Local legends

This town on the banks of the Baïse River was one of the places of residence of the Albret family. Henri IV stayed here before his marriage to Marguerite de Valois, the sister of the King of France.

Henri IV, nicknamed the “Vert Galant”, met Fleurette, the daughter of the king’s gardener. He seduced her, and such was her love for him that when he left, she threw herself into the water and drowned.

Today her statue stands in the Parc de la Garenne, and it is said that her name was at the origin of the French expression conter fleurette (to whisper sweet nothings), from which the English word flirt apparently derives. That’s the poetic version, in any case…

Another story of thwarted love … This one took place in Anglet, a seaside resort on the Basque Coast.

Laorens, a penniless orphan, and Saubade, the daughter of a rich farmer, loved each other against their parents’ will. They used to meet each other in a cave on the ocean shores.

One day they were surprised by a storm; the water soon reached the cave… and they were taken away by the current.

Their hiding place was named the Chamber of Love in their memory. You can still visit it – but beware of the tide!

On the way to the herds of Geryon – the tenth task in his labours – Hercules met Pyrène, a princess with flaming hair – pyr means fire in Greek.

They fell in love with each other… But Hercules had to continue his quest, and left one night, abandoning – temporarily, or so he thought – his sweet love.

Mad with grief and – depending on the version of the legend – ashamed at her increasingly obvious pregnancy – Pyrène fled to the forest. And there she died of exhaustion – helped along a little by the hungry wild beasts.

Hercules heard the cries of agony of his princes and ran to her rescue, but arrived too late. 

He heaped so many stones and blocks of earth to make a tomb for her that he ended up creating mountains. In honour of the princess with the flaming hair, he named the mountains the Pyrenees.