Harpea's Cave

Harpea's Cave is a natural cavern in the French Pyrenees formed by the erosion of limestone rock. The hollow space displays a curved rock structure with clearly visible layers of stone stacked throughout.

The limestone deposits formed during the Cretaceous period roughly 100 million years ago, when the area lay beneath a shallow sea. These ancient marine sediments were later uplifted by mountain-building forces and carved by water into the cavern we see today.

The name comes from the Basque language and means 'the place under the rock'. This linguistic connection shows how the local language shaped the way people named and understood the spaces they lived in.

You can reach the cave by following marked walking paths from Estérençuby village. Wear sturdy footwear and bring a flashlight, as the interior ground is uneven and lighting is limited in deeper sections.

The cave displays an anticline structure where the oldest rock layers are positioned in the middle instead of at the edges. This unusual arrangement reveals how powerful the folding and lifting forces were that shaped the Pyrenees mountains.