Languedoc - Roussillon
This title features: dynamic two-colour layout for easy navigation; brand new colour section that gives a photographic overview of the region, together with special features of the region, tailored itineraries and lists of the best things to do; full-colour touring maps of the whole region; extensive listings of hotels and restaurants - all personally recommended for a really local flavour; and, Top Don't Miss sights for each regional chapter, plus Author Choices of personal favourite places to stay and eat. It also explores the very best that this diverse area of France has to offer including the famous cassoulet and sausages in the ville rose of Toulouse, the medieval splendour of Carcassonne, lagoons full of oysters and flamingos, and houseboats lazing down the Canal du Midi, all punctuated by Roman ruins, Cathar castles and Gothic cathedrals. It uncovers vibrant cities such as Montpellier, Perpignan and Narbonne, and medieval Catalan villages in Pyrenean valleys. You can sample one of the region's 19 AOC wines and find out about the best local caves to buy from. It details perfect places to stay for any budget including a 17th-century post station, stone mas, restored farmhouse or former Episcopal palace.
Excerpt: The Best Political Show in France
He’s an enormous man, both in height and girth, a man full of life. You wouldn’t miss him in a crowd, with his owlish glasses and electrified shock of hair, and crowds are exactly where Georges Frêche likes to be. The Socialist mayor of Montpellier from 1977 to 2004, Frêche presided over its remarkable transformation into one of the most vibrant and fastest-growing cities in France, while still finding time to teach a full schedule of courses on the history of law at the University. No mayor in France ever presided over such a gargantuan building program: shopping malls, convention halls and cultural institutions, governmental palaces and a middle-income housing project called ‘Antigone’ that looks like Versailles on steroids.
To accompany it, Frêche created an equally gargantuan and noisy public relations machine that embarasses many of the French. In truth, it would have embarassed P.T. Barnum. ...click here to read the rest
Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls can be reached at: michel.pauls@wanadoo.fr
