Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port grounds. The town has traditionally been an important point on the Way of St. James, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, as it stands at the base of the Roncevaux Pass across the Pyrenees. "Pied-de-Port" means 'foot of the pass' in Pyrenean French. The routes from Paris, Vézelay and Le Puy-en-Velay meet at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and it was the pilgrims' last stop before the arduous mountain crossing. In 1998, the "Porte St-Jacques" (city gate) was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites as part of the sites along the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France. The cobbled rue de la
Pied-Noir French government's changed position towards Algeria. Until independence, Algeria was legally a part of France; after independence many felt that they had been betrayed and were now portrayed as an "embarrassment" to their country or to blame for the war. Most "Pied-Noirs" felt a powerful sense of loss and a longing for their lost homeland in Algeria. The American author Claire Messud remembered seeing her "pied-noir" father, a lapsed Catholic crying while watching Pope John Paul II deliver a Mass on his TV. When asked why, Messud "père" replied: “Because when I last heard the mass in Latin, I thought