European high societyÕs favourite meeting place. But the prohibition of gambling and the Civil War soon put paid to this splendid golden age.
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