AQUITAINE

 

Aquitaine: jewel of the French South

 

This ancient region of France is located in the bottom left-hand corner of the country - the extreme South West corner - and comprises the coastline between Bordeaux and the Spanish frontier at Hendaye, the Western Pyrenees to the South, the great forest of the Landes and the Bergerac/Dordogne region to the North.

 

A vast mix of topography and vegetation with wild mountain scenery giving way to long strands of ocean sands, dense pine forests thinning into the most famous vineyards in the world. Culturally the mix is as dramatic with only two urban poles - the city of Bordeaux and the Bayonne/Biarritz/Anglet conurbation. Finally, the river valleys pushing east and north-east from the Gironde - the Garonne and Dordogne valleys - are rich in craggy hillsides, mediaeval castles and picture-box villages which, for many, represent the 'real France' rather than Paris or Provence.

 

Let's take a closer look at each region: the coastline from the Gironde estuary down to Spain is one fine stretch of sandy beach, backed with stupendous dunes, that attracts quite a few visitors in the summer but which is so vast that it never looks crowded. A lot of the Bordeaux crowd take their holidays in Arcachon, which sits in an inland basin sheltered from the Ocean and spend their time eating the local oysters and drinking fine dry white wines. Further south there's the surfing fraternity in resorts such as Moliets and Hossegor.

 

But the queen of this coast is undoubtedly Biarritz with its unique turn-of-the-century feel, fine surfing beach and "Belle Epoque" palaces and casinos. A smaller and even more sophisticated version of Biarritz lies just 20 miles southward - St Jean de Luz - a little jewel of a fishing village between ocean and mountains, for it is here that the Pyrenean range tumbles into the ocean.

 

A good reason to go inland and explore the Basque Country, a land of rich pastures, dainty white and red houses with strings of drying peppers hanging from their windowsills, of pointy peaks shrouded in early morning mist. The Pilgrims' Way to St Jacques of Compostella in Galicia passes through these hills and pilgrims with their staffs and scallop shells are to be seen in sandaled feet throughout the summer season.

 

Inland of the coast is the extensive forest of Les Landes - the biggest in Europe, even dwarfing Germany's Black Forest. Mainly pine with some deciduous trees the forest is an important lung for the rest of southern France adding oxygen to the incoming westerly winds. As it's pretty flat country it's a great place for cycling, horse-riding and walking trips. To the east is Gascony and its food culture; duck and goose liver predominate. To the north the forest gives way to the vines of Bordeaux.

 

It's strange to see words that one has only seen on the label of a bottle coming to life in the form of 10-house villages or hamlets surrounded by vines - Pauillac, Sauternes, Médoc, Margaux and so on. And the chateaux that you may only have heard about but have longed to see are there one after another - Lynch-Bages, Yquem, Cheval Blanc and the others. But let's not forget the city of Bordeaux itself, a handsome town sitting squarely between vineyards and river with its storehouses and wine docks, its opera, cathedral and flowered squares.

 

Crossing the Garonne river to the 'entre deux mers' region (literally 'between the two seas', in this case between the two river estuaries of the Garonne and Dordogne) we find the source of a lot of those dry white wines before heading north again through the last of the great vineyards, St Emilion. This is where the 'Dordogne' really begins; more factually the Périgord region which stretches up the river valleys from Bergerac. These twisting tree-clad steep river valleys are full of surprises at every turn; a warm stone-built village clinging to a rocky outcrop, unchanged since the Middle Ages; a chateau with turreted towers and sprawling gardens dominates a bend in the river. Beyond Sarlat we get to the jewels: the caves with their prehistoric paintings: Lascaux, Rouffignac, Font de Gaumes ...

 

As French regions go, Aquitaine is one of the best. For the diversity of vegetation and scenery, for the wines, the cave paintings and the beaches you can't get much better.

 

Check out some travel books and maps on France

 

  learn more about the PYRENEES and the MIDI-PYRENEES