La Bastide Clairence revisited – Tour of France’s most beautiful villages 2016 No.2 -★★★★☆

Date and time of visit: May 2, 2016, approximately 4:00 p.m.

さて、今回も前回と同じくフランスの最も美しい村巡りのお話です。2014年に新規登録された美しい村ナヴァラン訪問の次に向かったのは、同じくピレネー＝アトランティック県にあるLa Bastide Clairence（ラ・バスティード・クレランス）という美しい村。先ほどのナヴァランよりも西側にあります。同じ県に属していますが、このあたりはいわゆる[highlight]「フレンチバスク地方」[/highlight]となります。

Is this a newly added village, no, it is not. It was already registered when I started my tour of the most beautiful villages in France in 2010. “I’ve already visited this village, of course, because I’ve always said that I’ve conquered them all.

But why did I revisit it in spite of that? Actually, when I visited in 2011, I was unfortunate not to be able to see the sights due to various reasons.

以前の訪問記録：https://www.yuu-koma.jp/?p=7309

There are three beautiful villages in the French Basque Country, and I was very disappointed to visit La Bastide Clerins because it was especially beautiful from what I saw in the photos. Even though I couldn’t do any sightseeing, I visited the village, but I had to do some sightseeing and take some photos to truly conquer the whole area.

That’s what I thought, and that’s the reason for my return visit. Fortunately, it was less than an hour away from the newly added Navarran, so we decided to visit it this time as well.

Now, I would like to introduce the history of this village by reading the official guidebook and the official website in my own way.

この村は8世紀頃よりも人々が入植していたようですが、正式なはじまりは14世紀初頭。1312年にナバーラ王ルイス1世（のちのフランス王ルイ10世）によって新しく作られました。ナヴァーラ王国はそれまでの間、現在のサン・セバスティアンを中心とした沿岸部を支配していたギプスコア王国によって、海へのアクセスを遮断されていたのですが、1250年になってようやくバイヨンヌ湾に注ぐアドール川を通して船による交通が認めらたことをきっかけに、その支流である「アラン川（フランス名:La Joyeuse）」の港となるこの地に街を築いたのがはじまりとされています。（参照：公式サイト）

Now, after arriving at the village, we found a rather small parking lot in the main street or a little side street. We parked our car here and started sightseeing.

It is a small village, so the only attractions are the street that runs through the middle of the village and the church. The houses with white walls decorated with red edges are very beautiful. It is a characteristic of the buildings in this area.

There are only about one or two accommodations, cafes and restaurants along the street.

If you’re staying overnight, it’s good if you arrive late at night, but might be boring if you arrive too early. But if you arrive too early, you may be bored, unless you want to relax. I’m sure the food will be good.

Shops and souvenir shops were moderate.

In addition, because the atelier etc. were scattered, it seems that the artist etc. are active while living in old houses. Did they create the works on these streets?

The church in the village is called “Notre Dame Church”. The most impressive thing is that there are many gravestones at the entrance. They are embedded in the floor. It looks like a normal cobblestone floor, but as expected, I hesitate to walk on it. However, we have to walk on it partly… We went ahead, walking on the edge as much as possible.

If you look closely, you will see that there is also a World War I monument here.

The interior of the church had a unique design, not found in many other areas, which was very similar to the one in the beautiful village of Ainoa, previously in the same area.

The Pyrénées-Atlantiques region, to which these villages belong, is divided into two regions: Gascony in the east and French Basque in the west, and the design is influenced by both cultures.

By the way, the names of places are written in both French and Basque. This is a common sight in other regions, too.