Lostende Tours: France

Bountiful Aquitaine - what landscapes, culture and heritage!  A generosity that is also hinted at in the diversity of its countryside: the sloping Bordeaux vineyards, the sandy beaches along the coasts of the Basque country, the plateau of the Périgord. Roads crisscross villages with a wealth of architectural styles, where gastronomy, flavored with truffles, takes on a whole new meaning. The Lascaux caves conjure up a time when art found its form in rock paintings painted 10,000 years ago. Lovers of surf and long walks adore the endless beaches of the Atlantic.

Landscapes: Undiscovered by mass tourism the area around Bordeaux still emanates the timeless pace that seems to stem from ages past.  Here you will find shimmering white beaches - the longest in Europe - on which to enjoy the sun and the sea.  Here you can walk and cycle forever through Les Landes, Europe's largest forest. With any luck you'll come across deer, wild boar, and rare birds.  Here are the Pyrenees, high mountains, occasionally desolate, but ideal for skiing, biking or hiking.  Here too are lakes, rivers, and enormous, almost surrealistic dunes. From the highest dune in Europe - the Dune de Pyla tops 110 meters (almost 400 feet) - the view over the ocean, the bay of Arcachon and the forests is unforgettable. The forces of nature combine to present a truly breathtaking panorama of color, space, peace and quiet.

History: But there is more to Aquitaine than its variety and occasionally awesome natural beauty: it has a rich culture whose roots go back to the Celts. Ancient druidic symbols in aging churches bear silent witness to their Celtic ancestry. Some of these Roman churches are on the old pilgrim routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, one of the most important places of pilgrimages in the Middle Ages.

Here are a few landmarks in its history!  Man settled there in prehistoric times; the Lascaux caves conjure up a time when art found its form in rock paintings painted 10,000 years ago. The Roman occupation has left vestiges of extensive villas beautifully decorated with mosaics, sophisticated methods of heating and a refined style of living, all of which can be witnessed when visiting Montcaret (10 km from Pitray). It is a civilization that vanished with the invasion of the barbaric tribes from the east of Europe.

Beginning in the tenth century Romanesque art appeared, and in a wealth of stylistic diversity, reflected the religious fervor of the times; a church of great beauty, richly decorated, will stand in the central "place" of an otherwise humble village; many of these churches are on the old pilgrim routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

The many castles recall the stirring times when A. was caught up in the struggle between France and England. Alienor d'Aquitaine, born in 1122,  is the outstanding and fascinating figure of the Middle Ages. Married first to the King of France Louis VII, she brought as her dowry ... the whole of South West France. By her second marriage to Henri Plantagenet, future Henry II, King of England, she held court at Poitiers, surrounded by poets and troubadours. However this marriage led to the Hundred Years War and to endless skirmishes across the border of the Dordogne River. From the commercial end, the French enjoyed a time of relative prosperity under English rule which ended when Charles VII drove the English from Guyenne. This great event is enacted every year on week-ends in July and August, involving local people and has met with great success for the last 20 years.

The Wars of Religion in the 16th century tore the country apart; here one great figure stands out, the world-known writer Michel de Montaigne, friend of the king Henry IV - a far-sighted humanist in the face of cruelty and intolerance, at a time when this region was also cursed by the plague. The tower where he wrote his famous essays in these ravaged times is close-by.

Another page of history .... The French Revolution knew some of its darkest hours, here in Bordeaux. It had its guillotine, its tyrant, its stories of heroism and self-sacrifice, miraculous escapes, some to America, as illustrated by the Memoirs of Madame de La Tour du Pin, A great adventure to the New World and ... life there in those times!

The many castles recall other stirring times, when Aquitaine was caught up in the struggle between France and England. La Brède, for example, the centuries old family home of Montesquieu, whose living quarters and study can be still viewed there. France is so proud of the author of 'The Spirit of Laws' that La Brède is even depicted on the 200 franc note.

A castle that is well worth visiting is Roquetaillade, a massive fort on a rocky cliff rising high above the surrounding estates. It is exactly as you would imagine a castle when you think of knights in armor, drawn-out sieges and fierce battles: a huge construction with six enormous towers and only a single road leading up to it. A giant size model of the castle near the main entrance shows what a medieval siege might look like.

Food and Wine: Undisturbed, the world-famous wines of Bordeaux - Graves, St Emilion and Médoc, to mention but a few - mature in their casks while the renowned chateaux look out over vineyards extending as far as the eye can see. Names like Margaux, Rothschild and Petrus are just an indication of the quality you can expect in Aquitaine.

The local specialty is 'foie gras'- the famous goose-liver pate - and there are many other culinary delights for you to sample on the coast, where the sea and French cooking combine to bring you oysters, mussels, Fruits de mer fresher than you are ever likely to use.

Basque influences are also evident in the cooking and many a menu presents dishes of Basque origin, such as 'crème brulèe', a kind of cream caramel, 'pipérade', in fact a bumper omelet, and 'gâteau basque', at its simplest a delicious cream cake.