Heritage in South Gironde

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In the south of Gironde, the region provides visitors with a dual landscape in which the Graves and Sauternes vineyards – we are in Barsac, Graves, Pessac-Léognan and Sauternes appellation territory, including the famous Château Yquem – and the Landes de Gascogne forest form a choice setting for its mediaeval châteaux. A pope - Clement V – and a queen of France and England – Eleanor of Aquitaine – were born here.

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A remarkable medieval heritage

Legend has it that the companions-in-arms of Roland, the ill-fated hero of the Battle of Ronceveaux in 778, were buried in the cemetery adjoining the church in Mons, near Belin-Beliet. Popular tradition also recounts that Eleanor of Aquitaine, future Queen of England and France, was born in the same municipality in 1122…

To the west of Belin-Beliet, the 11^th -century church of Vieux Lugo contains 15^th -century frescoes depicting works of mercy carried out by pilgrims to Compostela.

CDT 33 - Hubert Sion

Born in Villandraut in 1264, Bertrand de Got was elected pope – Avignon’s first! – in 1305, under the name of Clement V. His remains lie in the collegiate church in Uzeste, which he had built. We also owe this pope and his successors the building of the so-called “Clementine” châteaux of Villandraut, Roquetaillade and Budos, archetypical medieval fortresses.

On the edge of the Landes, in Préchac, stands Château de Cazeneuve, a former abode of the kings of Navarre that became a royal residence for King Henri IV and Queen Margot. The château is Renaissance in style and boasts magnificent royal apartments with period furniture to match, medieval cellars and troglodytic caves.

A land of writers and poets

It was in 1689 at Château de La Brède that Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron of La Brède and Montesquieu was born, man of letters, magistrate and President of the Bordeaux Parliament, known throughout the world for his works “Les Lettres Persanes” and “De l’Esprit des Lois”.

A wide avenue leads to the 13^th -century gothic-style château, surrounded by a lake, moats and a fine English-style park overlooked by the 13^th -century keep. Montesquieu’s bedroom has been kept in its 18^th -century state.

South Gironde was also a vacation spot for the author François Mauriac, who spent his early childhood in Saint-Symphorien at the “Maison Mauriac”, which belonged to his brother Pierre, and his holidays at Chalet Jouanhau in the midst of the pine forest. His paternal grandparents owned a house in Langon, the town in which the plot of his novel “Genitrix” unfolds.

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the gothic cathedral of Saint Jean Baptiste majestically overlooks the mediaeval town of Bazas, birthplace of the poet Ausone. Well worth seeing here are the 14^th -, 15^th - and 16^th - century private mansions around the town’s arcaded square.

It was in one of the town’s old buildings, in 2004, that the Bazas “Treasure” was unearthed – over 1000 gold and silver coins, some of which are on exhibition at the municipal museum.

To discover : the Jardin du Chapitre and the Saint Antoine Hospital apothecary’s shop, which contains a collection of glassware and earthenware, some items of which date back to the 16^th century.

Jean-Louis Debré aime les couleurs de Gironde.

A land that lives life to the full all year long

Festivities kick off with the famous “Fête des Bœufs Gras”. Every year, on the Thursday before Shrove Tuesday, the town of Bazas welcomes the very finest specimens of the Bazas breed. Adorned with ribbons and crowns of flowers, the cattle are paraded through the streets to the sound of fifes and drums, before being judged by a panel of experts. Not to be missed!

Spring is the time for Patron Saints’ feast days, including Saint Eutrope’s Day in Léognan and that of the confraternity of l’Alose in Cadaujac, both of which provide an occasion for a plenitude of festivities.

During the summer, villages and historical sites provide venues for a whole range of festivals and street shows: Pope Clement V’s château in Villandraut hosts “Les Journades”; the streets of Langon come alive for the “Nuits Atypiques” festival, which offers participants an altogether remarkable interplay of world music; while in Bommes, in the Ciron Valley, the “Fêtes Nautiques de Bommes” are the order of the day.

Gastronomy takes pride of place throughout the autumn, with the “Foire Gastronomique” in Noaillan, the “Foire aux Vins, Pains et Fromages” focusing on wines, breads and cheeses in Langon, and that delicacy, the woodpigeon, being celebrated in Bazas at the end of September.

In October, it’s time for open days at the Graves and Sauternes châteaux.

Also well worth seeing: Zurbaran’s “Immaculate Conception” in Saint-Gervais church in Langon, as well as the churches in Saint-Michel-de-Rieuffret and Saint-Léger-de-Balson, in which you can see the areas in which the “cagots” (lepers) were set apart from the congregation during services.