_PAU._
ENGAGING a small omnibus for 8 francs to Bayonne, five miles distant,
we left Biarritz at 12.25 for the 1.45 train to Pau. The station at
Bayonne for Pau in one direction, and Bordeaux in another, is on the
north side of the Adour, so that we had to cross the long bridge over
that river. The day was glorious, and the Adour, by whose banks we
proceeded part of the way, was looking very fine.
* * * * *
The traveller arrives at Pau by railway, in a station down in the
depths on the banks of the river Gave, a tributary of the Adour. But
the town itself mainly lies on a level platform, about 150 feet higher,
and almost immediately above, the rise being sharp, and the road
whereby it is reached very steep. The best advantage has been taken of
the situation to erect in front line a series of imposing edifices near
to the edge of this almost perpendicular height, so that on issuing
from the railway station the _coup d’œil_ is extremely impressive.
Commencing at the west end, the chateau or castle, with its ivy–clad
old tower or donjon, is the first object arresting the attention—a
large symmetrical building in the chateau style. Then the eye runs
along to the great new Hotel Gassion, with its corner projections
(which are neither towers nor turrets), surmounted by clumsy
extinguisher pointed roofs, and then the white Church of St. Martin’s,
with its lofty graceful needle spire, and on to the Hotel de France and
other imposing houses in the Place Royale—the whole producing an effect
which gives to the stranger the idea of a magnificent city behind. But
the truth is (all honour to those who did it), that the grenadiers
have here all been brought to the front rank; for the stately group
assembles in this commanding spot nearly all the buildings which are
noteworthy in Pau, the only other, if I am not mistaken, being the
white Church of St. Jacques, with its fine double spires, and perhaps
the adjoining Palais de Justice, both at a little distance from the
Place Royale.
* * * * *
We had been recommended on our first visit to apply for quarters at
the Pension Colbert, near the termination of the Rue Montpensier, at
the north or rural side of the town, kept by English ladies (Misses
Finch). It was at first a steep pull up the hill for the horses, but
the hill conquered, the road was thereafter level. We had been made
not merely so comfortable, but so much at home, at this house that
we engaged rooms in it on our return from Biarritz. On our first
visit in September, it was before the season commenced, and we were
accordingly the only guests; on the second, the house was nearly full,
and we experienced similar kind attention. It is recommended, with
a view to getting gradually accustomed to the climate before winter
sets in, that invalids should come in September, and there seems no
reason in the shape of excessive heat or the presence of mosquitoes to
prevent it; the weather, indeed, was cool during our first visit. But
the season does not really begin before the end of October, and it is
even the first week of November before Pau becomes tolerably full. We
accordingly found it upon our second visit, in the middle of October,
still comparatively empty.
The climate of Pau is not what suits every one. As compared with
Biarritz in the months from October to March inclusive, the mean
temperature is, according to the month, from one to five degrees lower.
Whether it was owing to our experiencing a difference of temperature,
or to the fact of our having had a good deal of rain while in Pau, or
whether due to accidental circumstances, such as neglect to shut a
bedroom window one evening, we all caught colds there, and lost much of
the good we had got at Biarritz. The fact suggests some notice of what
has been said on the subject of the climate of Pau as a health resort.
Dr., afterwards Sir Alexander Taylor, who wrote a special book on
the climate of Pau and other places,[49] divides climates into three
classes: _exciting_, _sedative_, and _relaxing_, and he gives us
examples (p. 21)—