Our Blog - Hendaye, France

We continued down the coastline, stopping quickly at a scenic overlook to get a view.

Our last stop in France was really just for lunch. We were going along the coast and stopped at Hendaye, which is France's most southwesterly town, and a popular seaside tourist resort. This is a town which doesn't date back long as an actual town ... it acquired its independence in 1598 and was then briefly occupied by the Spanish in 1636 during the Franco-Spanish war. It remained pretty much a small and unknown town until 1864 when the first Madrid-Paris train arrived, promoting rapid development as an international hub and seaside resort for the elite (similar to Biarritz).

Trivia: On 23 October 1940, Ramón Serrano Súñer, Francisco Franco, Adolf Hitler and Joachim von Ribbentrop met in the Hendaye railway station (then in German-occupied France) to discuss Spain's participation in World War II as part of the Axis. Franco, uneasy about committing his nation to another conflict so soon after the Spanish Civil War, was not convinced, and Hitler decided not to force the issue. Spain was officially neutral during the following five years of the war, though very much a pro-Axis state (see Spain during World War II.)

Some pictures of the beach, and the only picture of a building. This one being the The "Casino" building, built in 1885 in a Neo-Moorish style. It is no longer a casino and now basically houses tourist stores related to the surfing and beach. You can see the construction in front ... another place that is redoing the pedestrian walkways in advance of the main tourist season (July and August).

More Trivia ... Ernest Hemingway lived here during the late 1920s between travels to Spain, wrote, and exchanged correspondence with family and friends. Also, Martin Guerre was born here in 1524. If the name isn't familiar, the 1993 movie Sommersby (with Jodie Foster and Richard Gere) was an adaptation of the story. He was a French peasant in the 16th century who was at the center of a famous case of imposture. Several years after Martin Guerre had left his wife, child, and village, a man claiming to be him reappeared. He lived with Guerre's wife and son for three years. The false Martin Guerre was eventually suspected of the impersonation. He was tried, discovered to be a man named Arnaud du Tilh, and executed. The real Martin Guerre had returned during the trial.