Situated in the extreme south of the country and nestled between Provence and the Spanish border the Languedoc-Roussillon region follows the mediterranean arc along a coastline also known as the 'Golfe de Lion'. The very deep lying traditions of both France and Spain immensely influence the lifestyle here and the local carnavals and feasts which take place throughout the year celebrating the feats of saints and prolonging legends such as those of Gargantua in the Cévennes, the beast of the Gévaudan or the Vallespir bear often find their origins in mediaeval times.

Bullfighting is, of course, omnipresent and the 'férias' of Béziers and Nîmes are events that are looked forward to for weeks and which attract large numbers of 'afficionados' from both sides of the border who descend upon the towns for four days of partying in the streets to the music of the 'penas'. For those of us who couldn't bear to witness the traditional form of this man against beast competition there is the possibility of enjoying the beauty of the contest without the bloodshed when attending the more 'humane' (from a british point of view) 'courses camarguaises' where the local males compete very athletically to take tokens tied to and between a bulls horns without sustaining injury in the process.

There is another element which has enormous influence on the lifestyle in Languedoc-Roussillon and that is the weather as the region enjoys an average 300 days of sunshine every year which means that a great majority of activities tend to take place outdoors and, depending on the amount of physical effort you wish to invest, these activities can go from farniente on the beach through hiking, cycling and golf (the region has a range of courses) on to the more adventurous fishing outings, white-water rafting, hang-gliding and many more.

Once more, as in Provence, we are witness, in Languedoc-Roussillon, to a relatively small land area being able to offer an immense variety of landscapes. We have already spoken of the coastline with its long, sandy beaches, its coves and beautiful fishing villages but let's not forget that Languedoc-Roussillon also has 37 natural salt-water lakes (étangs) where flamingos are a joy to observe and where oysters and eels are farmed, mountain lakes and torrents, gorges like those of the Tarn, the interminable forests of the Cévennes National Park where eagles, vultures and wolves still thrive in their totally natural element, 300 km of navigable waterways including the famous Canal du Midi for the boat-lovers amongst us and the mountains of the Pyrénées with its great selection of ski-resorts and its hundreds of miles of mountain walks at only one or two hours from the mediterranean sea.

Languedoc-Roussillon has also left us many reminders of its turbulent past with the Roman town of Nîmes, the Cathare castles built breathtakingly on pinnacles high above the valleys and the magnificent mediaeval fortress town of Carcassonne which was so ingeniously concieved and booby-trapped that it was never successfully attacked.