| Coast of Beauty | |
 | |
| The Beauty Coast in Bonne-Anse | |
| Information | |
| Country |  France |
|---|---|
| Regional capital | Royan |
| Telephone prefix | 33 5 |
| Location | |
 45 ° 37 ′ 12 ″ N 1 ° 1 ′ 48 ″ W | |
The Coast of Beauty is a part of the French coastline. It corresponds to the south coast of the Arvert peninsula, in the department of Charente Maritime (region New Aquitaine). It is organized around its capital, Royan, a string of riparian seaside resorts and a few towns inland which form its continental fringe.
Understand
Geography
The Côte de Beauté corresponds to the southernmost coast of the Charente-Maritime department. Bordering the mouth of the Gironde estuary, the largest wild estuary in Europe, it stretches from the Pointe de la Coubre and Bonne-Anse bay, in the north-west, to the cliffs of Meschers-sur-Gironde, At the South-East. The National Council for Geographic Information nevertheless considers that the Côte de Beauté extends from the Pointe de la Coubre, in Charente-Maritime, to the Pointe de la Négade, in Gironde: thus, according to this definition, the Côte de Beauté would extend on both banks of the estuary and would also include the Pointe de Grave, the town of Verdon and the city of Soulac-sur-Mer.
The Côte de Beauté presents different faces: to the north, in the extension of the Côte Sauvage, the Pointe de la Coubre, battered by the strong westerly swell, is a surfer's paradise. The bay of Bonne-Anse is on the contrary a sheltered haven, a real small lagoon surrounded by a dune cordon and a pine forest (national forest of La Coubre). The northern part of the Côte de Beauté is made up of large rectilinear beaches facing south-west, also very exposed to the swell. We are talking about “Grande-Côte” here. Large dunes parallel to the coast were planted with pines in the 19th century, giving rise to the national forest of La Coubre (8,000 hectares) and the forest of Combots d'Ansoine. TO Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, we enter the Royan conurbation. The coast here is more jagged, with an alternation of eroded cliffs, rocky ledges and small sandy "conches", sheltered from the currents. A walking path (customs path) allows you to understand this unique landscape and to provide beautiful views of the estuary and its mouth, materialized by the Cordouan lighthouse. From Royan, the small coves give way to large beaches: the Grande-Conche thus extends over more than 2 km and to Saint-Georges-de-Didonne, the Conche de Saint-Georges, more than 3 km, is the largest urban beach in the department. The Pointe de Suzac is marked by the presence of high cliffs punctuated by beaches up to Meschers-sur-Gironde.
Story
The Côte de Beauté, renowned for its mild climate and its significant amount of sunshine, has been a resort since the beginning of the 19th century. Under the Empire, the soldiers of the Grande-Armée were sent there to convalesce. The development of "Sea Baths" however really took off under the Restoration, under the influence of British immigrants. In a few decades, the coast became the haunt of "All-Bordeaux", "All-Paris" and soon, people came to take the waters of all of Europe. Royan becomes the "pearl of the Atlantic", a worldly city par excellence where artists (Picasso), composers, writers (Zola), politicians, political refugees (Trotsky) and even heads of state (Alfonso XIII of Spain) throng. ). At the beginning of the 20th century, we speak of "Silver Coast »To designate the coast of Royan at Hendaye. In 1931, the Miss Europe Committee popularized the term "Coast of Beauty" which is still used today.
Cities
The capital and largest city of the Côte de Beauté is Royan (near 20,000 inhabitants). From north to south, there is also the seaside resort of La Palmyre and the towns of Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, Vaux-sur-Mer, Saint-Georges-de-Didonne and Meschers-sur-Gironde. Inland, the continental fringe of the Côte de Beauté also includes the village of Mathes and the towns of La Tremblade, Arvert, Shoulders, Saint Augustin, Chaillevette, Breuillet, Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan, Saujon, Tell me, Semussac, Cozes...
