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Hendaye ( Basque: ''Hendaia'')HENDAIA
Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia
is a commune in the
Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlant ...
department and
Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by ...
region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
of southwestern
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
.INSEE commune file
/ref> The town, Metropolitan France's most southwesterly and a popular seaside tourist resort, stands on the right bank of the River Bidassoa – which marks the Franco-Spanish border – at the point where it empties into the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...
in the French Basque Country. Hendaye has three distinguishable parts: ''la ville'' (the town), which stretches from Saint Vincent's church to the area around the SNCF railway station and the industrial zone; ''la plage'' (the beach), the seaside quarter; and ''les hauteurs'' (the heights), the villas and camping sites on the hills between and behind the other two areas.


History

Hendaye acquired its independence from the Urrugne parish in 1598, when Saint Vincent's church was built. In the Franco-Spanish War, the town was briefly occupied by the Spanish, in September 1636. On the fortified ÃŽle des Faisans (Pheasant Island) in the river, the Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed in 1659, ending decades of intermittent war between France and Spain. Authority over the island alternates between France and Spain every six months. All the same, the village kept being subject to destruction due to cross-border military activity. In the War of the Pyrenees (1793-1795), the village was levelled to the ground, as described in 1799 by
Wilhelm von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (, also , ; ; 22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named after ...
: "The settlement spreads over a rather wide area, and seems to have looked clean and pleasant time ago. Currently all the houses, but for a handful of them, lie destroyed. The empty walls can barely stand, while the ground before inhabited is covered with overgrown bush and hawthorn. Ivy creeps up the walls, out of crumbling windows the desolate ocean can be seen through the room. Shells can still be come across the street here and there, but hardly ever can one bump into a person. Most of the inhabitants either perished in the danger and helplessness of the runaway, or they scattered away to other places." The abolition of the French provinces, the War of the Pyrenees and the end of Basque home rule in the Spanish Basque districts— customs on the Ebro river moved to the Pyrenees (1841)—broke definitely the fluent cross-border trade and natural coexistence of the Basque speaking communities around the lower Bidassoa and the
Bay of Txingudi The Bay of Txingudi ( eu, Txingudiko badia, french: Baie de Chingoudy, es, Bahía de Chingudi) is a bay in the right or French bank of the estuary of the Bidasoa river, near Hendaye in the département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques in south-west F ...
, divided as of then by a restricted Spanish-French border. On 22 October 1863, the railway arrived in Hendaye, as the track on the Spanish side also approached the Bidassoa borderline. On 15 August 1864, the first Madrid-Paris train arrived in Hendaye, forever re-shaping the human and urban landscape of the village and prompting rapid development. Hendaye started to stand out as an international hub and a seaside resort for the elites after the model of Biarritz (1854), halfway between Donostia (San Sebastián) and
Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Sp ...
. In 1913
the Spanish Basque railway
serving the coastline all the way to Donostia (later known as "topo", the 'mole') arrived at Hendaye Gare. On 23 October 1940, Ramón Serrano Súñer,
Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 â€“ 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 19 ...
,
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and
Joachim von Ribbentrop Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...
met in the Hendaye railway station (then in
German-occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...
) to discuss Spain's participation in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
as part of the Axis. Franco declined Hitler's entreaties and outlived the other fascists by avoiding war with the United Kingdom.


Population


Sights

The town square, where there is a weekly open-air market on Wednesdays, is the location of the famous seventeenth century " Great Cross of Hendaye", a stone cross carved with alchemical symbols that occultists find to contain encrypted information on a future global catastrophe. The church of Saint-Vincent was built in 1598, and largely reconstructed over the centuries following fires and bombardments. Its most recent transformation was finished in 1968. The 13th-century crucifix is the principal treasure. The
ruins Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
of the early seventeenth century fortifications, which were reinforced by Vauban in 1685, and the old
cannons A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during ...
facing Hondarribia, are one of the features of the promenade along the
Bay of Txingudi The Bay of Txingudi ( eu, Txingudiko badia, french: Baie de Chingoudy, es, Bahía de Chingudi) is a bay in the right or French bank of the estuary of the Bidasoa river, near Hendaye in the département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques in south-west F ...
waterfront. The seafront
Château A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. No ...
of Antoine d'Abbadie, built by the architect and theorist Eugène Viollet-le-Duc is a monument of the Gothic Revival. The ''Casino'' building, of Neo-Moorish style, was built in 1885. It used to be occupied by a
casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live enterta ...
(hence the name), until it was moved to the quartier de Sokoburu. During the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...
, it served as a
military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...
for French soldiers and then as the Portuguese Military Hospital of Hendaia, from 15 June 1918 to 23 February 1919. The picturesque old fishing port of Caneta has views over the Bay of Txingudi to Hondarribia and the
Jaizkibel Jaizkibel is a mountain range of the Basque Country located east of Pasaia, north of Lezo and west of Hondarribia, in Spain, with at the highest point (peak Alleru). The range stretches south-west to north-east, where it plunges into the sea ...
, and is also the site of Pierre Loti's house and the old customs building. The '' Jumeaux'' rocks (''Dunbarriak'' in Basque, literally 'the bell stones') have become somewhat emblematic to Hendaye. These two high rock stacks, which have been carved out of the cliffs by
wave action In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, water wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of bodies of water as a result from the wind blowing over the water surface. The contact distance in the direction ...
, are visible from the
beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...
or from the domaine d'Abbadia, a nature park on the edge of the commune related to the Conservatoire du littoral project.


Culture


Music

Hendaye doesn't have any specific music venues, but there are many places where bands can play. The covered pelota fronton at Belcenia has a high capacity and the basque folk band Oskorri have played here on more than one occasion. In summer, bigger bands can play in open air at the Hendaye Plage Rugby pitch. Toure Kunda, among others, have played here. Concerts can be organised in the ''Cinéma les Variétés'', which also has a high capacity. The closed market is a good place for starting-out local bands to stage small concerts. Rather than a pub scene, local bands often play in Hendaye's many campsites in the summer. The ''Lanetik Egina'' music club is the hub of Hendaye's music scene. It has a very good reputation and organises regular concerts. It is also a place where musicians of all ages can meet up and form bands. Perhaps the most successful band to come from Hendaye is the basque ska-punk band Skunk, who have made many albums.


Theatre and performance

The ''Cinéma les Variétés'' is a large classic theatre and cinema, which is a regular venue for
theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...
,
dancing Dance is a performing art art form, form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolism (arts), symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its chor ...
, and performance arts. There is also a cinema at Sokoburu, near the quartier de la Plage, called the ''Salle Antoine d'Abbadie'', but it is only used on special occasions. The ''Théâtre des Chimères'', from
Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Sp ...
, regularly perform at Hendaye.


Art and literature

The ''Médiathèque municipale François Mitterrand'' is a
public library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...
offering books, magazines, films, and CDs. There is also an art gallery, which is the main one for Hendaye.


Events

These a few of the regular festivals in Hendaye: ;January *Bixintxo (St Vincent) ;May *Mai du théâtre (
theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...
festival throughout the month) ;June *Fête du cidre ( cider festival) *Fête de la musique (music festival) ;July *Fête de la Mer (festival of the Sea) ;August *Fête Basque (basque festival)


Gastronomy

Most of the town's restaurants are found in the quartier de la Plage and along the Bay of Txingudi waterfront. Hendaye is locally well known for the quality of its txurros.


Transport

The town is an important
railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
junction, as Spain's mainline trains use a broader gauge than continental Europe, with the French railway network finishing here on the banks of the Bidasoa. As well as the Gare d'Hendaye, there is also a station serving the beach quarter (''Hendaye Plage'') prior to the terminus, called the ''
Gare des Deux-Jumeaux Les Deux-Jumeaux (formerly ''Hendaye-Plage'') is a railway station in Hendaye, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. The station is located on the Bordeaux–Irun railway line. The station is served by TER (local) services operated by the SNCF Th ...
''. Basque rapid transit system
San Sebastián Metro Euskotren operates frequent commuter rail services in the city of San Sebastián and the surrounding Donostialdea area, in the Basque Country, Spain. The infrastructure is gradually being upgraded to rapid transit standards, in order to creat ...
linking the town to Donostia-San Sebastián gets right to Hendaye, by the SNCF station. There has been recent controversy concerning the new LGV Sud Europe Atlantique ( TGV line), which is planned to pass inland of Hendaye without stopping in or anywhere near the town itself. Most of the local population, along with that of the rest of the Côte Basque, are in favour of the TGV, but against the new line, which would destroy the surrounding countryside, bypassing the town completely. It has therefore been suggested to upgrade the present line to make it suitable for the TGV, with a stop at Hendaye station. It is argued that this would also be much less expensive, and would stimulate the local economy.


Agglomeration

Hendaye is part of the
urban unit In France, an urban unit (''fr: "unité urbaine"'') is a statistical area defined by INSEE, the French national statistics office, for the measurement of contiguously built-up areas. According to the INSEE definition , an "unité urbaine" is a ...
of
Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...
and of the communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque. The functional area of Hendaye includes two more communes:
Biriatou Biriatou (; eu, Biriatu)BIRIATU
Urrugne to the east.


Twin towns – sister cities

Hendaye is twinned with: * Arguedas, Spain *
Peebles Peebles ( gd, Na Pùballan) is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in June 2018 wa ...
, Scotland, United Kingdom *
Viana do Castelo Viana do Castelo () is a municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 88,725, in an area of 319.02 km². The urbanized area of the municipality, comprising the city, ...
, Portugal


Notable people

* Antoine d'Abbadie lived here. *
Pauline Ado Pauline Ado is a French professional surfer. She won a bronze medal for France at the World Surfing Championship. Early life She was born on 14 February 1991 in Bayonne. Career She won two junior championships in 2005. At the age of 17 she ...
, world champion surfer was born here *Robert Basauri, a rugby player who has been selected for the French national team, was born in Hendaye and played with the Stade Hendayais. * Coqueline Courrèges, dressmaker and co-founder of the Courrèges fashion company, born in Hendaye. *The professional rugby player Jean-Michel Esponda was born in Hendaye and played with the Stade Hendayais. He has been selected many times for the French national team. *
Martin Guerre Martin Guerre, a French peasant of the 16th century, was at the centre of a famous case of imposture. Several years after Martin Guerre had left his wife, child and village, a man claiming to be him appeared. He lived with Guerre's wife and s ...
was born in Hendaye. * Ernest Hemingway, American novelist, short story writer, and journalist lived in Hendaye during the late 1920s between travels to Spain, wrote, and exchanged correspondence with family and friends. Reference: https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/07/04/specials/hemingway-lettersexcerpts.html. * Maurice Jouvet, a French-Argentine actor, was born here. *
René Labat Jean René Labat (19 February 1892 – 8 March 1970) was a French high jumper The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its moder ...
(1892–1970), high jumper, was born in Hendaye. *
Joachim Labrouche Joseph-Joachim Labrouche (28 July 1769, in Hendaye – 21 March 1853, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz) was a French politician. He was married to Charlotte Labrouche, the first professional French field hockey player. Labrouche played an important rol ...
was born in Hendaye. * Bixente Lizarazu grew up here and played with the Eglantins. * Pierre Loti lived and died here (1894-1923). His house in Hendaye, Bakhar-Etchea ('La maison du solitaire'), still exists. * Eduardo Ortega y Gasset, a Spanish philosopher lived there since before Unamuno's arrival. * Etienne Pellot was born and died here. * Miguel de Unamuno, a Spanish essayist leaves Paris and moves to Hendaye in 1925.


Sports

*It is the western end of the
GR 10 GR 10 is a French GR footpath, or hiking trail, that runs the length of the Pyrenees Mountains. It roughly parallels the French–Spanish border on the French side. Those attempting the entire trail often choose to walk it from west to east, fr ...
long-distance footpath. *It marks the beginning (or end) of the Raid Pyreneen long-distance cycle challenge. *The Endaika rowing club was founded in 1889 and won three silver medals in the French championships in 2006 and 2007, and a coastal world championship gold medal in 2014. *Hendaye has a Rugby and handball club, the Stade Hendayais, which was founded in 1908. *It has a football club, the Eglantins. *It has a surf club, the Bidasoa Surf Club. *Hendaye is a popular surfing destination renowned for its soft beach break waves suitable for beginners. *Since 2004, the world conception center for the
watersports Water sports or aquatic sports are sport activities conducted on waterbodies, and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants. On the water * Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races * Boati ...
brand Tribord is located in Hendaye. *Hendaye is renowned for its
marina A marina (from Spanish language, Spanish , Portuguese language, Portuguese and Italian language, Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a Dock (maritime), dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina dif ...
, which has 850 places, making it the third largest in
Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Januar ...
. *
Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...
players gather for the Summer tennis tournament.


See also

* Pheasant Island *