(
Basque ''Hendaia'') is the most southwesterly town in
France . It is a
Commune of the
Pyrénées-Atlantiques ''
Département '', on the
Atlantic coast, the "Côte Basque", on the right bank of the
Bidassoa that marks the border with
Irún ,
Spain .
A long sand spit at the river's mouth has made the town a popular seaside tourist resort in the
Traditional Province ,
Lapurdi , of the French
Basque Country .
On the fortified Île aux Faisans ("Pheasant Isle") in the river, the
Treaty Of The Pyrenees was signed in 1659, ending decades of intermittent war between France and Spain. Authority over the Île changes between France and Spain every six months.
In 1940,
Ramón Serrano Súñer ,
Francisco Franco and
Adolf Hitler met in the Hendaye railway (then in
German-occupied France ) to discuss having Spain participate in World War II as part of the Axis. This short trip across the border was the only time Franco left Spain during his long dictatorhip.
However the compensations forwarded by Franco were not acceptable for Hitler and Spain remained neutral though sympathetic.
The town square, where there is a weekly open-air market on Wednesdays, is the location of the famous
17th 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 seafront Château of
Antoine D'Abbadie , built by the architect and theorist
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc is a monument of the
Gothic Revival .
The town is an important
Railway junction, as
Spain's Mainline Trains use a
Broader Gauge than continental Europe.
The beautiful town is twinned with
Peebles , a small town in the
Scottish Borders .
The French author and member of the Académie française
Pierre Loti resided in Hendaye.
This town is the western end of the
GR 10 long distance footpath.
