The Midi

It is a region of dramatic contrasts, from the desolate mystery of the Camargue with its saltwater lagoons to the purple rocks of the Cote Vermeille, from the granite uplands of the Cevennes to the undulating wheatfields of the Lauragais, from the sunparched vineyards of the Corbieres to the botanist's paradise of the Cerdagne. The churches and the abbeys, chateaux and hotels to be found there are redolent of the region's intriguing past: of trobadours at the courts of Narbonne, Toulouse and Perpignan, of the Cathar heretics who met their death in the mountain eyrie of Montsegur, of the merchants who grew rich from the cloth trade and the buildings of the Canal du Midi. As distinctive for its food and wine as for its history and architecture, the Midi is rich, too, in anecdote, as Joy Law shows in this original and entertaining guide.