Aquitaine

...next morning I crossed the Adour via the old bridge...

Another legendary french car. The Citroen Ami.

The population of Momy may be around one hundred. One of the locals seems to love classic light trucks. Parked in front of the parish church of Saint-Jaques is a Peugeot Camionette (from the 1950s?) and a Volkswagen T2 (double-cab/6 seater!) with flat tires. VW produced T2s 1967–1979.

Of course, I know Samson´s Lion. Samson wrestled that lion - and teared it apart. That the lion made it to France after that was totally new for me. Unfortunately I did not have the time for a detour to Samsons Lion, but meanwhile I learnt that there are actually two small hamlets, Samsons and Lion.

A former church. Impressing. We stayed in the little house to the left.

...... a cavalier is riding over somebody on the ground. This may depict the "Matamoro", what is Saint Jaques in his role of slaughtering the muslims in Spain, leading the "Reconquista". The "Matamoro" was a very popular figure in spanish...

..there is a lion, eating up somebody. The the lower part of the victim´s body is hanging out of the lion´s mouth....

...... then there is the "trumeau", the center-pillar. This pillar ends into to figures, that seem to hold the whole structure on their shoulders. Not like the classic caryatid, that does that elegantly, these two really seem to suffer under the weight - and their are tied up. They stand back to back, mouths wide open, knees bowing - their hands tied together. These two figures are a political demonstration......

..the mountains don´t really look "alpine" up here...

..this street is pretty busy from 6 to 8 in the morning, when all pilgrims and walkers walk up to Hunto, to reach Roncesvalles in the afternoon. After the rush-hour, it is very quiet again upto noon, when the first "pelerins" arrive from Ostabat - and meet with all, that start from here.

...... of a sudden, the door to the kitchen opened, and an eldery small man appeared, wearing a basque beret on his head and a big bottle in his hand. He started to sing and to fill all the glasses with an aperitif....

...an old chapel, a few houses and one street. This was slipperey, as it was covered with cow- and sheep droppings..

....the mountain range on the horizon grew steadily with every hour I walked south...

..had my very first encounter with an aggressive dog near a small place named "Gibraltar". After a steep ascend I saw a flock of sheep, the little "chapelle de Soyarza" under some trees - and the Pyrenees in the back....

...a wonderful mixture of a chateau, a farm and a chambre d’hôte. Well, this was not the "superb" style of french castle, this was a real "working" farm. Mr. and Mrs. Prat , the owners of "Chateau d`Espalungue" are real farmers....

...the "Poste Rurale" was obviously closed and the "Public Telephone" as well...

...having met the strange gnome with the hairy ears in Captieux the night before, we now found his bathtube in our room in Retjons. It must have been his tube, as it was so tiny. I could not even sit in it....

...on the right hand side, next to the entrance door of "Saint-Barthélémy", there is the old eyewitness (see the other Pimbo-foto). To see me you have to focus on the mirror on the right hand side...