Biarritz

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Biarritz

Biarritz (French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
: Biarritz, ; Gascon

Gascon language

Gascon is a dialect of the Occitan language. Gascon is mostly spoken in Gascony and B?arn . It has about 250,000 speakers worldwide.Only Aranese language, a southern Gascon variety, is spoken in Spain....
Occitan: Biàrritz; ) is a town and commune which lies on the Bay of Biscay

Bay of Biscay

The Bay of Biscay is a Headlands and bays of the North Atlantic Ocean. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest, France south to the Spain border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Punta de Estaca de Bares, and is named for the Spanish province of Biscay....
, on the Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
coast, in southwestern France

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
.

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Encyclopedia

Biarritz (French

French language

Gascon language

Bay of Biscay

Atlantic Ocean

France

Geography

Biarritz is located in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Pyr?n?es-Atlantiques is a departments of France in the southwest of France which takes its name from the Pyrenees mountains and the Atlantic Ocean....
département, in the Aquitaine

Aquitaine

Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 26 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain....
région. It is adjacent to Bayonne

Bayonne

name= BayonneFile:Bayonne.jpgView of Grand Bayonne across the Adour|r?gion=Aquitaine|d?partement=Pyr?n?es-Atlantiques...
and Anglet

Anglet

Anglet is a Communes of France in the Pyr?n?es-Atlantiques Departments of France in Aquitaine in southwestern France. The town's name is pronounced [?glet]; i.e....
and 11 miles (18 kilometres) from the border with Spain

Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
. It is in the traditional province of the French Basque Country, Labourd

Labourd

Labourd is a former France Provinces of France and part of the present-day Pyr?n?es Atlantiques d?partement in France. It is historically one of the seven provinces of the traditional Basque Country ....
.

History

Vikings who invaded Gascony

Gascony

Gascony is an area of southwest France that constituted a Provinces of France prior to the French Revolution. In historic references dating from the beginning of the Roman era, it was part of Gaul and became part of the Kingdom of the Franks during the conquests of Clovis I ....
in 840 settled in Biarritz, which later participated in the whaling

Whaling

Whaling is the hunting of whales and dates back to at least 4,000 BC. The evolution of traditional Arctic whaling developed with increasing rapidity with early organized fleets in the 17th century; competitive national whaling industries in the 18th and 19th centuries; and the introduction of factory ships along with the concept of whale "har...
trade. Biarritz is a Basque

Basque language

Basque is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France....
name with locative suffix -itz (cp. Isturitz) attested Bearriz in 1170, Bearids in 1186, Bearritz in 1249. The Scandinavians settled in the area above the Gardague Beach. It has been suggested (disputedly) that the remaining Vikings became "Agots

Agote

The Agotes or Cagots were a minority group found in the Navarrese Pyrenees, Basque Country provinces, Bearn, Gascony and also Brittany. They have been also known by other names: Cagots, Gahets, Gafets in France; Agotes, Gafos in Spain; and Cacons, Cahets, Caqueux and Caquins in Brit...
," a social group in Gascony not allowed to mix with the population at large. Segregation

Discrimination

Discrimination toward or against a person or group is the treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit. It is usually associated with prejudice....
among these communities—there were many in Gascony and Navarra— disappeared only in the early 20th century.

Biarritz has long made its fortune from the sea: as a whaling settlement from the 12th century onwards, in the 18th century doctors recommended that the ocean at Biarritz had therapeutic properties, inspiring patients to make pilgrimages to the beach for alleged cures for their ailments.

Biarritz became more renowned in 1854 when Empress Eugenie

Eugénie de Montijo

Eug?nie de Montijo, born Do?a Mar?a Eugenia Ignacia Augustina de Palafox de Guzm?n Portocarrero y Kirkpatrick, 18th Marchioness of Ardales, 18th Marchioness of Moya, 19th Countess of Teba, 10th Countess of Montijo and ?th Countess of Ablitas, became on marriage Eug?nie, Empress of the French was Empress Consort of France , the wi...
(the wife of Napoleon III

Napoleon III of France

Napol?on III, also known as Louis-Napol?on Bonaparte was the first President of the French Republic and the only emperor of the Second French Empire....
) built a palace on the beach (now the Hôtel du Palais). The British royal family

British Royal Family

The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in his or her Commonwealth realm#The Crown in the Commonwealth realmss, thus sometimes at variance with official national terms for the family....
regularly took vacations in Biarritz: European royalty

Royal family

A royal family is the extended family of a king or queen regnant. The term "imperial family" more appropriately describes the extended family of an emperor or empress regnant, while the terms "ducal family", "grand ducal family" or "princely family" are more appropriate in reference to the relatives of a reigning duke, grand duke, or prince....
such as Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was from 20 June 1837 the Queen regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and from 1 May 1876 the first Empress of India of the British Raj until her death....
, Edward VII

Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910....
, and Alfonso XIII of Spain

Alfonso XIII of Spain

Alfonso XIII , List of Spanish monarchs, posthumous son of Alfonso XII of Spain, was proclaimed King at his birth. He reigned from 1886-1931. His mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was appointed regent during his minority....
were frequent visitors.

Main sights

Biarritz features:

the Asiatica Museum, which houses a significant collection of Asian art
Asian art

Asian art can refer to art amongst many cultures in Asia.Many modern Asian artists seek to blend ancient Asian themes with contemporary artistic styles....
primarily from India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, Nepal
Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and is the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by India....
, Tibet
Tibet

Tibet is a Tibetan Plateau in Asia, north of the Himalayas, and the home to the indigenous Tibetan people and its related ethnic groups. With an average elevation of 4,900 metres , it is the highest region on Earth and has in recent decades increasingly been referred to as the "Roof of the World"....
, and China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
.
The Museum of the Sea, which boasts 24 aquariums containing shark
Shark

Sharks are a type of fish with a full Cartilage skeleton and a highly Streamlines, streaklines and pathlinesd body. They respire with the use of five to seven gill slits....
s and seals
The annual Biarritz Surf Festival founded in 1993 at the Côte des Basques is one of the premier surf events in Europe and longboard
Longboard

A longboard generally designates a longer board variant in various...
ing events in the world.
St-Martin's Church, constructed in the 12th century, and restored in the middle of the 16th century.
The Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church ; or The Moscow Patriarchate , also known as the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia, is a body of Christianity who constitute an Autocephaly Eastern Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the List of Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow, in full communion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches....
in Biarritz, constructed in the 19th century for visiting Russian aristocrats, with its famous blue dome.
The Chapelle Imperiale built for Empress Eugenie, which has an intricately decorated roof interior, and elegant wall tiling.
A Museum of Chocolate, which explains its history and manufacture.
Two large Casinos, the Barriere and the Bellevue, on the waterfront by the Grande Plage.

Spectacular cliffs and lookouts lie to the west of the main beach.

Sport

Surfing

Surfing refers to a person or boat riding down a wave and thereby gathering speed from the downward movement. Most commonly, the term is used for a surface water sports in which the person surfing is carried along the face of a breaking ocean surface wave standing on a surfboard....
at Biarritz is of a world-class standard and first appeared in 1957 , and the town has a strong surfing culture.

The town is home to a prominent rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union is a competitive outdoor contact sport, played with an oval ball, by two teams of 15 players. It is one of the two main codes of rugby football, the other being rugby league....
club, Biarritz Olympique

Biarritz Olympique

Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque is a France professional rugby union team based in the city of Biarritz, Aquitaine which competes in the Top 14 and the Heineken Cup....
.

Basque pelota is a very popular sport of the Basque country. Several local or international competitions take place in Biarritz.

The golf course

Golf course

A golf course consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, Golf course#Fairway and rough, rough and other hazards, and a green with a pin and cup, all designed for the game of golf....
, near the lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or framework designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens or, in older times, from a fire and used as an aid to navigation and to Maritime pilot at sea....
(Le Phare), was created in 1888 by British residents. In addition to this the town has a large circular golf range area on the border with illbaritz.

Transport

Biarritz is easily accessible from Paris

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
by France's high-speed train, the TGV

TGV

The TGV is France's high-speed rail service. It was developed during the 1970s by GEC-Alsthom and SNCF, the French national rail transport operations, and is now operated primarily by SNCF....
, which departs from Gare de Montparnasse. Furthermore, as of April 2008 a 'discotheque' night train runs this route.

Biarritz has an airport Aéroport de Biarritz-Anglet-Bayonne located about 4 kilometers away from the city in the inland. Its very near at N10 road towards Anglet

Anglet

Anglet is a Communes of France in the Pyr?n?es-Atlantiques Departments of France in Aquitaine in southwestern France. The town's name is pronounced [?glet]; i.e....
, it is joined airport with Anglet

Anglet

Anglet is a Communes of France in the Pyr?n?es-Atlantiques Departments of France in Aquitaine in southwestern France. The town's name is pronounced [?glet]; i.e....
and Bayonne

Bayonne

name= BayonneFile:Bayonne.jpgView of Grand Bayonne across the Adour|r?gion=Aquitaine|d?partement=Pyr?n?es-Atlantiques...
.

Miscellaneous

The town lies in Basque territory

Northern Basque Country

The French Basque Country or Northern Basque Country constitutes the North-Eastern part of the Basque Country and the Western part of the France department of the Pyr?n?es-Atlantiques....
, and Basque flag

Ikurriña

The Ikurri?a or Ikurrina flag is a Basque people symbol and the official flag of the Basque Country Autonomous Community of Spain.Following the pattern of the Union Flag, the flag was designed by the founders of the Basque Nationalist Party EAJ-PNV, Luis Arana and Sabino Arana, and is commonly regarded as the national but unofficial...
s and symbols are prevalent throughout Biarritz.

Biarritz's casino

Casino

A casino is, in the modern sense of the word, a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other tourist attractions....
(opened August 10, 1901) and beaches make the town a notable tourist centre for Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
ans.

Births

Biarritz was the birthplace of:

Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey
Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey

Maurice Pascal Alers Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey, Order of the Bath, Order of St Michael and St George, Royal Victorian Order, Privy Council of the United Kingdom was a British civil servant who gained prominence as the first Cabinet Secretary and who later made the rare transition from the civil service to ministerial office....
(1877-1963), British civil servant
Arnaud Massy
Arnaud Massy

Arnaud Massy was one of France's most successful professional golfers.Massy was born in Biarritz, Pyr?n?es-Atlantiques, France. The son of a sheep farmer, he worked on a sardine boat and supplemented his income by caddying at the new Biarritz golf course where a great many of the best professional golfers from United Kingdom came to practi...
(1877-1950), golfer
Professional golfer

In golf the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who plays for money even once usually loses his or her amateur status permanently and is banned from all amateur tournaments....
Jean Borotra
Jean Borotra

Jean Robert Borotra was a France champion tennis player, one of the famous "Four Musketeers" from his country who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s....
(1898-1994), tennis
Tennis

Tennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber Tennis ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's tennis court....
player
André Dassary (1912-1987), operetta
Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre....
singer
Léopold Eyharts
Léopold Eyharts

L?opold Eyharts is a Brigadier General in the French Air Force and an ESA astronaut....
(Colonel
Colonel

Colonel is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country in the world. It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures....
, French Air Force
French Air Force

The French Air Force is the air force of the Military of France. Formed in 1909 as the Service A?ronautique, it is the world?s oldest military air service....
) (born 1957), ESA astronaut
Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a List of human spaceflight programs to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
(Mission Specialist)
Maurice Journeau (1898-1999), composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
Jacques Bergerac
Jacques Bergerac

Jacques Bergerac was a French actor with a brief Cinema of the United States film career.Originally a lawyer, Bergerac met and married Ginger Rogers with whom he appeared in Twist of Fate ....
(1927- ), actor

Twin towns

Augusta, United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, since 1992 Cascais

Cascais

Cascais is a coastal town 30 kilometres west of Lisbon, with about 35,000 residents in the town. It is a cosmopolitan suburb of the Portuguese capital and one of the richest municipalities in Portugal....
, Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Located in southwestern Europe, Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east....
, since 1986 Ixelles, Belgium

Belgium

* A small German-speaking Community of Belgium exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political and cultural conflicts are reflected in the history of Belgium and a complex Communities and regions of Belgium....
, since 1958 Jerez de la Frontera

Jerez de la Frontera

Jerez de la Frontera is a municipality in the province of C?diz in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southwestern Spain. As of 2007, the city had 202,687 inhabitants; it is the largest city in the province of C?diz and the fifth largest in Andalusia....
, Spain

Spain

Mar del Plata

Mar del Plata is an Argentina city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the Buenos Aires Province, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is one of the major fishing ports and the biggest seaside beach resort in Argentina....
, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is a country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city....
since 1996 Source:

Biarritz

Geography

History

Main sights

Sport

Transport

Miscellaneous

Births

Twin towns

External links