Grottes de Bétharram
The Grottes de Bétharram (French pronunciation: [ɡʁɔt də betaʁam]) are a series of French caves located at the border of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrénées departments and of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie regions.
Located near Asson, Lestelle-Bétharram and Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre, they offer a threeway discovery: by foot, by boat and finally, by train, the key to similar cave formation. The entrance is located in Asson and the exit in Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre.
Discovered in 1810, it was one of the first caves open to the public. From 1880, English residents from Pau came to venture thanks to the help of miller Losbats de Lestelle-Bétharram. After a few years of labour, Léon Ross, artist-painter and one of the Pyrenees first photographers, opened them to the public in 1903, before equipping them with electricity, while introducing this new convenience (light) to the locals.
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