Tourism in the French Pyrenees

GATEWAY to the FRENCH PYRENEES

Tourism in the Pyrenees - in the foothills and on the coast

The Piedmont - a land of castles, vineyards and good eating

As the high mountains give way to the plains there is a 50 kilometre or so Piedmont where ancient plateaux have been carved by water, frost and time to resemble a broken, changing landscapesomewhat reminiscent of spaghetti Western décor. This region is dominated by ancient hilltop castles - once the refuge of the dissident Christian sect, the Cathares, in the 13th and 14th century until they were hounded to their death by Simon de Montfort - or the fiefs of local warlords and princes who defied the French or Spanish thrones with their independance. Hardy vines grow on the Mediterranean side of this region giving strong, pungent wines such as the Roussillon Villages, Fitou or Corbières: accessible from the fortified citadel of Carcassonne. In the central Pyrenees, a sheltered micro-climate around the city of Pau allows the production of sweet white wines and drier fragrant whites in the Jurançon vineyards. No matter where you go in the Pyrenees or its Piedmont you will come across great dishes and succulent foods: duck and lamb in all their forms, mountain cheeses made from ewe's and cow's milk, sweet fruits from the Roussillon and spicy dishes from the basque country. .

The coast - from Biarritz to Collioure

As the Pyrenean mountain range plunges into the ocean to the West and the Mediterranean to the East it creates a marvellous, broken coastline of creeks and beaches. Out of the small fishing villages which dot these coasts grew the Belle Epoque resort of Biarritz on the Atlantic and the artists' colony at Collioure on the Med. Both these watering places are well worth visiting as are the picturesque towns of St Jean-de-Luz and Bidart on the Atlantic side and Banyuls, Cerbère and the thriving fishing port of Port Vendres on the Mediterranean.