Pau beside the Pyrenees

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33995, 8 November 1975, Page 11

Pau beside the Pyrenees

Most New Zealand diners-out will have noticed Sauce Bearnaise on the menu of good restaurants, and some will have savoured it on grilled fish or meat.

They may not have realised that it is associated with the French Pyrenean province of Beam, of which the capital is Pau (pronounced to rhyme with "Oh!”). One must say merely "associated with”; some authors of culinary works declare that the sauce originated in Beam and was made with oil, not butter. Other writers say this sauce was made for the first time in the Henry IV Pavilion, a restaurant at St Gennain-en-Laye; that it was made with butter and was named in honour of Henry IV, who was known as “the Great Beamais."

In the small, pretty university town of Pau, the most striking feature (apart from the wealth of trees)

is the castle associated with Henry IV. It stands to the west of the town, on a

natural raised spur formed by the junction of two rivers. Flanked by six towers, the slate-roofed castle with its ornate window-frames faces the Garde River and the Pyrenean chain of mountains. From its elevated terraces one can look out across broad green fields which were once the village fairground. In the distance one can even read the huge letters “GEANT CASINO”

along the front of the spacious supermarket where many townspeople go. (It has also become a new French habit to drive out into the country’ and shop at large complexes with acres of parking-space.) The interior courtyard of the castle at Pau is entered between the pillars of a magnificent portico named after Napoleon 111. But the ancient chateau shows numerous different stages of construction and restoration, and dates back to the 14th century. The future King Henry IV was bom there in 1553, and every year nowadays more than 200,000 people pay to see the famous tortoise-shell which formed the cradle of this prince, and of perhaps the most glorious dynasty in French history — that of Navarre.

In 1927 the castle became a national museum, and it is renowned for the interest of the collections it houses.

Early last century King Louise Philippe sent to Pau more than 140 tapestries—most of the Gobelin production of the 17th century — to adorn the birthplace of his illustrious ancestor. Important routes Pau and its neighbouring communes have been inhabited since Gallo-Roman times. The area is at the junction of many important routes: Spain is on the other side of the ranges, and the Basque Country is not far away — over hear the Atlantic. A fascinating town to visit after a drive along foothills where purpleflowering buddleias grow wild and above rivers spanned by ancient fortified bridges, is St Jean-Pied-de-Port (St John’s at the Foot of the Pass). From the younger part of the town, one crosses an arched footbridge reflected in the smooth stream below, and climbs to the ramparts along cobbled streets among houses that seem incredibly old.

The restaurant to which we were taken to lunch two years ago lived up to the reputation of the region — that even the most modest inn and unpretentious hostelry in the High or Low Pyrenees supplies an excellent meal and a "digestion without remorse.” Around Pau itself the specific delicacies shown on the gastronomic maps are roast thrush, sausage omelette, and braised pigeon. Hospitality The experience of a Christchurch couple suggests that Pau is notable for its hospitality; for a stay of several days in a spacious country' house arose out of a brief chance meeting between strangers late one night in Papeete. In a house full of foreign curios, brilliantly arranged, the guests were supremely happy, but the hosts were not — for shame that the High Pyrenees remained stubbornly shrouded in misty rain. But it is sure to be the same if these hosts come to this country and we try to show them our Mount Cook or Mount Taranaki! Pau is not the only place where it can rain.

MARY TROUP, of Christchurch, writes of a comer of France.