By Carmela Ascolese Karnoutsos, Ph.D.

(The following is reprinted from Bayonne Community News, May 24, 2000.)

Yes, there is another Bayonne--a lovely city in southwest France with Old World charm and enough to see to please the most discriminating tourist.

On Friday, April 21^st, twenty anxious travelers left Bayonne in pouring rain for Newark Airport, eager to depart for France. Not even the darkened skies and torrential rain that evening could dampen our spirits. We were on a mission to visit our sister city in France. The tour was capably planned by Ginger Kemp of Four Seasons Travel. We began our French excursion in Paris with the usual menu of sites--the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, Tuileries Gardens, an afternoon at Versailles and an evening sail down the River Seine. We will "always have Paris, " but when do we get to Bayonne?

We first had to travel through the Normandy region with its verdant countryside, contented cows and fieldstone houses, climb up to Mont Saint Michel, and visit the Bayeaux Museum for the historic tapestry. A never-to-be-forgotten visit to the Normandy American Cemetery and Omaha Beach gave us pause to remember the sacrifices of American servicemen during World War II. The menacing clouds out on the horizon off the beach complemented the solemnity of our experience.

Throughout our tour, Varda Wendroff helped us with our long-forgotten French. She graciously and always generously eased our way through the minefields of maps, menus, signs and currency. Some holiday for a language teacher!

After landing at Biarritz Airport, which is approximately the same distance that we are from Newark Airport, you could sense everyone's anticipation. What would Bayonne, France, be like? Would it live up to our expectations? There were still storm clouds overhead that had followed us from New Jersey, but Bayonne was a wonder to our eyes. As we first approached the city, we peered from the windows of the bus with as much awe as seeing the Eiffel Tower's evening light show. Just as a brochure had claimed, Bayonne was "a port where you are moored to history" with a mix of residential, shopping and business districts.

Bayonne, France, is the capital of the Basque region. Unlike Bayonne in New Jersey, Bayonne, France, is not a peninsula; it is a port on an inlet and at the junction between the Nive and Adour Rivers. Its location has served it well over the years, having prospered in trade, industry and commercial shipping. From the time of the Romans, the rivers were strategically significant for military defense. Prior to World War I, building construction was restricted to a certain height so as not to block the view of the waterfront by the French military.

The city's association with the bayonet, explained our guide, is that as many as forty blacksmiths worked here at one time resulting in either the first production or the introduction of the weapon for use by the French regiment. This "extra weapon" became important for defense and revolutionized the work of the infantry.

The people of Bayonne are fiercely proud of their Basque tradition. Besides French, they speak Euskara, considered the oldest European continental language and the language of the Basque region. Signs, posters and advertisements prominently display the Basque colors of white, "blood" red and green. The medieval-style Tudor town houses have painted split beams of red and green. A restoration of these buildings is currently in progress for historic preservation.

Petit Bayonne, which is the part of the city between the rivers, has an annual festival, the Fetes de Bayonne each August that includes bull fighting. The people here were ship builders and barrel and rope makers. Their shopping area, with a stone arcade fronting the shops, are reminiscent of the kind of stores found on Broadway over forty years ago--small specialty shops for clothing, house wares, curtains, fabric, sewing notions, grocers and butchers. Like our Broadway today, there is wide selection of hair and nail salons.

Chocolate and ham are the culinary pride of Bayonne. Cocoa is imported to the town and the residents have become confectioners, distributing their candy throughout Europe. The confectioners in town belong to the Chocolate Guild and Academy of France to maintain the standards of their craft. These shop owners felt our presence as we descended upon the lineup of confectioners' stores and quickly depleted their supply of gift boxes and free samples.

Entering a ham factory, we were greeted by a guide who explains how the meat is processed and may be used. Jambon de Bayonne is a proscuitto-like ham that is readily available in the local butchers and restaurants and served as an accompaniment to salads and omelets. Billboards advertise the product throughout the region.

The city's Cathedral Sainte-Marie dates back to the Middle Ages and was the center of the old city. The original Romanesque building, damaged by lightning and a resulting fire in 1258, was reconstructed in gothic architecture. The symbol of three lions for the kings of England found inside the Cathedral recounts England's control of Bayonne during the Middle Ages. Underneath the Cathedral are 130 gothic cellars from the 13^th and 14^th centuries. They were used as shops to protect goods from fire in otherwise wood structures. The small square in front of the Cathedral witnessed the horrors of the guillotine during the French Revolution.

On our second evening in Bayonne, we were guests of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in its modern office complex. Ginger Kemp led our delegation of goodwill ambassadors from New Jersey in an exchange of good wishes and gifts, including copies of the Landmarks booklet by the Bayonne Historical Society.

Deputy Mayor Jean-Louis Delas hosted a reception for us the following afternoon in Town Hall with members of the press corps in attendance. A neo-classical building constructed in 1842, it overlooks the junction of the rivers and provides space for the city's administration, its theater and its customs. Steve Zazenski's painting of the New Jersey's Bayonne Bridge hangs in the Mayor's office. At this meeting, Ginger Kemp expressed the hope of Mayor Joseph Doria that the two cities of Bayonne may resume a student exchange program in the future. Delas told us that he was always happy to meet with visitors from New Jersey, was interested in our city's history, and sincerely hoped that we would enjoy our stay.

Later that afternoon Deputy Mayor Delas took us on a tour of Le Musee Bonnat and explained in detail the founding of the museum and its benefactor. Donated by local portrait artist Leon Bonnat, the white marble building, accented on the interior by graceful pale-green iron railings, includes Bonnat's art collection as well as his many striking portraits of prominent men and women.

As we walked through the quiet streets of Bayonne there were also a few surprises: the small formal Botanical Gardens with lush palm trees; Katie Daly's Irish Pub, and a 7 Cineplex movie theater.

On the morning of our departure, we left behind a sun-drenched city finally awakening to the promise of spring. Bayonne was such a delight that our enthusiasm on the trip never waned. As the bus drove away from our hotel for the airport, we took our last few pictures and drank in our last glimpses of the "other" Bayonne. Au Revoir.