New favorite place in France. I’m already looking forward to the next time I get to go back!
Our first day in Lourdes started off rainy and cloudy, but we decided to go up a funicular on a mountain anyway - it turned out to be the best decision. Just as we were getting to the top, the clouds started clearing and the sun started setting. We hiked about 20 minutes away from the crowds of people and ended up being completely alone with an amazing view of the Pyrénées.
We could hear cows walking around somewhere down there.
Our next day was an adventure. We took a bus to a small mountain town called Cauterets to go snowshoeing. Getting there and getting our gear was no problem. We missed the first shuttle up to the Pont d’Espagne, where we could snowshoe, so we had to wait an hour in the rain for the next one. Fine. We finally get on the bus and start making our way. The further up in the mountains we get, the snowier it gets. Soon the bus driver started to have to wipe the windshield in order to see out of it. The snow and the wind started picking up, and it was almost white out conditions at some points - as we’re going up a windy small mountain road, in a very large bus. We get to the top with almost no problem (except having to maneuver around 4 cars stopped around a bend trying to put chains on their cars...). The station up there is a super small ski lift, a small room for buying tickets, and bathrooms. No indoor spot to put your gear on or hang out in. The weather is still pretty awful at this point - so much wind and snow it was kind of hard to see, but we got on our snowshoes and started out. I fell almost immediately trying to walk backwards to get a photo.
After only like 10 minutes of walking, we’re already freezing. We tried to walk a little bit longer before going into the restaurant we found a little ways up, but a huge gust of wind that made it nearly impossible for us to see changed our minds. We practically ran into the restaurant for a hot chocolate.
When the weather calmed down a bit we went back out. We were only allowed to walk up until the first ski lift, which ended up being pretty short. But we met a dog up there, so I was happy.
Now getting down the mountain... We got back to main station about 15 minutes before the shuttle was supposed to leave, but it ended up being totally full already. Thankfully, another shuttle came up that we could get on. But the first one was having trouble with the chain on one of the tires, so we had to wait for them to get it on before we could go anywhere. The weather had started to pick up again, so we were back to whiteout conditions - I was a little scared to be going down the mountain! So eventually they got the chain on, and one of the drivers got on our bus and tried to turn it on. It wouldn’t turn on. After a few tries, the driver announced, “it’s broken down, I’m going to find another bus”. So he got on the first bus and went down the mountain. As I said before, there wasn’t really any indoor waiting area at the station, so we just had to sit on a cold bus waiting. We were freezing, snow was coming in the bus from the open door. It was terrible. We waited about an hour before another bus came up. But thankfully, the weather had calmed down a bit by the time we finally started down the mountain, so it wasn’t quite as terrifying as I was expecting it to be.
We made it back in time to catch the last bus to Lourdes. As we were leaving, the bus got stuck in a bit of a tight spot and ended up hitting some guard rails. Just our luck, right? We were so worried it was going to be a problem and that we’d again have to wait for a new bus. But luckily it wasn’t and we finally were on our way back to Lourdes.
The next day we found out that the mountains we were in got almost 20 inches of snow while we were there.
Part 2 of Lourdes & the Pyrénées coming soon!
