Review
‘Cadogan uncovers delightful secrets in some of the earth’s most traveled spots’ – New York Daily News (US)
‘The entries are current, the style is often clever, even passionate and the typeface and paper stock make it smashingly easy to read. It is the kind of book that makes preparation a breeze, particularly if the trip across the Channel is a vague yearning for a new destination’ - www.amazon.co.uk
‘On the engaging side of quirky, with good advice’ – The Sunday Times (UK)
‘On the engaging side of quirky, with good advice’ – The Sunday Times (UK)
Product Description
Cadogan’s stunning guide to Gascony and the Pyrenees takes you deep into a fascinating region that is home to both Gascons and Basques. This is a place for lazy touring and with Cadogan as your guide, you’ll be able to meander through the beautiful scenery and find the perfect village restaurant where madame will cook you up a hearty plate of game or duck that Parisians would die for. Explore Europe’s biggest forest, a vast flat carpet of pines planted in the time of Napoleon III, in the Landes or relax in the department of the Gers, which fits all the archetypal images of southwest France with its rich lands, sweet rivers, geese and foie gras and vineyards destined to fine armagnac. If you want some activity to work off all that fine cuisine de terroir, Cadogan will lead you to the best mountain walks, climbs and ski centers or if you’d rather just indulge, to the best vineyards and wine-tasting. There are even local recipes included so you can recreate the Gascon flavor long after you’ve left. Now fully redesigned, this new edition contains the most up-to-the-minute practical information and listings, along with color photographs and maps.
From the Back Cover
Shared by the Gascons, Basques and Catalans, this idiosyncratic southwest corner of France has more than the beauty of the towering Pyrenees to buttonhole your attention. Discover some of Europe’s best surfing beaches, transcendent stained glass in Auch cathedral, armagnac distilleries, delicious Basque villages in emerald meadows, monster-filled Romanesque cloisters, old-fashioned seaside gentility in Biarritz and Bayonne, and the tiny mountaintop principality of Andorra. In an increasingly homogenized world, quirks and passions thrive here with all the panache of d’Artagnan, and this new edition of Cadogan’s witty guide ensures you miss none of the fun.
About the Author
Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls are passionate about Europe and have written over 30 books for Cadogan, including several in the France series. They have lived all over Europe, but are currently settled in an idyllic farmhouse surrounded by vineyards in the Lot Valley, France.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
‘The presiding angel of Gascony is Good King Henri – Henri IV – the Gascon, who three centuries ago saved the country from its religious squabbling and taught Frenchmen, with a joke and a smile, to take it easy and enjoy life rather than slaughter each other over abstractions. The basis of Henri’s policy is expressed in a quote that everyone still remembers: he wished every Frenchman to have a chicken in the pot on Sundays. The stories say he liked to sneak down to the palace kitchen to see how his own poule au pot was cooking, and didn’t mind helping chop up the vegetables. Thanks to Henri, perhaps, that part of the Gascon mystique is still very present: the sense of contentment simple pleasures can bring.’
