Sources de Mauléon-Licharre

Sources de Mauléon-Licharre in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of the Basque Country, France, offers bicarbonate mineral spring waters in the historic capital of the Soule country—the smallest and most easterly of the seven Basque provinces, whose traditional culture of masquerade theatre, the pelote basque ball game, and the Basque language (Euskara) has been maintained with particular vitality in this mountain community that has remained somewhat sheltered from the tourist development that has transformed the coastal Basque Country. The Kakueta Gorges—thirty kilometers from Mauléon, where the Haute-Soule's limestone massif has been carved into one of the Pyrenees' most dramatic and narrow canyon systems, whose depth ensures that sunlight never reaches the gorge floor for more than a few hours daily—provide the extraordinary natural counterpart to the spring's therapeutic tradition. The Basque cultural heritage, the Kakueta canyon drama, and the bicarbonate mineral tradition create a complete Soule experience of cultural and geological depth.