Getting the dongle dingling!

Today the priority was getting my dongle to dingle so we decided that first stop was Intermarche and Orange shop where I had been advised about the purchase of said dongle. Shop closed on Monday! Purchase of wine essential to cope with disappointment. Wine purchased we headed for Orange in Oloron Sainte-Marie. Shop disappeared! No wine in sight!! Lots of expletives out of frustration!!! Next Office de Tourisme where the girl had good English, was really friendly and actually lives in Eysus. There we discovered that most small shops are closed on a Monday but Orange would open at 2pm. She also directed us to the original shop at the end of Rue Berthou where Orange had returned after renovations. We had found Orange on Saturday in temporary location!

Meantime we explored the Quartier Sainte-Marie - Oloron Sainte-Marie has three quarters (don't know what happened to the fourth!). Interestingly for us it turned out to be the quarter where the marche ethique was yesterday and we had a very peaceful look around including a large cafe creme at the cafe that was packed yesterday.  We also got a photo of an interesting sculpture of a man tied to a blind horse!

This is a sculpture depoicting the Bishop of Oleron who died at Jaca in the 6th century. The Argonais and the Bearnais argued about where he should be buried so decided that his blind horse should have the final decision. So his body was tied to the blind horse at the col du Somport and the blind horse brought him to Sainte-Marie Cathedral!

This part of Oloron is on the Saint Jacques de Compostelle route.

We had a good look at the Cathedrale Sainte-Marie. Seemingly this is the town's great glory. It is a Romanesque Cathedral and its door is noted for its biblical and Pyrenean scenes. It is very ornate but very dark and we had difficulty finding the light buttons which illuminate the organ in particular. The gargoyles are many and varied!

Other photos of the Cathedral:

Following lunch at home we set off to dongle-fix at the Orange shop, had to wait yonks as mobile phone shops are unbelievably (or actually believably!) busy. I discovered that I had inserted the sim card incorrectly. Me? Yes me! Dongle is now dingling so I'm happy I can blog and Jim is happy he can check the obituaries on Highland Radio!

Next the second quarter of Oloron Sainte-Marie - Quartier Notre Dame. The church was very dim indeed but it was ornate too but we couldn't appreciate it fully because of lack of light.

We then made our way to the confluence of the two gaves (rivers) Ossau and Aspr. Very nice but will be better when the travaux have finished.

Rain had threatened to cut short our tour but we were happy with seeing 2 quarters of Oloron (half? or a third?) and we sought shelter in our car and did a road tour of part of the Aspe valley detouring to Arette where we will meet Eric tomorrow week. Home for escalopes of veal and egg pasta in a mushroom, mustard and creme fraiche sauce. Followed by vibers to Brian, Carol and Evy. Nothing better!