Archive for December, 2009

Glamorous women from across France will flock to Nice this weekend to compete for the throne of ‘Miss France’. And among them will be one young woman from the Dordogne.

21 year old Aurelie Zengelin, from the town of Douzillac, in Dordogne was chosen as Miss Aquitaine earlier this year. This weekend the statuesque brunette will compete with 11 other young women from across the country for the position of France’s mostglamorous girl.

Since winning her title, life for the salon assistant and trilingual student has changed daramtically. Not only does she travel throughout the country meeting judges and promoting her bid for Miss France, she also practices for the competition every single day.

From 9am until noon, she and the other competitors practice their choreography. After that it’s on to yoga, exercise and singing practice, before meeting judges and fans until late in the evening. According to SudOuest.com, it’s only at about 10pm that Aurelie gets a chance to ring her family in Douzillac.

Today the whole Zengelin family has packed themselves into vehicles and has started the journey to Nice, where they will watch their girl compete for Aquitaine, Dordogne and Douzillac at the cermony. Her mother, Isabelle Aquitaine, told Sudouest.com that this was “the final straight” and she looked forward to seeing her daughter after nearly a month of separation.

Miss Aquitaine is already a strong candidate for coronation; she has secured 1748 votes already and according to Sud-ouest.com, a huge amount of support and encouragement from fans both local and remote.

The first cave in the Dordogne to be discovered, the Font-de-Gaume is one of around 25 that are open to the public. Since then, hundreds more caves have been found in the surrounding area of the Dordogne, in the Vezere Valley. Other sites in the valley have shown significant evidence of signs of human living, going back more than 300,000 years.

The original Lascaux cave in the Dordogne was closed to the public in 1963, after its art began showing damage. This damage was mainly caused by the carbon dioxide emitted by visitors, around one million in the 15 years after it first opened to the public, in 1948 had visited the cave. Now a replica of the two chambers in the Lascaux cave is open to the public, the Bulls’ Chamber and the Axial Gallery- where most of the artwork was found. This replica opened in 1983, just 200 metres from the original cave.

Many people are attracted to the Dordogne because of its history, art and museums. One British regular visitor to the Dordogne recommends is as the perfect French holiday, Mr Green said: ”The Dordogne is a region as beautiful as any I’ve ever seen. For those who are not interested in what lies beneath the surface of the earth, one can easily spend a week touring the chateaux of Dordogne, which in their grandeur and with their height, make you feel as if you’ve walked into a fairy tale.”

The Dordogne also boasts many castles, and the majority have all been restored by their owners in order to be opened to the public.

French consumers have said to have stayed strong throughout the economic downturn, and French holiday sales this year are predicted to have exceeded previous years. November and December are expected to be successful in attracting tourists for skiing and other French holidays this winter.

Retail sales are also not likely to be significantly affected during this years holiday sales period, this is down to the supportive effect of France’s extensive automatic stabilisers and low inflation. Consumers in France are now at an advantage, the French winter sales season usually begins in the second week of January, but a new law now allows for more flexibility on the timing of sales. This means retailers will more than likely offer big discounts in a bid to attract additional business in this period.

This includes sales of holidays, so more people will see French holiday discounts before January, so they can spend Christmas and see the New Year in the French snow. Following the recent snowfall across Europe many companies have decided to increase their holiday discounts to at least 30% for holidays starting on 11 and 12 December. Snow is continuing to fall across the Alps with resorts receiving up to 70cm of snow on 1st December. The Pyrenees have also had their fair share with up to 35cm in places.

The general council of the Dordogne department has announced that it will intercede in the dispute surrounding some of its most popular archaeological attractions.

Concerns have been raised over what will happen when the current lease for the archaeological sites near Les Eyzies expires in 2013. Germinal Peiro, the deputy general counsel, described the property situation as “complex”.

Many of the locations, driveways and parking lots serving the attractions are owned by different operators and the council is concerned that with the end of the lease will come the end of the relationships which have made the area such a success for tourism in the region.

Currently the sites are operated by Semitour, who manage the Grand Roc Caves and the Laugerie Basse excavations sites. They attract nearly 80000 visitors a year and are a popular attraction for holidaygoers in France with a passion for history and nature. It is estimated that their combined turnover is somewhere in the field of 1.2 millioneuros.

To keep the site running smoothly and to help preserve the region’s reputation for heritage and prehistory, the General council has launch a process of expropriation. It is hoped that this programme will bring vital facilities under the direct control of the department and ease tensions between independent commercial operators who hold leases to other tourism sites in the region.

The Grand Roc Caves demonstrates some of the most unique geological features among the Dordogne valley. As well as stalagmites and stalactites there are triangular formations of crystallised rock, developed over hundreds of thousands of years of natual processes. It opened in 1927 and uniquely, its entrance is situated half way up a cliff face. However access has been made easier over the course of the century, with stairs an early addition to the site.