THE LANGUEDOC & PYRENEES: MEDIEVAL TO MODERN

OVERVIEW

The Mediterranean coastline alongside the modern borders of France and Spain has long been a fertile corridor for people, ideas, trade and culture. Successive powers – Romans, Visigoths, popes in exile, Aragonese kings – have each made a lasting impression, although the art, architecture, food, and even languages of the Languedoc and Pyrenees have remained distinct. From the nineteenth century onward, these medieval towns and fishing villages also attracted generations of artists, from van Gogh to Matisse, Picasso and Dalí, drawn by the Mediterranean light, medieval legacy and the quieter rhythm of life and work.

This tour begins in Nîmes, where over three nights we explore remarkable Roman monuments, including amphitheatres, temples and the Pont du Gard. In Avignon, we understand the papacy’s “Babylonian Captivity” and its influence on medieval European art, before encountering the landscapes and monuments of Vincent van Gogh in Arles. While in Narbonne, we visit Montpellier and Béziers, important medieval centres of trade, Christianity and Judaism, and take an excursion to Carcassonne, site of a dramatic medieval history and the birth of modern ideas of French national art and architecture.

Three nights in Perpignan introduce us to the Catalan world and medieval maritime kingdom of Aragon. Although the Pyrenees formed a natural barrier between Languedoc and the Aragonese administrative capital at Barcelona, the mountain monasteries we visit here speak to the movement of hermits, pilgrims on the Way of St James, merchants and medieval artists. From the nineteenth century, coastal towns such as Collioure, Cadaqués and Figueres fostered new artistic movements such as Fauvism and Surrealism, as Matisse, Picasso, Dufy, Dalí and others searched for light and colour. 

The tour concludes with two nights in Barcelona, including a visit to medieval Girona and its well-preserved Jewish Quarter, and the outstanding collections of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. Your experience is enhanced by the expertise of Dr Kathleen Olive, a popular tour leader and director of Limelight Arts Travel.