LOZERE TOURISM

Mende

Gorges du Tarn

Parc des Cevennes

History

Villages & other attractions

Lozere is the least populated department of France with just 73,509 inhabitants, and is completely rural. It abounds in a diversity of natural landscapes and remains a natural preserve where peasant farmers carry on the traditional mountain agriculture.

The Gorges du Tarn, is one of the most visited sites in France. Tourists come for hiking, cycling or canoeing. The Parc des Cevennes is the region that Robert Louis Stevenson crossed in 1878 with a donkey, bought in Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille and sold at the end of his journey in St-Jean-du-Gard. The route is described in Travels with a Donkey.

In the north of the department is the town of Chateauneuf-de-Randon which in 1380 was the setting for one of the battles in the hundred years war and where little has changed since.

In la Margeride in the north-east of the department there are rivers and woodlands and heather-covered moors, and fast-flowing streams run down the hillsides to the lakes and open hills of Aubrac.

This is an environment of untamed nature a region for both relaxation and outdoor activity. The Lozere offers all the serenity of an unspoilt region, a haven for those wanting to get away from it all.

Mende is a lively little medieval town with cobbled, narrow streets and houses with stone-tiled roofs, in the heart of the upper Lot Valley.

The historic centre is dominated by an immense Cathedral built in 1368. The 14th century three-arched gothic bridge is also impressive. Today the principal activity is tourism. website

It is the capital of Lozere and with its 13103 habitants, it is the smallest Préfecture in France. Around Mende is the magnificent countryside to discover: the Cévennes, the Gorges du Tarn, Gorges de la Jonte, Aubrac, Margeride, Haute Vallée du Lot, Causse de Sauveterre et Causse Méjean.

The Gorges du Tarn is a canyon 50 kms long, about 400 m deep and 1000 m wide. It separates the plateau of Causse Méjean, a large steppe of yellow grassland, and the Causse Sauveterre, a less arid limestone plateau with hilly land in the south-east.

The most attractive part of the gorge runs 50km from the village of Le Rozier, to Ispanac alternating between stretches of calm waters and bubbling rapids.

This is extraordinaryly spectacular setting where you can practice any number of activities: swimming, hiking, pony-trekking, mountain-bike, canoeing and kayaking. The medieval town of Saint-Enimie is the best base for hiring canoes.

The Valley of the Lot crosses the department from east to west, from La Canourgue to the Goulet (Mont Lozere). Castles, fortresses and churches line the length of this valley.

The Gorge of the Jonte, is a tributary of the Tarn; 20 kilometres of equally beautiful landscape, from Rozier to Meyrueis.

Also worth seeing are two caves about 25km up the Jonte from Le Rozier: the Aven Armand and the Grotte de Dargilan.

The Cévennes mountains and River Ardèche form the south-eastern edge of the Massif Central. In the Parc des Cévennes there are 2 400 species of animals. The Park is the largest forested National Park in France, with over 1 500 km² of forest.

From Florac to Saint-Germain-de-Calberte, along picturesque twisting roads, the Park of the Cévennes offers fantastic views and beauty spots.

To the west is the majestic 1700m Mont Lozère. There are many signposted footpaths for visitors to explore the Parc with some magnificent walks.

These Cévennes mountains have had a colourful history. Remote and inaccessible until well into the twentieth century, the region has bred rugged and independent inhabitants.

It is to these hidden, secret valleys that fugitives and nonconformists have fled from persecution or intolerance: the Protestants from the tyranny of Louis XIV and Louis XV: French maquisards and Jewish refugees. In World War II, this area put up the most resistance to the Nazis.

This was the part of Languedoc most affected by the spread of Protestantism in the sixteenth century. At the beginning of the 18th C this was where the war between the Camisards and Huguenots took place.

After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 (the treaty which had granted religious toleration) the Protestants were driven north by persecution to the Cévennes.

In 1702, they took up arms and fought the first guerrilla war of modern times, the war of the Camisards. In the hills of Saint-Germain-de-Calberte and up to the Mount Aigoual the Camisard rebels roamed in the early 18th century, ambushing King Louis XIV dragoons, burning churches and gathering for prayers in huge "Assemblées du Désert".

Men, women and children were massacred or tortured and executed, or sent to the Tour de Constance in Aigues-Mortes. This religious conflict is still bitterly remembered today and there are many 'lieux de mémoire' to commemorate the persecution of the Huguenots by Louis XIVth and the subsequent bitter Guerre des Camisards.

The Castle of Portes, 20 Km north of d'Alès, surveys the route known as "Régordane" that pilgrims and Crusaders followed towards the Holy Land. Founded in the XIth century, the medieval part was modified in the XVIth century. website

Montvert is a charming village at the confluence of the valleys of the Tarn, the Rieumalet and the Martinet. A lovely gothic bridge with a clock tower crosses the Tarn.

It was here that the war of the Camisards began in 1702, following the murder of the Abbé du Chayla, who had led the persecution of the Huguenots.

Each region conserves its traditions and legends and different style of architecture in the villages: houses in stone and red sandstone in the Lot Valley, houses in chalk stone on the Causses plateau, cottages in granite on the Aubrac and houses of schiste in the Cévennes.

Recently opened, the Millau Bridge was designed by UK architect Norman Foster, and is the world's highest road bridge. 300m high, it is higher than the Eiffel Tower, and is an 2.5km long.