EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

The old capital of Basse Navarre, ST-JEAN-PIED-DE-PORT lies in a circle of hills at the foot of the Roncevaux pass into Spain. It owes its name to its position "at the foot of the port " - a Pyrenean word for "pass". Only part of France since the Treaty of the Pyrénées in 1659, it was an important centre for the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in the Middle Ages. The routes from Paris, Vézelay and Le Puy converged just northeast of here at Ostabat, and it was the pilgrims' last port of call before struggling over the pass to the Spanish monastery of Roncesvalles (Roncevaux in French), where Roland, a general of Charlemagne celebrated in medieval romance, sounded his horn for aid in vain .

The town lies on the River Nive, enclosed by walls of pinky-red sandstone. Above it rises a wooded hill crowned by the inevitable Richelieu-Vauban fortress , while to the east a further defensive system guards the road to Spain. The modern town spreads down across the main road onto lower ground; it's pleasant but unremarkable, and the seasonal throngs match anything on the coast.

The old town consists of a single cobbled street, rue de la Citadelle , running downhill from the fifteenth-century Porte St-Jacques - so named because it was the gate by which the pilgrims entered the town - to the Porte d'Espagne , commanding the bridge over the Nive, with a view of balconied houses overlooking the stream. Many of the painted houses bear inscriptions on their lintels from the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A fourteenth-century plain red church, Notre-Dame-du-Bout-du-Pont , stands beside the Porte d'Espagne and, opposite, a short street leads through the Porte de Navarre to place de-Gaulle and the modern road. Just to the north, beyond the dusky-pink Hôtel de Ville, is the fronton where a bare-handed pelota match - the most macho kind - is held every Monday at 5pm.

The tourist office is at 14 place de-Gaulle (July & Aug Mon-Sat 9am-noon & 2-7pm, Sun 10.30am-12.30pm & 3-6pm; rest of year closed Sun; tel 05.59.37.03.57), with the gare SNCF a ten-minute walk away at the end of avenue Renaud, on the northern edge of the centre. The least expensive hotels are Les Remparts , 16 place Floquet (tel 05.59.37.13.79, fax 05.59.37.33.44; 220-300F/¬34-46; closed mid-Oct to Jan), just before you cross the Nive coming into town on the Bayonne road, and not too noisy, and the recently renovated Itzalpea , 5 place du Trinquet (tel 05.59.37.03.66, fax 05.59.37.33.18; 160-220F/¬24-34), whose restaurant offers a wide choice of menus (average 120F/¬18.30). More comfortable are the Ramuntcho , just inside the city walls at 1 rue de France (tel 05.59.37.03.91, fax 05.59.37.35.17; 220-300F/¬34-46), with a good and reasonably priced restaurant, and the posh Central on place de-Gaulle (tel 05.59.37.00.22, fax 05.59.37.27.79; 300-400F/¬46-61; closed mid-Dec to mid-Feb; restaurant 100-220F/¬15.25-33.55), with some river-view rooms and free parking. There are also several budget options for hikers, among them the tiny, helpful Gîte d'Étape Etchegoin at 9 rte d'Uhart, on the Bayonne road (tel 05.59.37.12.08), while the municipal campsite , the Plaza Berri (tel 05.59.37.11.19, fax 05.59.37.99.78; closed Oct-May), is on the south bank of the Nive, beside the fronton .

Independent restaurants are apt to be slapdash and aimed at the day-tripper trade, but Arbillaga at 8 rue de l'Église just inside the walls (menus at 85-160F/¬12.95-24.40; closed Tues evening, also Wed low season) is a high-standard exception.