St. Jean Pied du Port and St. Palais

Today Kaaren and I drove to two old Basque towns.  In the first, St. Palais, we found the most marvelous artwork in the church there and found the stores all closing at 12 for a long lunch.  In St. Jean Pied du Port we prowled around the old military fortifications and ancient city which was the last city on the pilgrim route (still is) to the St. James church in NW Spain.  It is a gateway town to Spain, being only 7.5 kilometers from the Spanish border.  Here are some pictures of our day there.

 

When we got back to Dognen, we went with Bob and Britt to swim in the Oloron river.  I watched Arden - putting her on my stomach (I started to write "tummy" but realized I don't  really have a "tummy" anymore) to let her be entertained with my grisley face.

Before we made dinner, Kaaren and I rode bikes through the cornfields and into a couple of small villages - Prechacq and Saucede - that are very, very old and beautiful.  We had a blast.  There is also a picture of dinner time yesterday evening.  Note the interesting loaf of bread I brought home.

 

love,

 

Dad

Rennes le Chateau

Yesterday I drove a long way east almost to the Mediterranean coast to visit a church around which a popular mystery has become known world wide - Rennes le Chateau.  Here at the turn of the last century, an obscure priest, was assigned to pastor a small and very ancient community/castle at the top of a mountain.  He is reputed to have found, in the course of renovations of the tiny chapel there, either a treasure that made him rich (Knights Templar treasure it is sometimes suggested - they were based in this area in the middle ages) or a document in the altar that had incriminating information which he took to Paris and came back with no end of money at his disposal. He spent the next years rebuilding the chapel and the rectory and towers and such with his own money.  The church was dedicated to Mary Magdeline whose ancestors are said to have become the Merovingian kings of France.  The presiding bishop was suspicious about the source of Sauviere's money and had him charged in church court to explain it.  He never would and was relieved of his priestly duties but kept on with the renovations and building for another 10 years or so until his death.  I think he is mentioned in The Da Vinci Code. There's more interesting stuff to the story.  These pictures are of the church, the surroundings, the little village etc. enjoy

 

dad

art

Kaaren and I are so impressed with the beautiful artwork inthe churches here. I uploaded a bunch of new photos to the flickr web site - same link:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12596028@N00/sets/72157622075717600/

 

New pictures are of us in Monein and Pau.

 

Dad

Pilgrims in our day

In the previous email, the hikers are actually pilgrims that walk (some ride bikes) hundreds of miles from the middle of France, through theses towns, Navarrenx in particular, over the Pyrenees mountains into Spain.  Their pilgrimage ends at a church in the NW of Spain purportedly founded by St. James himself.  As you can see, these "pilgrims" are pretty well outfitted - as if they bought all their shoes and hiking equipment at REI.  They stay at reduced rates at the lodges marked with a seashell on the side of the lodge.

 

Dad

Monein and Pau

Today, Kaaren and I visited a small village, Monein, with a fabulous church and then on to a big city, Pau, with even more interesting church architecture.  We shopped for shirts for Kaaren and croissants and a sweater for Kaaren and Basque quiche and art supplies for Kaaren and pizza and a beautiful sweater/coverlet for Kaaren and baguettes;  here are some photos from the day - particularly of the artwork in the churches.  This artwork has to be priceless - just hanging on the walls in these churches with open doors all day long.  Most of this artwork was hard to see without the flash, so enjoy.

 

Dad