Castles and fortresses of Aquitaine

Visit a castle and bring out the child, poet, historian and medium that slumbers inside you…

Lean against the same wall King Henri IV did in times gone by in his castle in Pau, or look out onto the waters of the moat at the Castle of La Brède from the same window as its famous owner Montesquieu, author of L’Esprit des Lois, hundreds of years ago … and let your mind wander back in time!

It sees knights through clouds of dust thrown up by their racing steeds. It pictures the battles raging at the foot of the ramparts, or jousts and deeds of chivalry in the castle courtyard to win the favours of a fair lady… 

The poet will doubtless be inspired by the view from the Citadel of Blaye, where Garonne and Dordogne together form the Estuary of the Gironde on their way to the Atlantic… The same ocean that breaks against the flanks of the Fort of Socoa, in Ciboure near Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

From the heights above the valley of the Dordogne to the foothills of the Pyrenees, from the shaded banks of the estuary to the orchards and hills of Agen, from the stark severity of the Middle Ages to the pretty elegance of the Renaissance, the castles and fortresses of Aquitaine offer an exceptional variety of landscapes, architecture and pages from the history of France.