Espelette Village

Espelette (Ezpeleta in Basque) is a perfectly preserved village in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques of Nouvelle Aquitaine, set against the foothills of the Basque Pyrenees and made world-famous by its vivid red Espelette pepper (piment d'Espelette)—the only chilli pepper to hold an AOC designation in France, granted in 2000. The village's defining visual spectacle occurs in late summer and autumn when the harvested peppers are strung into long garlands (ristra) and hung from the whitewashed façades and red-shuttered balconies of every house and farmhouse, creating the most photogenic domestic streetscape in the Basque Country. The village is centered on the 17th-century Château d'Ezpeleta—now the town hall—and a 12th-century Romanesque church surrounded by a churchyard of classic disc-shaped steles discoidales. The market street and surrounding lanes are lined with epiceries selling dried Espelette pepper pods, powder, jellies, chocolate with pepper, and cosmetics incorporating the pepper's capsaicin. Artisan producers such as Hiztoy and Goienetxea operate from the village and can be visited directly. Every year on the last weekend of October, the Fête du Piment d'Espelette celebrates the harvest with a village fair, pepper-stringing competitions, Basque music, and cooking demonstrations attended by several thousand visitors. The surrounding Nive valley countryside is excellent cycling territory, and the village of Aïnhoa (a Plus Beaux Villages de France) is 8 km east. Espelette is best visited as part of a broader Labourd Basque country loop taking in Bayonne, Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and the Aldudes valley.