France - Aquitaine - Fort-Boyard

ATLANTIC COAST

Fort-Boyard

Sent by Sophie from Centre-Val de Loire, France.

Fort Boyard (French pronunciation: [fɔʁ bwajaʁ]) is a fort built on Boyard bank, an ocean bank located between the Île-d'Aix and the Île d'Oléron in the Pertuis d'Antioche straits on the west coast of France. Though a fort on Boyard bank was suggested as early as the 17th century, it was not until the 1800s under Napoleon Bonaparte that work began. Building started in 1801 and was completed in 1857. In 1967, the final scene of the French film Les aventuriers was filmed at the remains of the fort. Since 1990, it is the filming location for the eponymous TV game show.

Fort Boyard is stadium-shaped, 68 metres (223 ft) long and 31 m (102 ft) wide. The walls were built 20 m (66 ft) high. At the centre is a yard, and the ground floor provided stores and quarters for the men and officers. The floor above contained casemates for the emplacements of guns and further quarters. Above that were facilities for barbette guns and mortars.

The construction of the fort was first considered during a build-up of the French armed forces undertaken by Louis XIV between 1661 and 1667. The Pertuis d'Antioche was a frequent site of naval engagements between the navies of France and England during this time, and France had already established fortifications on nearby islands and peninsulae to fend off incursions from the English Royal Navy. With the limited range of artillery in the 17th century, there was an unprotected gap between the fields of fire of the fortifications on the islands of Aix and Oléron; a fort on Boyard bank, roughly midway between the two, would have filled that gap. Fort Boyard was to form a line of fortifications with artillery stationed on Oléron (to the west), Fort de la Rade (on Île-d'Aix to the east), and Fort Énet (on a tidal island even further to the east) to protect the port and arsenal at Rochefort. In 1692 the French engineer Descombs began planning the construction of the fort; however, once it became clear how expensive it would be the scheme was abandoned. Vauban, Louis XIV's leading military engineer, famously advised against it, saying "Your Majesty, it would be easier to seize the moon with your teeth than to attempt such an undertaking in such a place".

After a British raid on Île-d'Aix in 1757, plans for a fort on Boyard bank were once again considered. Though plans were drawn up, it was abandoned again due to the logistical problems (read more).

France - Aquitaine - 33 Gironde - Bordeaux

BORDEAUX (Gironde)

Sent by Lucie from Bordeaux, France.

Bordeaux (French pronunciation: ​[bɔʁˈdo]; Gascon: Bordèu; Basque: Bordele) is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.

The city of Bordeaux, with a population of 239,157 inhabitants in 2010, is the ninth largest city in France; its metropolitan area (aire urbaine) is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 1,127,776. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department. Its inhabitants are called "Bordelais" (for men) or "Bordelaises" (women). The term "Bordelais" may also refer to the city and its surrounding region.

The city's nicknames are "La perle d'Aquitaine" (The Pearl of Aquitaine), and "La Belle Endormie" (Sleeping Beauty) in reference to the old center which had black walls due to pollution. Nowadays, this is not the case. In fact, a part of the city, Le Port de La Lune, was almost completely renovated.

Bordeaux is the world's major wine industry capital. It is home to the world's main wine fair, Vinexpo (fr), while the wine economy in the metro area takes in 14.5 billion euros each year. Bordeaux wine has been produced in the region since the 8th century. The historic part of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble" of the 18th century. (Source)

France - Aquitaine - 24 Dordogne - Périgord

Dordogne - Périgord

Sent by Mylene from Dordogne, France.

The Périgord (Occitan: Peiregòrd / Perigòrd) is a natural region and former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne département, now forming the northern part of the Aquitaine région. It is divided into four regions, the Périgord Noir (Black), the Périgord Blanc (White), the Périgord Vert (Green) and the Périgord Pourpre (Purple). The geography and natural resources of Périgord make it a beautiful, unspoiled region rich in history and wildlife, and the newly created Parc Naturel Régional Périgord-Limousin aims to conserve it as such.

The area is noted for its cuisine, especially its duck and goose products, such as confit de canard and foie gras. It is known as a centre for truffles in France. Périgourdine wines include Bergerac (red and white) and Monbazillac. (read further)

France - Aquitaine - 33 Gironde - Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion

SAINT-EMILION
Monolithic Church of Saint-Emilion.

Sent by Patricia, a postcrosser from France.

The Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion is an outstanding example of a historic vineyard landscape that has survived intact and in activity to the present day.

The first traces of human settlement in the Saint-Emilion region date back at least to the Upper Palaeolithic (35,000-10,000 BC). The Pierrefitte menhir confirms human presence in the 5th-4th millennia BC. The region was heavily populated during the Celtic-Gaulish period, as testified by an oppidum (defended hill fort) on the plateau overlooking modern Saint-Emilion. The Roman occupation began when Augustus created the province of Aquitania in 27 BC with the first vineyards by grafting new varieties of grape on the Vitis biturica that grew naturally in the region.

The first Christian monasteries appear at the beginning of the 7th century. As the region was on the Pilgrimage Route to Santiago de Compostela, from the 11th century onwards it experienced great prosperity and many monasteries, churches and other religious buildings were founded.

When Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry Plantagenet (later Henry II of England), the town of Saint-Emilion, by then fortified, became part of the English Kingdom, along with all Guyenne. The town was to change hands repeatedly in the course of the Hundred Years' War; in 1453 it became French permanently. It was to suffer again during the Wars of Religion in the later 16th century; as a result the town retained its medieval appearance until the 18th century, when its fortifications were dismantled.

This had an adverse effect on the vineyards, and it was not until 1853 that Saint-Emilion started to recover, thanks to its vineyards. In the 18th century the quality of the wines from the region was recognized as exceptional. During the Second Empire production of red wines in the region became generalized, replacing the white wines that had been most common in the medieval period. Their distribution was greatly facilitated by the opening in 1853 of the railway line between Paris and Bordeaux. By comparison with other vineyard regions of the Bordelais, Saint-Emilion has been noteworthy for its innovations, such as the establishment of the first wine syndicate in 1884 and the first cooperative cellars in the Gironde in 1932.

The property covers 7,846 ha; the relief characterized by a stratum of limestone defined by shelves that criss-cross the landscape. This disappears to the north and is replaced by a heterogeneous mixture of clayey sands and gravels, dipping towards the south. Two slopes are clearly distinguishable: the northern one is gentle and cut by valleys, the southern steeply plunging into the Dordogne valley and forming concave valleys (combes ), in one of which the town of Saint-Emilion is situated. The landscape presents a monoculture, that of vineyards exclusively, and occupying more than 67.5% of the total area. Apart from the human settlements, the only other traces of exploitation are the abandoned underground quarries, which supplied limestone for the religious and public buildings of Bordeaux and its hinterland until the 18th century.

Before viticulture predominated, medieval and Renaissance castles were built on dominant sites as seigniorial residences. Examples are the 13th-century Château Laroque (Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes), the 14th-century Château de Preyssac (Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse), and the 16th-century Château Ferrand (Saint-Hippolyte). By contrast, the 'vineyard' castles are located at the centre of their respective domains. They range in date from the mid-18th century (Château Ausone, Château Canon) through the early 19th century (Château Cheval-Blanc, Château Mondot) to the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Château Laroze, Château La Gaffalière).

Settlements are characterized by modest stone houses, most dating from the first half of the 19th century. They never have more than two storeys, and are found in small groups, for the use of vineyard workers. The chais (wine storehouses) are large functional rectangular structures built from stone or a mixture of brick and stone, with tiled double-pitched roofs. (Source)