Languedoc info
 

http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/

A recent pole says that this is in in place for 2005, I know there wines have improved and we are buying more of them. They are not expensive. A good value.

Hi cigalechanta: That is good news! I am sure our resident Languedoc expert, Peter (aka "mpprh" on Fodors) of the www.the-languedoc-page.com, would concur with you. I particularly love Montpellier in that region. :)

>>A recent pole says that this is in in place for 2005<<

We've been vacationing there quite a bit in the last few years - 8 weeks so far. Here is the "intro" to my Languedoc Itinerary. If anyone wants the entire 35+ page itinerary, e-mail me at [email protected]

Like most vacationers to France, our first dozen or so visits consisted of 5 days on the Cote d’Azur, 5 days in Provence, 5 days in Brittany & Normandy, 5 days in the Dordogne, 3 days in the Loire etc, etc, etc. Several times we hurried through the Languedoc region going from Provence to the Dordogne, and my wife & I said that perhaps on one visit we should explore this area more thoroughly. Well – now that we’re retired and have the time to spend 2 months in France each year, we’ve done just that. The more time I spend in this area, the more I want to return for another visit. We’ve seen hundreds & hundreds of souvenir shops & ultra-touristy places in our first 20 years of travel in Europe, so that does not appeal to us as much as it did many years ago. As we get farther away from the crowded areas we frequented on our first visits, we see more un-spoiled villages, normal French residents going about their daily lives, drives in the countryside where we see few cars, and mom & pop hotel/restaurants that have been in their families for generations.

Languedoc/Roussillon seems like what Provence must have been 20 years ago - before Peter Mayle, before the Parisians discovered it, and before there was the large influx of American tourists. I actually enjoy Toulouse more than Aix, Avignon, or Nimes. Montpellier is just as nice as these Provence cities too, and Perpignan is not far behind. Albi is one of my favorite medium sized towns in all of France. Pezenas is a combination of St Remy & l’Isle sur la Sorgue – cute village, an excellent outdoor market, and lots of antique shops. The Languedoc region doesn’t have the lavender & sunflower fields that Provence has, but there is beautiful pastoral countryside and perhaps the largest vineyard areas you will ever see. It is more rugged than Provence. There are gorges in the Languedoc I like more than the Gorge du Verdun in Provence, plus there are dozens of fabulous stalactite & stalagmite caves not found in Provence. Carcassonne is unique in Europe, as are the many Cathars castles you can visit near the Roussillon area. There are plenty of cute small villages (Cordes, Conques, Minerve, Morepoix, La Couvertoiade, St Guilhem le Desert, Estaing, Villefranche de Conflent). I have not visited the coast of Languedoc, except for the area around Collioure & south of there to the Spanish border. Everyone has different tastes in food, but I have had many more satisfying dinners in the Languedoc area than I have had in the 21 weeks I’ve vacationed in the Cote d’Azur & Provence areas – and at about two-thirds the cost. The outdoor markets in the Languedoc are much more geared for the local residents, and not the tourists. Except for the Saturday market in Pezenas, I think tourists (like us) will enjoy the markets in Provence more.

The major drawback to visiting the Languedoc/Roussillon area is its size – perhaps 5 times the size of Provence (not including the Cote). It’s possible to stay in one location in Provence & take day trips to everywhere else, but you can’t do that in Languedoc/Roussillon. Like I said, the area is more rugged, so the roads are slower – but not difficult. There are some freeways in this region, but driving them is not the way to really enjoy the scenery, and many of the freeways do not traverse through interesting areas in the Languedoc. Other than these freeways, the roads through the Cevannes Mountains, along the gorges, along rivers, through the Pyrenees Mountains, are all very slow roads – as they should be for you to really enjoy the scenery.

Stu Dudley

A year and a half ago I did a cooking tour in a little village called Fontjoncouse. It was like being in heaven. The wine was wonderful and lunch has the most wonderful cheeses. Side trips to Olive fields, ride down the Cannel Midi, visit to Carcassonne,
a visit to a small medieval village Minerve. Food and Wine did a feature last October about the area being the hot spot. And Peter provided lots of tips.
Can you tell I would go back in a minute.

Was that an organized cooking trip? Do you have any more information about it or a web site? Thanks.

CParris I hope this will help but I did a cooking trip through theinternationkitchen.com but I just checked and she has discontinued that trip. Don't know if you contact them if they have one it it's place. We stayed a a very small family owned place called L'Auberge du Vieux Puit. The restaurants Gilles Goujon study under Joel Robuchon and was the best I've ever had. Every night he would reinvent himself in the food that was presnted to us and the other dinners.
The staff didn't speak much english but were all very pleasant and will to make our 5 day stay memorable.

Good summery, Stu, we have visited all the villages you mention and must do a little of the area each year. Anyone visiting the coast Colliure and Sete can buy beautiful tins of sardines as gifts to yourself or others. Some were so pretty we hated to open the tins. (I did keep one I opened to display the picture on top)

The wines of SW France are very interesting and true to their region.
Try a dry Rose from Ch Petite Cassagne, Ch Grand Cassagne or any imported by Robert Kacher when the weather gets warmer (actually, it was 82 in Dallas today).
M

Thanks mikimo, when the 30 inches of snow is gone, and I can sniff the earth budding, I will try your suggestions :)

&gt;&gt;<i>Try a dry Rose from Ch Petite Cassagne, Ch Grand Cassagne

Ah, we had the pleasure of tasting these wines when we visited Chateau D'Or et De Gaules in St. Gilles the year before last. Diane, the owner, has some lovely dogs too--I have a picture of one of them on my wall!
</i>

Hi

Languedoc has been a favourite of the French for a long time !

Seems the rest of the world is discovering the French Med by moving West from Cote d'Azur, to Provence to Languedoc.

And to be ready for all these tourists, I'm building a restaurant review section here : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/la...estaurants.htm If you've eaten in Languedoc recently : I need your review !

I've also started a section of articles at : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/la...articles01.htm

I really need some travelogues to balance the current content. And The Secret Cevennes looks like it will become an online &quot;Year in Languedoc&quot;.

All contributions welcome

Regards
http://www.the-languedoc-page.com



Peter

&gt;A recent pole says that this is in in place for 2005, ...&lt;

Well, there goes that neighborhood, too.

((I))

We visited the area as a side trip from Barcelona two years ago and had a fantastic time. I believe the area is the 2nd largest wine producer in France but we (in the US) don't see many of their wines as they are mostly consumed locally.

Two of my favorites that are readily available in the US are Masia M (used to be called Dominus M) and La Garrigue. Masia is around $9 and La Garrigue is around $12

I like their wines, too, Mimi. We brought back a good bottle and saved opening it for my husband's birthday. I haven't had the heart to recycle the bottle yet.

Hello Peter and Buongiorno; will be
spending several days in Barcelona in
late April-early May ; planning to spend
another 5-6 days seeing the countryside;
was planning to stick to Spain but the
Languedoc area sounds so wonderful.
How long would it take to drive from barcelona to , say, carcassone; would it be too much driving, and not enough time for sightseeing since we have to return to Barcelona?

Hi

sorry for the delay .......

I drive down to Spain fairly often. The traffic is generally pretty light. I've been doing Montpellier to Girona airport in 1h 45m pretty consistently.

It is highway along the coast from Barcelona to Italy (well give or take a few diversions for mountains , Camargue, etc).

Barcelona to the border is 165 kms ..... say 1hr 15min

Perpignan is only about 50 km from the border. Carcassonne quite a bit further (but all highway).

Check out the michelin website for maps &amp; driving times.

As an indication, Barcelona is under 3 hrs from Montpellier.

I've got lots of languedoc info here :
www.the-languedoc-page.com

Peter

Hi - I have a couple of specific questions I wonder if Peter (or anyone else) could answer. A friend and I are cycle touring from Barcelona - Lyon the first two weeks of May.

I've seen some info on the Train Jaune and love trains, so am perhaps interested in taking this from Bourg-Madame to Mont-Louis in the morning after staying in Puigcerda, say around 8-10 AM. Trying to check the schedule on the SNCF site it looks like some days only busses serve this route and other days the only train is very early in the morning (5-6 AM) or late afternoon (4 PM). I thought this was a tourist oriented train and would run at more likely tourist hours. Is the SNCF site correct, or am I mis-interpreting it or not understanding how to use it?

Related to this, would it be better to bike this stretch? My GG mentions that Llivia is attractive, but it looks like we have a lot of climbing heading to Quillan from there. If we do bike it, and recommendations between going north (Font Romeu) or south (Saillagoise) or trying to stay betwen them on smaller roads (Bolquere). We will take D118 down the Aube valley from Mont-Louis and are looking forward to that.

We will spend 1 or 2 nights in Cascarronne. Opinions about the town and how long to spend there seem to vary, but we're considering renting mountain bikes (VTT) and ride the Canal du Midi to Narbonne and then take the train back. I wanted to confirm that this is doable and would make an attractive and interesting day-trip.

If anyone on this forum is familiar with the St. Affrique - Millau area, please let me know as I have a question about that also.

thanks, Charles

Hi

I'd love to be able to help ............ but I don't know much about this train (other than seeing it from the car !).

I wonder if it is worth asking the question here : http://seek66.com/eng/homeeng.htm This is is a local website in Rousillon.

Bonne chance !