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Sightseeing
Learn French… in the country
In Lozère, you will enjoy a special sense of freedom and open spaces. It's a very picturesque mountainous departement in the Cévennes, part of the Massif Central, rugged and beautiful uplands south of the Auvergne which Robert Louis Stevenson explored with his donkey 120 years ago.
The geology of the Cévennes is an amazing mixture of granite (Mont Lozère), limestone (Causses) and schist (valleys), creating striking contrasts of landscape with crags and gorges, dizzying cliffs (Gorges du Tarn, Gorges de la Jonte, Roc des Hourtous), huge areas of forest and rolling hills (typical landscape near Saint-Germain, 1st photo below left), breathtaking views and fabulous underground caves (Aven Armand photo above, Dargilan, Demoiselles).
- CAVES AND CAVERNS Amazing underground formations. Don't miss l'Aven Armand (photo right).
- GORGES DU TARN (2nd right) Classified as ‘Grand Site’, a must whether by car, on foot or in a kayak !
- The GRANDS CAUSSES, "islands of silence" (2nd left)
- MOUNT LOZERE On the roof of the Cévennes, spectacular landscape of granite chaos (Pont Romain at the Sources du Tarn, top left)
- OLD VILLAGES, CHURCHES AND CASTLES tucked away at the bottom of gorges or perched on top of rocks (top right)
- BELVEDERE DES VAUTOURS The griffon vultures in their natural setting in the spectacular Gorges de la Jonte.
- AQUARIUM Thousands of fish from tropical seas as well as European rivers and the Amazon.
- BAMBOUSERAIE A Bamboo Plantation quite unique in Europe.
- CEZARENQUE Workshops making mouth-watering local products.
- DINOSAURS FOOT PRINTS Some 190 million years before our era, an animal left its prints at St Laurent de Trèves.
- MAGNANERIE silk factories - there were still over two hundred factories in the 50s.
- MINER’S HOUSE Numerous artefacts dating back from their lives.
- MOUNT AIGOUAL Breathtaking! On a clear day you'll see a quarter of France, from Mont Blanc to the Pyrenees.
- MUSEE DES VALLEES CEVENOLES The Museum of the Cévennes Valleys From Chestnut trees to silk production , a visit to the past.
- MUSEE DU DESERT The Museum of the Wilderness. The Huguenot and Camisard History from the 17th and 18th century in the Cévennes.
- STEAM TRAIN OF THE CEVENNNES An old-fashioned way to travel and admsire the beautiful countryside.
In the Cévennes, you will find nature at its best, a mixture of Mediterranean and alpine fauna and flora : rare species of birds (Bonelli warbler) and raptors (eagles, griffon vultures, kites, buzzards), mammals (European beavers), butterflies (apollo and swallowtails), and in the spring, wild orchids, tulips, daffodils, narcissi and martagon lilies.
Photo credits : David Dickenson & Cécile Bridgens
