Everything about Hendaye totally explained
Hendaye (
Basque Hendaia) is the most southwesterly town in
France. It is a
commune of the
Pyrénées-Atlantiques département, on the
Atlantic coast, the "Côte Basque", on the right bank of the
Bidassoa that marks the border with
Irún,
Spain.
A long sand spit at the river's mouth has made the town a popular seaside tourist resort in the
traditional province,
Lapurdi (Labourd), of the French
Basque Country.
History
On the fortified Île aux Faisans ("Pheasant Isle") in the river, the
Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed in 1659, ending decades of intermittent war between France and Spain. Authority over the Île changes between France and Spain every six months.
In 1940,
Ramón Serrano Súñer,
Francisco Franco,
Adolf Hitler and
Joachim von Ribbentrop met in the Hendaye railway station (then in
German-occupied France) to discuss Spain's participation in
World War II as part of the
Axis.
Franco, uneasy about committing his nation to another conflict so soon after the
Spanish Civil War, wasn't convinced, and Hitler decided not to force the issue. Spain was officially neutral during the following five years of the war, though very much a pro-Axis state.
Sights
The town square, where there's a weekly open-air market on Wednesdays, is the location of the famous
17th century "
Great Cross of Hendaye", a stone cross carved with alchemical symbols that occultists find to contain encrypted information on a future global catastrophe. The church of Saint-Vincent was built in 1598, and largely reconstructed over the centuries following fires and bombardments. Its most recent transformation was finished in 1968. The 13th-century crucifix is the principal treasure.
The seafront Château of
Antoine d'Abbadie, built by the architect and theorist
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc is a monument of the
Gothic Revival.
Transportation
The town is an important
railway junction, as
Spain's mainline trains use a
broader gauge than continental Europe.
Miscellaneous
- Hendaye is twinned with Peebles, in the Scottish Borders
- French author Pierre Loti lived here
- It is the western end of the GR 10 long distance footpath
- It marks the beginning (or end) of the Raid Pyreneen long distance cycle challenge
- Hendaye was the native town of Martin Guerre, the man at the center of a famous sixteenth-century case of imposture
Further Information
Get more info on 'Hendaye'.
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