PRESENTATION OF LANDES

Second department of France by its surface, the department of Landes is rich and varied by the diversity of its landscapes as well as its natural curiosities and by its inheritance and its traditions.

The LANDANIAN COAST
Only one and same beach of 106 km, which extends from Biscarrosse in the northtothe mouth of Adour in the south. 15 landanian communes and 62 zones of supervised bathe offer the longest sand ribbon of Europe... That one is a surfer, follower of tank with veil or surfing-casting, in favour of nap, bathe or sand castles, here each one coasts the best of the world, under the benevolent eye of the swimming teachers rescuers .

The Forest of Landes
T he Forest of Gascogne accounts for 1 million ha. It is the largest massif forest of Europe. It occupies 45 % of the surface of three departments in Aquitaine: Gironde, Landes et Lot-et-Garonne. It is a primarily private forest. At the beginning, the objective of the landanian forest was to produce gem. Today, it is initially to produce wood. The Regional Natural reserve, is the privileged territory to approach in a significant and curious way this country.

The CHALOSSE AND the TURSAN
Area of high gastronomical tradition, this small country is presented in the form of a true horn of plenty, with the beef of Chalosse and the famous poultries. On these grounds where reign a soft oceanic climate, in particular in winter, the mixed-farming is of tradition. Here, the corn became king and makes it possible to raise geese and ducks which give the best foie gras of France. The slopes that have the ochres and that are carefully cultivated allow the vines of Tursan and Chalosse to mature slowly on the first buttresses of the Pyrenees.

LOW ARMAGNAC
Ground of history and character...
When Landes grow blurred and that the hills point, one is in Armagnac. This small country is imprinted of a Gascon softness made of hills, oak groves, vines and ponds. But first of all, its name evokes the prestige of a brandy .

The FORTIFIED TOWNS
Approximately 200 fortified towns, new cities created by the king or the local lords, having an own architecture, appeared on the Aquitanian ground. The principal fortified towns in Landes are :
- LABASTIDE Of ARMAGNAC : Founded since 1291 by the Count of Armagnac, it preserved its plan of origin perfectly and suffered little from "modernization". The Royal Place was safeguarded until our days in its original state, out of ground and stone. Its destiny inspired Henri IV to make build the Place from the Vosges in Paris.
- ST-JUSTIN : Set up in 1280 in the viscountess de Marsan on an already occupied site before, the fortified town of Saint-Justin besieged by English in 1359 plundered by the Protestants in 1569, hardly abused during the Sling, was declared destroyed in 1654. It will reappear nevertheless out of the will of its inhabitants and preserves today its place at arcades, 2 towers, vestiges of its ramparts, a paved street and a curious prison.
- GEAUNE : Founded in 1318 by a Seneshal of a Genoese origin (from where its name), taken by the French and the Inhabitants of Béarn in 1337, it will undergo the vicissitudes of the 100 year old war. Of This long Geaune history lost its battlements, but it preserves its room to arcades, the church of the XVth century and the Tower of the Augustinses.
- GRENADE : Built by the English in 1322 and supervising the passage of Adour, it was girdled by walls which locked up the city to which 3 large doors gave access. Grenade preserved a beautiful place at arcades, in the center of which a recent fountain replaces an older monument which was destroyed accidentally. Many museums or places of visit recall also the history and the inheritance of Landes
MARQUEZE, the ECOMUSEUM OF The LARGE LANDE : Aboard the train of Marquèze, join the place of life of the former inhabitants of Lande . Listen to, look at, share... a walk to live in family or between friends.
RIVER AND ITS VALLEYS : Formed by the union of small Leyre and Large Leyre the principal river is a small river, Leyre, which takes its source in Lande and is thrown in the Basin of Arcachon after 100 km of sinuous voyage in a sand bed. The human occupation left in these places many traces: old churches of "Main road" of St Jacques, like Lugo Old man, fountains and mills, ancient staking of the banks for the flotation of wood, old meadows turned over to the coppice... With the delta, the valleys of Leyre count among the richest enviroments of the south-west of France where the activities of leisure of full nature like the canoe-Kayak develop today
.