du Lys, offer ornate facades of many sculptures. The Continental Residence building has been registered as a historical monument since 1984, for its main façade. Natural heritage An extensive Pyrenean commune, Cauterets offers many natural sites in connection with the Pyrénées National Park, such as the Pont d'Espagne, Gaube Lake and the cascades which adorn the and the . From the village of Cauterets, the Lys gondola lift and Grand Barbat chairlift provide access to the . Notable people Victor Hugo wrote a poem about Cauterets included in the third book Les Luttes et les Rêves [The struggles and dreams] of Les Contemplations: L’enfant voyant l'aïeule... [The child saw the grandmother...] (25 August 1843). Giuseppe Verdi and Giuseppina Strepponi stayed in Cauterets during the summer of 1866, where the maestro pursued the composition of Don Carlos and tried to heal his chronic sore throat. Louis Varney (1844–1908), composer of operettas died here. Ralph Soupault (1904–1962), cartoonist in the collaborationist journal Je suis partout died in Cauterets on 12 August 1962. Sim (1926–2009), his real name Simon Jacques Eugène Berryer, was an actor, comedian and writer, born in Cauterets. On 17 November 2008, the military leader of ETA, Miguel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, alias "Txeroki" [Cherokee], was arrested in Cauterets, bringing a severe blow to the Basque separatist organisation. Gaston Phébus, Marguerite de Navarre, Queen Hortense, the Duchess of Berry, George Sand, Alfred de Vigny, Chateaubriand and French baritone Ismaël have also stayed there. Cauterets in literature Cauterets provides the framework of the Heptaméron, an unfinished collection of short stories written by Marguerite de Navarre. Flood waters involuntarily retained ten ladies and gentlemen at Cauterets, who were having spa treatment. They decide to entertain by telling a story each day. Bibliography Notes References External links Tourism office website (in French) Pyrenees travel guide French Tourist office website Cauterets town hall (in French) The thermes de Cauterets (in French) French ski school of Cauterets (in French) Cauterets on the National Geography Institute website (in French) Spa towns in France Communes of Hautes-Pyrénées Pyrenees