Oloron St. Marie and St Jean Pied de Port

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We are sending this from the coast of Portugal we are near Nazare

The Basque Region of France



We stopped and walked around Oloron St. Marie, and up, up the steps to see the old church, then on to the UNESCO Notre Dame Cathedral. Lots of Notre Dame Cathedrals in France!!
Today we got so miserably lost in the Pyrenees/Basque Country of France, it was stressful. Then we were approached by a herd of cows complete with bells!! What a hoot! We stopped, of course, and laughed our heads off! What's the rush??
This is the 21 century, right? How many US citizens have meet people making a pilgrimage. I know we have not. Yet today we met 4 folks making a pilgrimage in two different cities! A Belgium, on a bike, headed to Santiago de Campostela: he chatted with us for quite a while. He started in Brussels and was headed to Campostela in Spain. He was a very intelligent young man and explained his motivation for this pilgrimage. The last I heard of pilgrimages was in the middle ages. However, this is the Basque Country, and obviously "the port" or beginning of the famous trail leading to Campostela.
We found a municipal camp site in St. Jean Pied de Port. We were walking around the ancient town visiting the "Citadelle," and met three more folks preparing for their pilgrimage to Campostela! One from Toronto, one from S. Korea and another quiet gentleman. Each person was well educated, intelligent, physically fit and drawn to this pilgrimage for individual reasons, and each has prepared for the hike differently. It was very impressive.

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