Bonjour mes amis et les voyageurs de tous bords. This is the final and third part to our ongoing trip report from this past fall. The first section was 'Born to Bielsa' and dealt with Barcelona. Then part two 'Pyrennial' was based in the Spanish Pyrenees. Now as promised, this final section 'Plenitude' deals with the French Pyrenees. We rented a nice house for nine nights in Luz (St. Sauveur), a town in the Pays Toy of the Hautes Pyrenees. We were lucky to have taken the Aragnouet-Bielsa tunnel from Spain up into France. Had we instead opted for the Somport tunnel, we would've found it still closed after a collapse. One month earlier, landslides had closed both.
We had requested of our young taxi driver that he take us along the more picturesque route that goes westward from Arreau past the Pic du Midi into Luz. After napping in the vehicle, we awoke to discover that he'd taken a different route far to the north through Lourdes. My wife is bilingual and her instructions to him had been utterly clear, so we were disappointed.

Donc, pousser pour entrez cette TR. First, an overview.

This trip seemed to feature lovely glasswork here and there.

This was the first sight that greeted Mrs Z and I after coming through the abovementioned tunnel. The Sierra Pelada (Tramezaiguas) was 2430 m in height. These are its slopes after some rain. *image taken through window of moving taxi.

That sneaky driver Alejandro may have skipped our requested D918 westerly route via Col Tourmalet but at least the first part of that loooong transfer went through some pretty French mountain towns in the Aure valley. We enjoyed seeing Guchen, Cadeac and St. Lary Soulan. As we expected, those Hautes Pyrenees places were less earthy than Spanish Pyrenees towns and more I dunno, 'antiseptic'. Cow herds had blocked us earlier back in Aragon.

Luz is a lively mountain village/ski resort within the Pyrenees national park. Our rental house 'La Caducee' was actually located in the upper Luz suburb known as Esquieze-Sere. It had five bedrooms, more than we really needed, but its location next door to one of the two Carrefours in town made it hard to pass up. We paid the artist owner Patrice Robert 310 euros per night.

The Pic de Bergons peek up through the bottom left corner of this image. From our rental (not shown), it was a mere 10 minute walk into the center of Luz.The hamlet Sassis was directly across from us, on the slopes of Soum de Auheres. The stars were very visible at night.

The Saligos hamlet and its dominant church were visible out our rear windows.

Moments after we arrived. The view of 12C Sainte-Marie castle from our large backyard. It was VERY windy that day.

Same view on our final day, with the top half of Soum de la Courbe mountain ridge covered in snow.

Et finalement mes amis, je vous presente mon ami Bianca de Gavarnie. Next: more Luz then the Cirque de Gavarnie hike and Cauterets town spa.

Lovely photos zebec
I am looking forward to reading your report and reliving some memories. We enjoyed our two weeks in a gite on the edge of Luz in 2016. I know you will have lots to report.

Following with interest, zebec - we've strayed into south eastern France, but this region is unfamiliar.

Recommended books:
Author/photographer Thierry Guinhut has published a few titles about his extended walks throughout the Pyrenees, both the prestigious parts and the more obscure ones too.

Zebec, can you notify the moderators that this is a trip report? You didn't flag it as a TR, and I almost missed it.

Loving your report and the gorgeous photos. We've never been to this part of France before.

Luz was a quiet town and that was just what we needed for our final dozen days. The previous 25 days combining Barcelona + Aragonese Pyrenees had left us running on gas fumes. Our knees, quads and calves were about to sue us both. Frankly, when we learned that our planned daytrip hike to nearby Pont d'Espagne and its Lk. Gaube was cancelled coz its chairlifts were just finished for the season, we were thankful!

The center of town. Luz had a close-by Tourism Office in Pl. du 8 Mai run by patient, clever women. Young staffer Nelly introduced herself, "But I'm not Nelly Furtado!" As non-driving self-caterers, we'd come prepared with a thousand questions. Nelly and her colleagues answered them all. They also assisted with taxi arrangements. With the latter, language was not the issue. It was more a matter of logistics and availability.

Un chien exotique.

Un batiment historique.

Stonework detail.

Same as seen in broader context of Pl. de la Comporte.

Ornate gate.

An ancient building had been repurposed with a bevy of new roles: cinema, Pyrenees Park headquarters and art gallery. The official name for that historic building was Maison du Parc National et de la Vallee.

It also served as the town public library, a great place to get dry during rain, to use computers, ask more questions and you know, read.

During our Luz flaneurs, we saw very few folks in the quieter corners. The vast majority of tourists in town seemed to be French. We did not notice a single person who seemed to be non-European.

Luz had several fancy doorknockers spread throughout.

Rue d'Ossun was more or less pedestrianized. Our fave of the two local Carrefours ('Montagne') was located on this corner. Despite its being smaller, we preferred its friendly welcome.

Our landlord Patrice was up in Paris at his own Le Marais Art Show, so we were welcomed by property manager Helena. Patrice's dad Alain soon arrived to help us get settled (shown here). Later, Patrice's mom Christine Diez also assisted. By fluke, she also turned out to be the owner of a certain folksy restaurant that we had long-planned to visit!

I promise myself every year that I will return to the Pyrénées, but it keeps not happening. Maybe this year, but after Belfort last week, now I am off to Madagascar in April and Halifax in June.

Zebec, we also preferred the Montagne Carrefour even though it was smaller. Back in 2016 the other one was looking very tired. There was also a good boucherie and bouangerie where we shopped as well.
You were lucky with your experience at the TO. The day we went the lady was not helpful at all and more interested in her phone. We usually have positive experiences in Tourist Offices.
Certainly an elegant dog.

A couple shots from our rental house. Here, some interior decor. Pas mal.

A strange occurrence alarmed us on the second of our 10 nights there. Shown above is the front door which somebody knocked on around 2am. But when I checked, nobody was there. Zebi! Belek, telephone des condes? Our eventual guess was that it was some miskine young drunks from the Txchoco pizza joint/bowling alley directly across. Who knew? The French version of Nicky Nine Doors!

Wesh kayn, wesh rak? Je m'appelle Monsieur LaMarsh et je suis un resident de Luz. Et puis, je parle 'verlan Cefran' comme mes enfants.

Dead center in the Pl.de la Comporte shown above, one may see lovely Leslie's 'Zenitude' massage business. We each had a massage with her and wallah, would've returned again had we stayed another week. *Phone 0607 8203 07

That same square also holds Luz's only typical historical attraction, the 12C fortified church known as Des Templiers aka St. Andre. Rather than the Knights Templar, it was actually the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem who built it to protect themselves from Aragonese brigands.

Victor Hugo drew this unusual church from his bedroom window during his stay in Luz in 1843.

We are not at all religious but there was something very harmonious inside the church. The French photographer whom I've mentioned above likes to visit such historic places with stained glass in order to take abstract shots of the colored glass reflected onto the walls and floors.

We were alone there for an hour, then some local tourists arrived.

The Bastan river cut through the town.

Next: some music before the final Luz imagery (eg. the weekly market), then the Cirque de Gavarnie hike.

An instrumental from a band that has been popular in the area.

You Tube

Luc Arbogast has an amazing counter-tenor voice, which he puts to good use on albums of his medieval music. Here, his version of the traditional Jewish song 'Cancion Sephardi'.

What a treat, zebec, to find more of your sublime photography. And I love the quiet village travels.

The fortified church in Luz is wonderful. We had a very nice lunch at the restaurant opposite.

As always, beautiful photography zebec. And that dog, wow.

Wow! More gorgeous photos! Love the pink glassware from your first batch of photos. Love all the scenery, mountains, architecture, villages!!!

The POPOTES section (ie 'those who make good food'). Oo-la-la! As Rhon had mentioned above, Luz has a few boulangeries and butchers. They are all excellent, and the lasagna at the butcher beside the smaller Carrefour was among the best we've ever had. Boulangerie Gave makes VG clafouti and also wonderful fig-berry Charlotte cake. Self-caterers will do well in this town.

We'd been warned that Luz's weekly market was too small, but in fact we were pleasantly surprised at its depth and breadth. It felt tightly-organized and was definitely not too small for our needs. *Folks will tell you that the biggest and best local market in their estimation is up in nearby Argeles-Gazost town.

Ines Du Pouy runs a very good organic produce market. It is located in the center, next to one of the butchers and set back in a courtyard. He also has a cool carved mailbox beside a similar home-made birdhouse.

He also offers ciders and comme ca.

Our landlord's mom Christine Diez (old Alain's wife) owns the unique 'Luz et Coutumes' restaurant. It is a combo folk museum/cafe located in Impasse du Presbytere. Centuries of ancestral know-how was on display, for us an unmissable bit of added-value. Our kinda place, far better than some Noun-and-Firkin real-imitation tavern.

Among the sprawling (two rooms) antique collection was this 1884 Histoire de France book. Also one sees plates, jars, tools, books, furniture, posters, maps, rocks, toys and more. The water bottles were from Brasserie Puoyols. It was good to warm our bones by the fireplace.

The delicious menu offered traditional dishes oft served in traditional earthenware. We opted for some 'garbure' stew( cabbage, carrots, potato, ham) with our glasses of wine: Madiran red (raspberry notes) and also St. Mont. Both wines were produced by Plaimont. This special place was chock full of genuine culture and at opening, quiet enough for my hearing issue to not be a concern.

One block over from the market on rue Barat there was this corner with a gnarly surface. Tt contrasted with the otherwise well-kept facades elsewhere in Luz. One of the town's seven historic lavoirs was close by.

This friendly lady ran a honey table. We bought some of her 'bruyere' variety, of which there are two sorts: spring and fall. They each have a distinctive taste, as does bourdain (buckthorn). We used miel in the tea that we made from the freshly-picked spearmint and regular mint from our rental jardin. Other honey sellers in this general area include Rucher Pentu and also Rucher de Tourmalet.

Each vendor had a specialty and there was little overlap.

Full marks for originality in this woman's business presentation!

The meat vendor hailed from Silhen near Cauterets. His hair appears a bit red on the top due to his overhead awning.

In this area, shoppers can look for black pork cold cuts and grilled mutton chops. The latter goes well with the little white Tarbais beans. One could also seek the tasty Gave trout.

Gateau de la Brioche is the local 'traditional' specialty, basically a waffle created with a wood fire on a rotating spit. We bought one from 'Les Doux Soeurs Bigoudainees' from nearby Lezignan. Myrtle/blueberry pies are also popular.

This was the olive vendor.

We bought a wide variety of his offerings including his tapenade. They were all excellent and went well with country fromage.

The main produce booth was superb. It was run by one busy couple. They barely were able to handle demand and long lines resulted. Their variety was unsurpassed. For example, they had seven kinds of citrus! Their booth was the looooooongest such one that we'd ever seen in any country. It was the length of a major urban block and was overseen by a B&W photo stencil up on a nearby wall, an image that featured an elderly male (former mayor? cyclist hero?) leaning forward to watch over proceedings.

Oh how I miss the itinerant markets of rural France. The specialization is what makes it so special. And you have to know what day to be there...

Cycling is a big deal in these here parts. The Tour de France draws a HUGE TV audience.

Luz has a whole Walk of Fame featuring the handprints of storied cyclists. Ardiden Velos is one local renter of bikes.

But the big deal for me was the famed Cirque de Gavarnie hike, which takes one from touristy Gavarnie village south towards the Spanish border. There one finds the namesake, world-renown glacial amphitheater. A spectacular example of massive erosion, the cirque or 'circus' is the Number One activity for most visitors. I wanted to experience the sunrise there. The seasonal public bus had stopped running so I pre-arranged for an early taxi via Gedre down to the cirque (63 euros).

Mrs Z was not interested and preferred to rest back at our cozy rental. The driver and myself were both former rock drummers now in our sixties. I recommended to him the superb album 'High Class in Borrowed Shoes' by the Canuck band Max Webster. The following day back in Luz, he pulled over to thank me--he loved the album. *above= the iconic local goat-antelope 'chamois'

After being dropped off by Gavarnie's Tourism office, I commenced the chilly trek south. Nobody was around for the first ten minutes, til a young hiker strode up beside me. He resisted every effort that I made to be friendly, ignoring all my nods, waves and 'Ca va?' (howzit going). His being so very anti-social was tres etrange. Another strange aspect then was realizing that the top of Gavarnie plus its pair of neighboring 'sandwich' cirques are actually in Spain: the border crests all three.

The sunrise was just starting and the first stretch was paved. Given that it was a Sunday and the popular hike would soon be populated with local families, I cherished the solitude while it lasted. Later, I saw one dad who'd brought his newborn along inside a baby-sling. Given the stretches of unpaved rugged pieton further down the trail and the possibility of tripping there, he seemed foolishly stubborn. In high season, many take a donkey ride to-and-from the cirque with local guides.

Whereas much of the Pyrenees National Park is hard granite, the Cirque had a lot of limestone. Folks had taken some bits of that rock to create some Innuit-style inukshuk piles along the route. Shown here: Mt. Poutine as seen from the Arribam bois.

Bellevue plateau. I really don't know the demographics, but it felt like local French families outnumbered foreign tourists by a large margin. One sizable group of Lebanese 20-somethings broke the rules by blaring music from their portable radio. I am a music lover who did not mind, but possibly other hikers took offense. Young Spanish men also ignored the 'keep dogs on leash' rule, which is actually law here.

Flaubert: 'The purpose of Travel is to show you how small we all are.' It was a measure of just how high these mountains are, that the cirque was still in shadow at noon. The Grande Cascade shown above is the highest waterfall in Europe. Above them: jagged l'Epaule (3073m). The Lacoste family have re-opened their traditional hotel seen on the left and it's back patio was a great place for a restorative cocoa at 1580m. The hotel transfer van was the only authorized road vehicle.

Local geology: the rock walls along the way were impressive.

They gave the shutterbug the opportunity to get artistic.

I rest my case.

Mt. Taillon (3144m) and its shorter glacial neighbor Gabietous are no doubt both the source for this river. Hardy hikers overnight at the cabane des Soldates just below gabietous.

never ceases to please.

I tipped a pair of young female photographers about the golden reflections here. We three enjoyed a productive half hour tryna capture the moving imagery.

This shot of the above gurgling waters was Mrs Z's fave and she plans to do a painting of it.

Although I saw none of it beyond vultures and other birds, there is a variety of wildlife throughout the Pyrenees park.

Domestic animals.

This pont de Brioule took one across to the Foret du Canton Morgat. One may meander the meadows there. The slopes were once denuded by the end of the 19C but are now restored. In this area, I somehow lost my precious green Tilley hat, un chapeau that'd visited a great many countries. It'd been tied to my Domke camera bag but must've somehow slipped off. Too late, a local photographer with whom I'd chatted along the route told me that someone had found the hat and placed it on a fence pole.

The Gave de Pau river and one of its old bridges: pont de Nadau. There was apparently a botanical jardin nearby but I never found it.

The overall Pyrenees park is a true wilderness area and a home to rare flora and fauna.

A fallen tree trunk water-worn by the river and time.

My return taxi arrangement had to be OKed by the Japanese gal who'd already reserved it. She lived in Paris and had brought her visiting mom to visit the cirque. We soon all got along well and traded travel tips. Our return route passed the historic hotel in Gedre village, a distinctive building with a great view of the famed Breche de Roland mountain gap. The latter very visible gap is the main Pyrenees hiking trail between France and Spain. We also passed a bungee jump plus Napoleon's bridge.

Luz itself is surrounded by very impressive mountains. A series of hamlets are spread across them.

A horse ranch has long been a feature of this part of the trail.

Local fences showed evidence of that.

I chatted with this family. Mom and dad were teaching their daughter (far L) how to care for the animals.

Bianca was friendly. She was also informative, telling me not to bother tryna get us an overnight visit to the high Observatory at nearby Pic du Midi: "Naw, don't bother Monsieur Zebec. Zey are sold out til Christmas at which time zey will close overnight stays for good. J'ai sourir mon ami Canuck.'

At far left we see Grand Astazu (3012m) with its lil bro Petite Astazu just below. The popular ice climb 'Couloir Swan' is just beneath. Spain's famed Mt. Perdu lies just behind them (not shown). The Tour de Marbore (Gascon for 'marble') looms on the right, with the Pailla glacier visible just below. That general area also includes the Crete des Druides plus the gres de Marbore Maastrichtien layers, with migmatites and cambro-ordoviciennes. There will be a test on this tomorrow.

On the way back. Seen from the middle of the crest going to the right (east): la Tour with its alluvions fluvio-glaciers, la Casque, Pic des Saraders (2739m), Doigt Pointe Bazillac, Mt Taillon and Gabietous.

My final daytrip was to a wonderful spa over in Cauterets. Again, Mrs Z took a pass. That trip necessitated a pair of rainy bus rides. Shown here is the transfer point for such public bus routes: the village of Pierrefitte-Nestalas. On display, it had an interesting fire brigade wagon from a century ago.

It also had one of those 'Leave-a-book-take-a-book' stands for all ages.

The local daycare had a powerful mural on its side! There must be some local legend about a nearby French Loch Ness creature. Et comme ca.

On the advice of locals, I chose the stately, fin-de-siecle spa 'Bains de Rocher'. We all had to wait outside before opening. The river was raging and the deluge was coooold!! The spa had an ancient tree outside, an indoor-outdoor pool, various water jets throughout plus a few unexpected features. So relaxing. After chatting with lovely Leah at Cauterets Tourism, I then shopped at the Belle Epoque Les Halles. Shown in yellow above: a competitor spa. Taxi driver David Serano later took me home.

Men, be sure to bring tight Speedos to any spa. No American-style trunks. Btw, David the above driver is also an accomplished nature photographer. He showed me his own color photo book of Pyrenees Hikes. He is expanding his business to include tours: *David Serano-Grocq phone 0607 68 38 93. [email protected] **Taxis: See also these three co's: -'3 Vallees' (Luz) 33-0683599698 -ask for Gerrard -'Les Glaciers/Bruzaud' (Gavarnie) 0607-820-307 -Caussieu 3305-6292-9756 C'est fin.

You're speaking my language zebec - that hike looks spectacular! Curious about its length and time it took to complete.