California was perfect getaway

Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs. In three steps near Los Angeles, America shows its cool attitude.

  Large blue and sun. The summer weather of Los Angeles rarely gives in half measures. From May to October, the tank, the sandal and Convertible welcome Angelenos of 18 million. More than a city, a sea of ​​concrete (100 km stretched along the Pacific) squared by the taut wire eight-lane highways and swirl exchangers. From the air, it's the nightmare announced. Returned to earth, they are driving past hour, to take his place in the automobile tide that drowns all notions of distance, time and direction. California, which gratified us in so many revolutions - cinema, ecology, sex, computer, etc. - Should logically give us that car without a driver. Google it before. Meanwhile, suggest spinning due north from the international airport for an hour later abandon his car keys in a hotel room in Santa Monica. For here, we walk, finally.

Santa Monica and Venice Beach

Formerly resort away from LA, now one of its extensions waterfront and California replica of Miami Beach, Santa Monica, adopts the concept. Art Deco inspired buildings erected oceanfront they are separated by a beach with measurements of vertigo: tens of kilometers without hindrance and 300 meters wide. In between, an avenue to peaceful and a pedestrian promenade circulation. To be considered, it is on the latter that must be run, ride, ride. Be accompanied by a miniature dog, have shoes, same model but a different color on each foot and focus on the neon will be greatly appreciated. On the other hand, view heterosexuality is not essential.

The municipality has installed a beautiful frequency of specialized islands: tracks for skaters twirling rings for hitters sandbags, football and volleyball on the beach, pens Flushing cast and fans of bodybuilding, gardens for yoga enthusiasts or meditation. The "Area of ​​happiness" panel will probably planted soon. In Santa Monica, seem er-ous is the basic citizenship. Laughing brightly, tan, undermines chic fashion. And check for minimum 3 million for a lounge with large screen on the peaceful view.

The contrast is sharp when the walk tumbles in neighboring Venice Beach. She plays the remake of the 1980s, "cool, man" !, with double row of stalls amid which we sneaks. Indian and African necklaces, t-shirts in honor of the seal and its princes, Marley, Joplin, Hendrix, minute tattoos, dreadlocks, musicians in search of opportunity, express clairvoyance, etc. All smelling the backpacker spirit and combines daily. Many who come here to pick a few dollars setting up their makeshift shelter under palm trees. Tourists take pictures, buy incense sticks and are returning to Santa Monica. The pier that juts far ocean is more consistent with the local saga: noisy restaurants, pubs crowded, souvenir shops and even large wheel that can be seen in Forrest Gump. It deserves to whistle a Budweiser, Bud decide to toast the infinite blue of the horizon.The Hallyday moved next door to Pacific Palisades. California dreamin '.

Santa Barbara



Change of scenery, but not of mind: follow Route 101 due north to Santa Barbara. The Beach Boys had their habits, no one remembers. Yet it is with them that the Californian music was born, one that goes so well with the FM radio when driving arm to the door, rolling dunes and Pacific wandering left, Coke Zero in the center console, villas star on the hills to the right. Santa Barbara is called "American Riviera" is his intent. Pueblo architecture, neat cactus and lazy hammock. Chaplin, the Kennedy couple for their honeymoon, Lauren Bacall and many others succumbed to the charm of this enclave Mexican accent.

You can visit the mission founded in 1786, the church where the Sunday service is a must, an amazing deco post office Art, before walking on State Street, the Royal Route.Shops, bars and restaurants in a row abut on the beach and the port where the boats that offer to go whale watching (spring and summer). Soon left this artery, are white arches and walkways shaded plots enlivened by the sound of the fountain and patio houses topped with red tiles, as if Barbara was born Andalusian. Its elegance tinged majesty actually the favorite rendezvous of gallantry California.

Happiness wine

Especially since Santa Barbara has also become in a few years fief wine. A very original way, the city sold a whole neighborhood winemakers in the region. Waiting to push the door areas, so just cross the beautifully arranged shops, it has twenty-five to discover a land and yield to the call of the tasting. The valleys of Santa Inez and Santa Rita Hills (10 000 hectares, 60 million bottles) work viognier, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah and chardonnay with Côtes du Rhône model. Except that the properties are called Rancho La Vina, Jack McGinley, Hayes Familly, Rancho Las Hermanas, Poppy, La Encantada ... They are huge and worked at the American: Optimal mechanization, irrigation (here, it's allowed), size high, cellars cinderblock capable of harboring thousand tons. Tasting wine reveals an honest, high iodine caresses between the Pacific and chills of the Sierra Madre. Still far from threatening our common burgundy.Especially as rates, often thirty euros a bottle, quickly discourages. The region attracts investors of all stripes, turning the page frames, people show (the ranch of Michael Jackson is two steps), lawyers, business leaders left with the loot ... who seek the thrill of the soil, away from traffic jams LA. California dreamin '.

Palm Springs and its stars

Suddenly, the city disappears from the mirror. The road now file in the middle of the desert. Territory and ocher bright bare mountains, where wind raises tornado brush and dust. Turning a canyon, one expects to see a surge Indian tribe Aguas Calientes and it is only a forest of wind turbines, hundreds, which provide a framework for Mission Impossible 3 Welcome to Palm Springs , one of California's most exclusive stops.Leonardo DiCaprio just buy a base for $ 6 million. He did not want the house, 1500 m2 on three floors, four bedrooms and five bathrooms, where Elvis and Priscilla spent their wedding night in May 1967 (1350 Ladera Circle). Displayed 9.5 million. It's simple, every house, almost, a legend tells the story of a star, a totally unreasonable party. Evidence 114 via Colusa for rent, architect villa with pool in the form of piano, 1,500 m2 for four bedrooms, 2,000 euros a night. It was that of Sinatra.

Previously, take the measure of this luxury oasis placed in an empty landscape, a few cacti and yuccas near and around 80 golf courses ... Palm Springs is a carpet of low houses (75% of second homes), all signed a renowned architect, all surrounded by a simple garden, two palm trees, a few prickly as a rock stumbled, lawn cut to the millimeter. Inside, straight lines, sleek decor, huge windows, zen pool terrace and Hollywood, of course. Depending on the living area, stack million and keep smiling to this song of pleasure designed with elegance on an eternal holiday air.

Every Thursday night is a celebration

It's simple, in Palm Springs, there is no rush, it's always nice and good humor of course. Demonstration every Thursday night on Palm Canyon Drive. The street is closed to traffic, to party. Bars open their doors, musicians play on street corners, terraces are full and the stands of "creators" offer paintings, thrift chic, sculptures, handmade soap, petition "Ready for Hillary 2016", work lights, polo firefighters ... all in an atmosphere that displaces the ordinary world light years. Too beautiful, life, humming the anthem of Mamas and Papas. California Dreamin '.

TRAVEL LOG

Go there daily flights operated by Air France between Paris and Los Angeles (about 11 hours). This summer, starting around € 1,200 RA. Tel .: 36 and 54 www.airfrance.fr

Time when it is noon in France, it is 3:00 in California.

Valid passport formalities with Esta form filled out on the website https://esta.cpb.dhs.gov

Accommodation 

In Santa Monica, the Fairmont whose pride is a giant fig tree 140 years. More than 300 rooms and a restaurant called FIG. Around 350 € per night. 101 Wilshire Boulevard. Tel .: 00 1 310 319 31 64
and www.fairmont.com

In Santa Barbara, Spanish Garden, while charming retro around a patio with fountain.23 rooms with balconies, from 170 €. 915 Garden Street. Tel .: 00 1 805 564 47 00 andwww.spanishgardeninn.com

In Palm Springs, Riviera Hotel, a chic resort where nothing is missing for about 120 €.1600 N. Indian Canyon Drive. Tel .: 00 1 760 327 83 11 and www.psriviera.com

Package The specialists of the United States, a journey equinoctial 9 days (7 nights) between Santa Monica, Santa Barbara and Palm Springs, from € 2,180, including flights. .: Tel 01 77 48 81 00 and www.equinoxiales.fr

Inquire Visit California .: Tel 0810322400 and www.visitcalifornia.fr

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Bali Arts Festival: here we go!

IN PICTURES - For a month, best dance, music and artistic expressions of the island will be presented to Denpasar.

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1000 places he must have seen in France: a guide

The title of this new book will speak clearly to all lovers getaways. Good news, the number of suggestions that each reader will inevitably find a room at will.

Frederick Gersal brings is clearly a lover of France and its tourist nuggets. Journalist, historian, pillarTélématin (France 2) and Radio France Bleue, he signed this impressive block (990 pages). Fine paper, multiple illustrations and color, classics such unusual places, everything is there to make you want an upcoming weekend or draw the route of their upcoming vacation.

Among the locomotives sights are the cathedral of Chartres, the Somme, the Pont du Gard and dozens of others. Few surprises in this department. Among the most unexpected, Venus de Quinipily, a granite statue in the Morbihan, current Huchet (Landes), a river that file under the pines, familistère Gaudin, a working class neighborhood in the Aisne or beautiful castle gardens Marqueyssac Dordogne, etc.

Do not spoil our fun facing similar avalanche of suggestions. Note that only the most amazing do regret not being more numerous, not usually push the pages of their stories for us to start the car. No doubt it was necessary to make room inevitable that, by definition, less fanning the sights, but meet more visitors.

Practice Note, very convenient

In addition to scholarly work and compilation of real relevance, welcome the practice note accompanying each site with its geographical location, the coordinates of the local tourist office, contact the site mentioned, possibly a proximity hosting and the right thing to know. Amazing. Stressing that with such a range of proposals, it will be impossible not to find happiness next made in France.



1000 places he must have seen in France, Frederick Gersal brings Flammarion Ed., € 24.90.

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Road trip to the land of black cliffs in Ireland

  IN PICTURES - At the forefront of Europe peninsulas Southwest Irish are the first to receive storms from seaward. Travel on the roads in a country where purple taxis are still crossed.


Irish roads are very narrow. Lined with dense hedges, slopes where wild garlic, rhododendrons, fuchsias bloom. Incredibly tortuous too. So we often have to stand on the brakes at the last moment to avoid the oncoming car. Then, in a delicate maneuver where the sheets touch each other and where the branches of hawthorn tinkle against the wings, each cross. This repeated random path brush gives rise to one of the manifestations of kindness are not sparing the Irish, these hotheads who, through pride, never ignore friendliness. As in the purple Taxi Michel Deon, we made a small hi hand. A smile. Before cautiously to engage the next gear. So the speed of a snail, a smile and hello in hand, as one progresses. As a royal procession. A pace that allows you to enjoy the scenery, strolling at the wheel, opening and closing the window at the option of the showers that are as irregular as common in this country cousin of our Brittany.

In recent weeks, the roads of the Irish coast are decorated with a representative panel on blue background, a kind of white zigzag. This is chosen by the Irish Tourist Office to materialize the Wild Atlantic Way, a coastal route, on 2500 kilometers long, connects the town of Kinsale, County Cork, symbol southeastern countries than in Derry, Northern Ireland. All without ever straying far from the sound of the waves. Unless you have plenty of time to spare, it is difficult to consider cover this route in its entirety.Therefore tourist office decided to separate it into five sections roughly equivalent size.



Between Kinsale and the Dingle Peninsula, this path takes the visitor to Ireland storytellers and black cliffs, dark skies and bright breakthroughs, old stone cross, cemeteries placed on hilltops, gray walls and green meadows, sheep, ruins expertly maintained. They are numerous in this country. This is for example the Franciscan abbey of Timoleague, which dates from the thirteenth century and was burned by Cromwell's soldiers in 1642 he left the walls, which are home to a deliciously romantic cemetery. Not far away is the stone circle Dromberg monument dating from the second century BC: 17 stones in a circle of 9 meters in diameter. At the winter solstice, some stones are aligned with the sun. The circle based flowers made by a visitor: an offering to whom?

There is also the strong Staigue powerful dry stone monument 30 meters in diameter, walls 4m thick. It was built in the third century AD. And yet, niches shaped hut inhabited by the monks of Skellig Michael, a sort of Irish Mont-Saint-Michel island. It was occupied by monks in the seventh century, but not anymore. The oratory Gallarus, built around the seventh century; the Romanesque church of Kilmalkedar, which dates from the twelfth and blocks erected here and there at random from a wall: today they no longer ensure that the sheep and cows.

Ancient stone dead monuments, witnesses of a past that is not really ours, a story that, not having been written, is largely ignored. They give to this country, where the eruption of modernity always an incongruous look, a very old and dignified.



Many foreigners who come to this region in search of authenticity, in search of their roots. For many, they are citizens of the United States. They can be seen plying huge bus board these roads barely wider than a sidewalk of America, continuing memories that have long since evaporated into the mist. They are found in the evening, at the counter of an old pub in Dingle, a wool cap on his head and big white sneakers feet, begging the bottom of a glass of whiskey or a pint of Guinness a little of that Irish blood which they are so proud at home, they seem to lack these shores and is granted graciously by the people here. The virtue of the road is that it phased the traveler to this beautiful country and austere. Smooth or haste, without illusion. On a peninsula to the other, far, farther and farther outposts of Europe. To a Celtic past presented to the passing stranger as a legacy to share.

On the way, stop in Bantry Bay. In 1796 it was the scene of a crushing defeat of the revolutionary fleet led by the young General Hoche. Party on December 15 the port of Brest, at the head of 45 warships full of seasoned soldiers, General Versailles had been sent by the Management Board with the mission to free Ireland from British rule and thus destabilize the enemy with whom France was at war since 1793 Bad weather was the best ally of England. Since the passage of Raz, the French fleet was dispersed by a strong east wind. December 21, fifteen boats only reached Bantry Bay, where they waited in vain for the rest of the armada: Hoche, already had returned to Brest. Once engaged in this east-west bay, ships, unable to go back into the wind, could not dock.On 27 December rose a storm drove them back to sea, putting an end to the failed expedition, without a single terrible revolutionary soldiers could set foot on Irish soil.

From the terrace of Bantry House, a beautiful palace posed for the bay, watching the carousel Richard White of French vessels. This descendant of an old Anglo-Irish family had taken precautions and waited the arrival of the valiant soldiers of the Republic. A year later, King George III granted him the title of baron, in recognition of his bravery.A title that Sophie Shelswell-White, current owner, always wears. In gardens, there is also a French cannon retrieved from a shipwreck. Inside this house, which is Bed & Breakfast, stunning Aubusson tapestries came from Versailles Palace, sold to his ancestor by republican France. They adorn the walls of homes.



A Bantry, winds and history have wanted Versailles meet two of its most contradictory figures: the passion of the revolutionary general and refinement of Marie Antoinette.

Posed as the fingers on the map, two peninsulas separate Bantry Bay to the Dingle. It runs in the believer already halfway around the world, but in truth it is beyond, in a place where no road leads: Great Blasket Island. To get to this strip of land to put a few miles from the coast, you have good weather and calm seas, which, here, will not necessarily together. Otherwise, the visitor is bound to observe the dark silhouette of the island from the coast, thinking of what she was home, which has now disappeared, but which nevertheless remains through books.

Great Blasket was nothing to make history. She was home at its peak, in 1911, 160 people in 22 houses. In 1953, his last 22 inhabitants of permanent departure, returning to the mainland by the Irish government. Since then, the houses slowly fall into disrepair but are subject to a kind of devotion restraint defined, among readers that was given to discover the amazing literary heritage that flourished on this little piece of Ireland.

Called to the rescue to tell the island, Hervé Jaouen. Breton writer, in love with Ireland, he managed to get three times on the Great Blasket "It's like a big boat failed at 45 degrees. The houses are surrounded by a few fields where the locals used to grow oats, and raised at the foot of an impressive slope. There is a striking white sand on the backbone of the island, a road that runs through the whole length. "What attracted the curiosity of the world on this rock, says the writer, c ' is the purity of the Gaelic language its inhabitants continued to speak long after the British government had banned the use in Ireland. In the late nineteenth century, two British scholars specialists Celtic languages ​​went out there and incited people to tell their everyday writing. They were sent nuggets: Man islands, Thomás O'Crohan; Peig, the autobiography of Peig Sayers, and Twenty Years of Youth, Maurice O'Sullivan. Raymond Queneau has assured the French. There was also Elizabeth O'Sullivan, whose Hervé Jaouen translated the letters she sent between 1931 and 1951, a British correspondent.She tells with touching simplicity his love for his island of exile tear after leaving Blasket to live on the mainland, just a few miles away. Her husband, Sean O'Crohan, was the son of the writer. He also published a book, A day in our life, the translation of which is harnessed Hervé Jaouen. Of course, the quality of the stories varies, but in such a small island, such a concentration of writers seem bewildering.



For the private visitor pilgrimage on this earth as unexpected literature, it remains the Slea Head Cliffs. The place was the site of filming of Ryan's Daughter, directed by David Lean. It is a perfect setting for a passionate affair. Planted like walls into the ocean black cliffs on which crash of foam or yellow color celadon waves, white sand, in their fury, rollers pick the bottom of the sea to the plan on the rocks . Dabbling in Dante's universe like ducks in their pond, tribes of cormorants, gulls and puffins. And in the meadows where the grass also made waves as the wind is strong, a few meters from the vacuum, sheep, immune to the wrath of Neptune, graze. Sometimes looks a curtain of rain. Seen coming from afar, obscuring the horizon a little more bleak, however, approaching the coast as a wild herd wandering undecided over the waves, and then falling on the meadows with violence. Sheep still graze the curtain away and, between two clouds, the sun appears clearly. Light, told Saint-Exupéry flying over the Mediterranean, sometimes through the clouds like a big smile. Here, it looks like she lays on the rocks of silk. Suddenly everything is sweet, clear and peaceful. So for a moment, on the edge of the cliffs, it feels sheep. You become immune to wind, waves and rocks that the sea always attack also frantically. And you throw in a grass greedy eyes. But others came from the clouds darken the sky and wide now, the rain is coming. Then, regaining his humanity, they rushed away from the car to wait out the storm.

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THE TRAVEL BOOK

Helpful

The site of the tourist office in Ireland, where there is information about the Wild Atlantic Way ( www.ireland.com/fr ).

Get There

Aer Lingus (0.821.230.267; www.aerlingus.com ). Ireland's national airline flies to Cork with one flight per day from Paris-Charles de Gaulle. From 115 €. Four daily flights to Dublin from 120 €.

Our selection of hotels

In Cork River Lee Hotel (00.353.21.42.52.700;www.doylecollection.com ) A design and luxurious hotel close to the center of Cork.. Night from 160 € for 2 people.

A Kinsale, Perryville House (00.353.21.47.72.731;www.perryvillehouse.com ). With lovely pale pink facade, the old board placed on the port of Kinsale does not go unnoticed. On the ground floor, a lounge with a good fire burning peat. Upstairs, the spacious and comfortable rooms. Night from 160 € for 2 people.

A Bantry, Bantry House (00.353.27.50.047;! www.bantryhouse.com ) night in this lovely B & B from € 169 for two people, with the opportunity to enjoy its impressive library, play. pool or wander around the gardens after they are closed to the public.

At Kenmare, Park Hotel (00.353.64.66.41.200; www.parkkenmare.com .) This imposing Victorian building houses a comfortable Relais & Châteaux. Fine dining, night from € 148.50 for two people.

A Killarney Royal Hotel (00.353.64.66.31.853; www.killarneyroyal.ie ). This lack of charm, but it is well located, and Killarney is a pleasant town. Avoid eating breakfast there. Night from 169 € for 2 people.

A Dingle, the Dingle Skellig Hotel (00.353.66.91.50.200; www.dingleskellig.com )Large and comfortable hotel situated a little away from the city.. Night from 89 € for 2 people.

Addresses on the road

A Kinsale, Jim Edwards (www.jimedwardskinsale.com ). A renowned restaurant in the city. Fresh and fine cuisine.Oyster lovers, do not miss this place. Around 35 €.

A Bantry, O'Connors Seafood Restaurant(www.oconnorseafood.com .) As the name suggests, a good place for the products of the sea. Chief sympathetic and full of good advice. Around 40 €. Manning's Emporium ( www.manningsemporium.ie ). In this charming deli run by the same family for three generations, there is a selection of local produce.

On the N171, between Glengarriff and Kenmare, must not miss the Chocolate Benoit Lorge (lorge.ie ). The French love of Ireland prepares outstanding chocolates. It is also a great ambassador for the region, ready to share places and heart strokes with compatriots of passage.

At Killarney, Courtney's ( www.courtneysbar.com ) is one of the oldest pubs in the city, famous for its live Irish music.

A Dingle, the Global Village (restaurant www.globalvillagedingle.com ). The place is lovely, fine cuisine and friendly staff: a place not to be missed. Around € 40 per person.Not far away, two of the oldest pubs in the city. With its red and white facade, Curran's $ is a little lower on the same sidewalk. In this open business for 140 years, nothing has ever changed. The display of old pub which was also shop are always loaded with mysterious boxes. Dick Mack's ( dickmacks.homestead.com ) also has a pristine setting. Atmosphere great.

A Ventry, The Skipper Restaurant ( www.theskipperventry.com ). Run by the chef Franco-Irish Paddy Chauvet, this all blue restaurant, placed at the edge of the road and facing the ocean, offers excellent cuisine taken from the sea. Around € 30 per personne.Quand the météto permits, very friendly Mick Sheeran organizes excursions on Blasket Islands (00.353.86.33.53.805; www.marinetours.ie ), 50 €.

Á read path

Man islands, Thomás O'Crohan, Payot. Exhausted, he sells online. Twenty years young,Maurice O'Sullivan, Land of Mist, € 20.50. Letters of Great Blasket, Elizabeth O'Sullivan, Editions Dialogues, € 17.50. Géoguide Ireland, € 14.90.

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Opal Coast, blue North

  IN PICTURES - The bright skies, its changing lights, his accomplices winds, endless stretches of sand, cliffs proud, elegant resorts and whiff of England, making it one of the most beautiful tourist destinations in France.

Here, sandy beaches can drag on for miles, only interrupted by the towering white cliffs of the headlands Gris-Nez and Blanc-Nez or by a multitude of rivers miniature Authie Canche, Liane, Wimereux, Slack and Aa - so beloved of crossword enthusiasts - from flowing into the English Channel.

Here, the sea withdrew to the foreshore impressive so far at low tide she discovers playgrounds of several hundred meters, whereas at high tide it returns lick grassy dunes where nestle pleasure to families and couples lovers. Here is the Opal Coast, its lights and changing skies. A little piece of paradise ch'ti, a seaside world whose astonishing alchemy manages to coexist chic and popular villas in the heart of the pine forests and bath cubicles along dike.

It's mostly a pretty good history book open, sunny and iodized wish, flipping over the place, turning beach after beach. A sort of broadsheet for weekends charm, sports or family holidays. Politics, culture, gastronomy, tourism, sport ... No section lacks summary. This is also a reporter that we owe the name Opal Coast. An appellation of origin rather uncontrolled since then, in 1911, when Edward Leveque, journalist but also a painter and botanist even mentions for the first time this Opal Coast - a reference to the constant changes of light - in the pages of Journal Paris-Plage, it circumscribes it then a strip of coastline that runs from Crotoy at the mouth of the Somme, until Equihen, near Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Or sixty miles as the crow flies but today only the Opal Coast encompasses the entire coast from Crotoy to the Belgian border (120 km), and a wide coastal strip including Regional Natural Park of Caps and Marais d'Opale. The analogy with the world of the press does not stop there. After setting, the pearl. Since 1855, Jean-Baptiste Daloz, Parisian notary fell in love with this pretty little town of Le Touquet backed by a vast dune field, put the key under the door of his office and proceeded to plant more than 800 acres there (on 1600 he acquired from the State) of pines, poplars and alders. In October 1874, he invites Hippolyte Villemessant, director of Le Figaro, a hunting party.
Caesar, Napoleon and Marshal Hermann Göring walked the same height with the same fascinated gaze

The newspaper man is subdued and wrote on his return: " A 4 km Etaples and the mouth of the Canche, sheltered by a pine forest of 1,000 ha, is more beautiful than Trouville beach. If God grants me life, I want to make this country a Arcachon North.Before long, it will be the appointment of our favorite Parisian swimmers and I have solved in a practical way the famous Paris-Plage problem. "The March 28, 1912 born, officially, the town of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, now so more than a century. This did not stop there a few years ago, the mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe to bring as vain as ridiculous to prohibit the resort using the label Paris-Plage pretext action it used it to its summer operation on the banks of the Seine!

As for the flattering comparison with Villemessant Hippolyte de Trouville, she finds a surprising extension. When, in 2004, Laurent Tirard runs The Story of not more ... it's on the beach at Le Touquet what filmed the scene lunch supposed to take place ... in Deauville! Furthermore Daloz and Villemessant other good fairies are looking at the cradle of star resort on the Côte d'Opale, especially when she decides to play the card of outdoor activities and sports. For the opening of its sports complex, named Paradise Sports, 13 and 14 July 1903, we find Pierre de Coubertin, Baron was then the director of the station. And that of course, nothing less than Lord Balfour, the British Prime Minister ... England is everywhere here. In the claw, this architectural signature she left everywhere. Belfries of Calais and Le Touquet, villas pine forests of Hardelot and Le Touquet or beach in Wimereux, Ambleteuse or Audresselles, to golf so British that line the coast.

England, so close (30 km by ferry, 30 minutes by shuttle), which can be seen from the cliff-promontories fantastic panoramas that are the caps Gris-Nez and Blanc-Nez. But England so far ... Over the centuries, continuing the same obsession to invade, Julius Caesar, Napoleon and Marshal Hermann Göring walked the same height with the same look fascinated stubbornly turned to the north and the chalky walls bleached by the sun. So close, so accessible. Only the Romans succeed in their business. The other dreams of conquest remain on the sand. Sand control other dreams, which will host more or less delicacy tireless efforts of Louis Blériot, Henri Farman, Gabriel Voisin and other Caudron brothers came to test in these blessed places of the upper air their strange machines, all committed to this challenge adventurers ... modern air: fly.
Le Touquet, the "station of the four seasons"

The Opal Coast is transformed in the early twentieth century in a huge lot of experience. At the time, we still do not talk about aviation but "hovers" and "aéroplage." As the winner of this crazy competition is that Louis Blériot made the first crossing of the English Channel on July 25 1909 This is the basic gear developed by these "aviators" as they were nicknamed, that s inspires Demoury Henry, a native of established Merlimont and Touquet, to invent in the early 30's chariot modern veil, which is on the endless beaches a playground suitable. A spectator sport, ecological, using the finest local natural resource: the wind. Last April, Berck and hosted the 28th edition of the International Conference of kites , which are moving teams from China, Japan, Colombia and Russia. This huge playground windy associated with these delicious little elegant stations that develop during the Roaring Twenties, quickly attracted the great bourgeois families Northern mills particular, but also in the Paris region.

Meet there young people from "a blast" during weekends in family homes. Frederick Harrewyn antiquarian installed since 1975 in Le Touquet, remembers a movie on the Champs-Elysées with his childhood friend, a ... Thierry Sabine " We attended a screening of a documentary about motorcycle racing in the United States, Challenge One, which contained Steve McQueen. Thierry emerged from the meeting determined with a specific idea in mind. "Back then used as attached communication by the city of Le Touquet, it shall submit it to the mayor, Leonce Deprez. And February 16, 1975, the first Enduro du Touquet soars.

A winter rendezvous success as prompting the mayor to launch a tourism strategy that will long remain the currency of Le Touquet: the "station of the four seasons." Sabine, creator of the first Paris-Dakar in 1979, still maintain its annual gathering of bikers in the top resort of Pas-de-Calais. The sand and wind, always. In this day of winter storm in 1977, another regular at the station, renowned photographer golden boy observes the beachfront developments of yachting. A ballet that gives him the idea of ​​adapting the rigging of the gear ... its windsurfing.

The speedsail was born. And the foolish equipped Playboy Arnaud de Rosnay, on his new gear as surfing, kitesurfing and windsurfing, will no longer stop feeding the headings "adventure" magazines, until his death, also enigmatic tragic in 1984 when trying to connect Taiwan to China in windsurfing. Statesmen, airmen and sports are not the only ones to have citizenship in the great book of the Opal Coast.



Under "culture" of our newspaper Opal Coast is just as rich. One suspects that, like the Normandy coast (Dieppe, Etretat, Honfleur), Brittany (Pont-Aven, Concarneau) and Mediterranean (Marseille, Nice), the unique and ever Northern Lights of the Channel could fail to attract painters. Three poles will hatch around 1880 In the far north, the school of Wissant, between Blanc-Nez and Gris-Nez, led by Adrien Demont and Virginie Demont-Breton, that invite Typhonium - a stunning neo-Egyptian villa - Henri and Marie Duhem Duhem-Sergeant and a host of regional artists. At the mouth of the Canche is the Etaples school led by Eugene Henri Chigot and Sidaner at Villa des Roses.More than 200 artists will be staying in the small port city, from Norway, Sweden, the USA and even Australia!
On the door, a note: "To my friend Flavio without that Gainsbourg would not be what it is" ...

Fifteen miles to the south, there are painters Berck, Ludovic-Napoléon Lepic, Francis Tattegrain Eugene Trigoulet Lavezzari and Jan will be joined from time to time Boudin and Manet passage. In other words, not a piece of the coast, not a changing hue skies have escaped the artists of this extraordinary outdoor workshop. This is as much for the scenery as for the unique architecture of the seaside villas or hotels of English as the greatest French filmmakers come to plant their cameras style. Marcel Herbarium, Louis Malle, Claude Chabrol, Maurice Pialat, Etienne Chatiliez, Patrick Timsit, as well, so Tirard and its famous beach scene 'Norman' succeed.

Summer 1954 At the restaurant piano Club Forest, which will become "monument"gourmet Flavio, large lout entertains. The pianist, who quickly finished up living two blocks away in the villa Fierval boss with his wife Elisabeth Levitsky is Lucien Ginsburg.Yet Serge Gainsbourg. But the character, he is already there! Short story or legend?

A customer who wants to give him a tip for room to play a certain piece, he replied curtly " I'm not a jukebox ". Gainsbourg will play a few seasons with Flavio but he will always remain loyal to the institution and to the station, where he leads regularly for festive evenings friends Carlos, Stephane Collaro, Brigitte Bardot and especially Renaud, he convinces her to turn on Beach clip Morgane you. Today, the villa houses Fierval cottages (read my diary) with that of Gainsbourg, on whose door is framed a note left by the "Man in the cabbage head" " To my friend Flavio without that Gainsbourg would not be what it is. "

As for the piano, albeit redesigned, it still is sitting in the restaurant. It only remains to browse the pages of our magazine last starting to discover the landscapes and heritage of the Opal Coast. For this purpose, the region has a wonderful tool called "A16". The highway meets the sweet name, completed in 1998, has completely opened up the coast, making his first shores just two hours from Paris. Crotoy in Somme, to Calais, the spine follows the course of the coast will never traveling more than 10 km. Between Le Crotoy and Equihen - the original name of Edward Leveque - this is the Opal Coast sand dune and massive, popular beaches and posh resorts, paradise land sailing, kite surfing, kayaking seawater.

Suffice to say that the short plagiste not here no risk of being embarrassed by his neighbor. North is Hardelot elegant, long rival of Le Touquet, with its sumptuous villas English-inspired due to promoter John Whitley and his banker friend Allen Stoneham (the same who worked at Le Touquet). One should not forget to take a look a little further inland, to the amazing castle-manor of Hardelot, the Tudor style plated on medieval foundations, all overlooking a beautiful plan water - Lake Mirror. A real film set? In any case, what Roman Polanski thought turning Tess. Finally, in Equihen, former fishing village is ... the need to go camping to enjoy the comfortable and modern version of the "bowling in the air", the traditional homes that are part of the local heritage, made ​​to the time of ship hulls end of life that residents returned and turned into makeshift homes.



But it is the resort of Le Touquet, of course, that polarizes and monopolizes attention.People come here for its pine forest, on the beach all the daring, with its water park (Aqualud ) and thalassotherapy resort located directly on the sand. People come wander through the dunes fixed by thousands of dune grass that quiver in the wind or along the endless beach of 12 km, which does not expire until Berck. People come in every season "to make a Saint John", the shopping street of elegant storefronts or a "Metz",the cross-rival. Chat Bleu and chocolates delicate one side Pérard and delicious fish soup on the other.

Trip to the very British Palais de l'Europe and casino, close to the majestic Westminster Hotel. In his time, the future Edward III of England lingered on baccarat tables. Later, a billionaire left there in the morning his fortune to his gleaming Rolls-Royce parked outside. Roaring Twenties ...
In Wimereux, Belle Epoque villas line up quietly along the beach promenade

Boulogne-sur-Mer is the gateway to our last page turning, the Côte d'Opale chalky cliffs and headlands, hills and vistas of Gris-Nez and Blanc-Nez, where we see the waterwheel ferry from Calais to Dover and jump the English coast.

This is the Opal Coast small fishing villages who discover a seaside vocation as Wimereux and Belle Epoque villas wisely aligned along the beach promenade. Child, General de Gaulle was going on summer vacation. The village Ambleteuse, leaning against the dune of Slack, and lunar landscapes with strange lights, delight fans of paradoxes: the beautiful villas are at the bottom of the village while the fishing village is up, on a promontory , enjoying the panoramic view. A website which had been jointly chosen Caesar (Portus Itius) and Napoleon as a basis for their conquest of England.Fans of the emperor will not miss the column of the Grand Army, built on the heights of Wimille when establishing the camp at Boulogne in 1804.

The following year, the Grand Army will head not on England but Austerlitz ... Last visits, very urban them to Calais, gateway to England and especially Boulogne, dominated by Notre Dame whose cobbled streets of the old city tell the story at every turn. The Côte d'Opale, this funny ch'ti paradise.

TRAVEL BOOK

Helpful

Office of Tourism (Sum www.somme-tourisme.com ) to the south of the Côte d'Opale, and Pas-de-Calais ( www.pas-de-Calais-tourisme.com ) to the north.Tourist Office of Le Touquet-Paris-Plage (03.21.06.72.00; www.letouquet.com ).

Getting there

By train: Paris-Etaples-Le Touquet (2 h 30) or Paris-Calais-Frethun TGV (1 h 40). By the motorway A16, 238 km from Paris to Le Touquet (2 h 20).

Our selection of hotels

. Touquet Hotel Westminster & Spa (03.21.05.48.48; www.westminster.fr ). A beautiful ship Anglo-Norman style and Art Deco anchored since 1925 between city and forest. 115 rooms and suites (from 100 € per night) modern and comfortable. In the basement, a Nuxe spa with indoor pool, steam room and Jacuzzi completely renovated.Packages "Golf" (from 250 € per day), "Pleasure" (from € 280), "Spa" (from 340 €) and "Fine" (from 445 €). Novotel Thalassa Le Touquet (03.21.09.85.00;www.novotel.com ). One of the few hotels in the waterfront of the French coastline, overlooking the dunes (sunsets with views). Direct access to the thalassotherapy center and its shape and beauty areas. Panoramic restaurant is heavily fish, oysters and shellfish. From 180 € for a sea view.

Good food

 Le Touquet. Pavilion (03.21.05.48.48), gourmet restaurant Westminster. & Come to revive the kitchen, William Elliott (The Dome and The Ambrosia Paris, the Royal in Deauville) won from 2007 a Michelin star. In a room that opens onto a garden, a native of the Navy offers (60 €) menus, Aroma (95 €) and Discovery cuisine and wines to 145 € (surprisingly) that gives you the opportunity to test your knowledge of wine .

Le Pavillon, also under his leadership, accepts a version brewery upscale excellent workmanship (formulas 32-41 €) In Flavio (03.21.05.10.22;. www.flavio.fr ), Guy Delmotte ensures Fame the "monument" gourmet town. Menus to 35, 73 and 99 € (lobster menu). In the evening, he will offer you one of its guest rooms at Villa Fierval (06.08.33.20.07), including that occupied by Gainsbourg in the 50s (from 49 €).

A Wimereux Centre (03.21.32.41.08;. www.hotelducentre-wimereux.fr ). A simple brasserie decor for this restaurant of the same name, but a kitchen - and price - of astonishing freshness, where saint-Jacques (seasonal) alongside poached skate and waterzoï fish. Nice wine list. Menus from 21 to 31 €.

Our heart

  In Boulogne-sur-Mer, Le Chatillon (03.21.31.43.95; www.le-chatillon.com ). At the heart of Capécure, the district Dockers, amid the warehouses is the fashionable address of the Opal Coast. In a marine setting, Patrice Baude, a former fishmonger, attracts more than customer dockers and netters bistro marine 50s The All-Boulogne - and more - are not given appointments in an atmosphere good child. A few meters from the dock, bass, sole, turbot and rays found there served at unbelievable prices. Menu at 21 €, about 35 € à la carte!
Delicacies

Le Touquet, the famous chocolatier and confectioner Au Chat Bleu 47-bis, rue Saint-Jean (03.21.05.03.86). Aline Waffelaert just take over this brand created in 1912 It accepts the chocolate into 80 different bites. The name of the shop? It was given by children who buy candy "store where there are blue cats" held by Rémy sisters had ... a Persian and a Carthusian. In the cross street at 67 rue de Metz, feast on the famous fish soups Pérard (03.21.05.13.33). In the shop adjacent to the restaurant, 850 ml jar (€ 3.90); soup croutons and rust (6.40 €) lobster soup (€ 5); 6 boxes soups (25 €).

Find out

In Boulogne-sur-Mer, Nausicaa (03.21.30.99.99; www.nausicaa.fr ). The Embassy of the sea drawn by Jacques Rougerie: 4000 m2, 36 aquariums and ponds, the largest reef breeding in Europe and 10,000 animals. € 18.80 / adult; € 12.30 for 3/12 years.

Antiquing ...

Le Touquet, at the sign of the Treasure Isle (03.21.05.17.97) at 42 St. John Avenue (showroom 2, place de l'Ancienne Mairie Cucq). The captain called Frederick Harrewyn.The childhood friend of Thierry Sabine, a big fan of Steve McQueen (he owns a Triumph Scrambler Steve McQueen Replica) started the Louvre Antiques in 1975 before returning to the family shop of Le Touquet. His specialty: Art Deco, for which he continues to travel the France and Europe.

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