Pau: TravelGuide

From the medieval delights to the splendour of the Renaissance, from the legacies of the Romantics to the first tourists who made Pau an "English city" : all around the city you can see traces of a glorious and eventful history. But while it is proud of its past, Pau also fully embraces modernity... More

From the medieval delights to the splendour of the Renaissance, from the legacies of the Romantics to the first tourists who made Pau an "English city" : all around the city you can see traces of a glorious and eventful history. But while it is proud of its past, Pau also fully embraces modernity and, indeed, has managed to mesh the two with some spectacular results: a 20th century palace has been converted into a high-tech conference centre and a former neo-Gothic convent now serves as a school of music and dance. It also boasts an innovative concert hall and a sports arena whose contemporary architecture has won admiration from afar, and there is also, of course, the city’s trail-blazing broadband communication infrastructure. Around the town you may see, for example, buildings whose cobble and brick façades hark back to the days when artisans built noble people's residences with materials dragged from the River Gave. Or perhaps your taste will be tickled more by the Fine Arts Museum or Clémenceau Square, whose distinct Art Déco style will take you back to the 1930s. Every corner of these old streets revives a detail or anecdote, often about King Henry IV of France and Navarre, or "noste Enric" ("our Henri") as they say in these parts. Around Pau-Pyrénées: Sévignacq-Thèze: This 12th century church features one of Aquitaine’s most ornate gates. On the other side of the road there is a small castle from the late 18th century. Chapelle de Caubin: An Arlésien built this chapel after the wars of Religion with its flat tiled roof, which is so untypical of Béarn. The nave reflects an armour-covered recumbent statue. Larreule: The transept, chancel and Romanesque capitals are remnants of the Benedictine Abbey which was established here in the 10th century. Morlaàs: Sainte-Foy church was under construction when the viscounts of Béarn gave it to the abbey of Cluny in 1079. The nave, aisles, chevet and western portal all date from this era. The remarkable portal was destroyed by fire and then rebuilt in the late 19th century. Less