Saint Jean Pied de Port is the main city of Cize Country, in the middle of the inner Basque Country located in Basse Navarre (one of the three provinces of the Northern Basque Country)
Located in the middle of a basin, surrounded by mountains and open to Spain throught Arneguy Saint Jean Pied de Port is the mandatory passage on the path to Saint James of Compostela.
St Jean Pied de Port was the old political and administrative capital of the Navarre and used to be a historical crossroad until 1790.
The town suffered all kinds of military and pacific invasions like for example, during the opening of the Jacobit paths. Saint Jean Pied de Port keeps the memories of the roman, franc and navarrian troops who crossed the Pyrenees tought the Ibañeta’s mountain pass to get to the Spanish kingdom.
The
fortified town was built during the 12th century and reconstructed in
the middle of the 17th century by Deville, a military
engineer. In 1685, Vauban takes care of the town’s
restoration. Today many places of the town like the citadel, the fortified
walls, the Notre Dame du bout du pont’s church,
the 1584 bishop’s prison (that never held any bishop as an inmate)
and served as the town’s prison, can all testify for the bustling
past of the town.
This touristic region is keeping a rural and farming orientation.
It is mainly a farming and shepherd activity. They also protect the
cultural heritage and the farming of the small Basque race horse called
“pottok”.
