Hendaye and Hondarribia

Central square with the Castillo de Carlos V on the right

Hendaye is the last coastal town in France before Spain and just across the river is the first Spanish town, Hondarribia. This is the Basque country, and Hondarribia is the Basque name - in Spanish it is Fuenterribia and in French, Fontarribia. We'd never heard of Honarribia / Fuenterribia / Fontarribia until today; but we visited it on chance and it really blew us away. It is charming!

We drove down to Hendaye for a little day trip; it's about 90 minutes from Pau. We wanted coffee when we arrived and stumbled upon a cafe run by a Brit and he said that Hondarribia was lovely and we could take a boat there. After exploring Hendaye (typical French Basque architecture, with a relaxed 'spread out' feel for a coastal town) we took the little boat across the bay to Hondarribia. 

Typical architecture inside the walled town

We found a walled city, with a central square complete with a 10th century castle which is now a fancy hotel showing signs of past French / Spanish 'disputes' in the form of cannon-ball damage. The rest of the city was very attractive; cars are restricted and this makes it much easier to stroll and enjoy a town. The architecture was stunning; Spanish-Basque isn't unlike the French version, but it's still quite different. We had a tapas style lunch - with very strong cider - in a little bar. Afterwards we did more exploring before returning to Hendaye and eventually driving home, a little shocked to have never heard of such a cute place.

A few pics.