Turiscapadas
Curious Israeli cemetery
I'm sure you will wonder what on Earth an Israeli cemetery is doing in a town as quaint as the Bastide Clairence? The answer will not fail to surprise you. In the late 16th century, Sephardi Israelites from Spain and Portugal took refuge in Bayonne, and then established themselves in three surrounding villages, one of them was La Bastide-Clairance (Bastida). They stayed here about 200 years, becoming around 70-80 families in the seventeenth century. But in 1798 there were only six Jewish families remaining. In the early 17th century Israel curiously opened this cemetery, only separated from the Christian cemetery by a road of about 2 metres.
The tombstones are in a sorry state, and the items that you see you can barely read the inscription. But it is curious. Some of the village houses conserve biblical names such as David, Iscarot, Abraham and Jacob.
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