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| Pays de la Loire |
| Region of Western France comprising: Loire-Atlantique(44), Maine-et-Loire(49), Mayenne(53), Sarthe(72) and Vendée(85) |
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Presentatie
The region is composed largely of the historical regions of Anjou (around Angers), Maine (around Le Mans), a portion of Brittany (around Nantes) and the Vendée.
Although not as famous to the English-speaking world as Brittany, Normandy or the Côte d'Azur, the Pays de la Loire nevertheless attracts thousands of foreign families each year, thanks to a profusion of family campsites along the sandy Atlantic coast. The coast is peppered with pleasant resorts, of which La Baule takes the bouquet as the classiest, with Les Sables d'Olonne in the Vendée coming a close second. The little village of St-Marc, however, has an even more special place in many people's hearts. Just west of St-Nazaire, it was the subject of Jacques Tati's film Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot.
Nantes is a large, bustling town, home to the most important gallery of paintings in France after the Louvre. Its impressive château des ducs de Bretagne is well worth a visit, as is the passage Pommeraye, a sumptuous and fantastical 19th-century shopping arcade. The département was detached from Brittany in 1941, but even today most of Nantais would like the Loire-Atlantique to be reattached to Brittany. Matters reached a head in 2001, when the reigning Miss Brittany was temporarily sacked for uttering her support for the cause.
The town of Saumur is one of the most popular tourist attractions, being the home of the Cadre noir military riding school and, as a consequence, the "capital of horsemanship". Saumur is also famous for its mushrooms; it is the world's largest producer the white champignons de Paris, and for its sparkling white wine, although rosé and some red is produced in the area.
The Western Loire region and the Vendée in particular suffered enormous bloodshed during the Revolution, as the pro-royalist backlash (the Chouans) put up a spirited resistance. The civil war lasted the best part of a decade and took the lives of a third of a million citizens. Certainly the grimmest of all episodes during the Terror was the method of execution carried out in Nantes. Called déportation verticale, it consisted quite bluntly of packing boats with prisoners (male and female) and scuttling them in the Loire.
From the numerous Renaissance castles and limestone caves of the Loire valley to the sandy beaches of Vendée, Pays de la Loire offer a fascinating mix of enchanting sights and historical buildings.
As visitors to the region soon realize, life along the colourful banks of the longest French river, and on the sandy beaches of Vendee, is a reflection of the weather: mild and gentle.
Stretching from Touraine to the Atlantic coast, the Pays de la Loire is a vast and welcoming region of western France and, of course, Loire was chosen as the holiday desitination by the kings of France. Chateaux, fine wines and beautiful countryside make this region very special.
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