Bayonne is very different from Biarritz although only ten minutes away.  It is bigger, more emphatically Basque, and more historically rich.  Its cathedral is grand, the Saint Esprit neighborhood was a refuge to Jews after the great Expulsions of 1492 (Spain) and 1494 (Portugal) and, not coincidentally, the birthplace of France’s chocolate industry. There is also a five-day festival in the summer.

 

One finds good restaurants, bars and bistros, and a first-rate food market where one can slurp oysters and sip wine at a banc de huîtres.