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| Morvan South (58/71) |
| With deep roots in its Celtic past, the highlands of the Morvan are an area of natural beauty and there’s great scope for the outdoor life. |
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Southern Morvan
The southern sector of the Morvan National Park is an area of outstanding beauty with forests and verdant valleys, rivers and streams, hills and dales. The park covers an area of a quarter of a million hectares in the middle of Burgundy – a granite outcrop, lush and green most of the year, relying on forestry, agriculture and tourism for income. The highlands, the Haut Morvan, of Mont Beuvray, at 821 m above sea level, Mont Preneley at 855m and Haut-Folin at 901m, reign over the landscape. There’s a great variety of flora and fauna according to the season, from wild boar and deer to mushrooms and orchids. A great favourite with Dutch people, the Morvan Sud falls partly in the Saône-et-Loire department and partly in the Nièvre. |
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Morvan Sud in the Saône-et-Loire
This sector of the Morvan Sud with its boundaries roughly from Villiers-en-Morvan in the north, and everything east of Anost, down past Mount Beuvray to Luzy in the south, looks towards the town of Autun for the market, shopping, services and culture. Delightful small villages nestle in the valleys such as Chissey-en-Morvan and Lucenay-l’Evéque, Roussillon-en-Morvan and La Grande-Verrière. Perfect for the country lover, the woods are interspersed with undulating terrain, there are rivers and streams. These are all popular with tourists who enjoy outdoor activities: walking, riding, fishing, biking and....horseback trekking! |
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Morvan Sud in the Nièvre
Château-Chinon is the centre of the Morvan Sud region which falls in the Nièvre department. This is a densely wooded region, where the beech and oak trees are being replaced with plantations of conifers, Forestry supports the economy. Château-Chinon itself provides a good vantage point for the surrounding landscape. This fortress town has been in an ideal position for defending the highlands of the Morvan and the Nivernais plain; it has seen battles and sieges through the centuries. François Mitterand was mayor here before becoming President of France, and he did much to help not only for the town, but the whole of the Nièvre department.
As the high ground falls away to the lowlands of the Nivernais, meadow and arable land with sheep and Charolais, wheat and sunflowers come to the fore. There is a famous sheep and cattle market each week at Moulins-Engilbert just beyond the border of the park. Luzy in the far south is also known for the quality of its beef, and another town close to the boundary is St.Honoré-les-Bains, a spa town with sulphurous hot springs, favoured mainly by French health fanatics.
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Mont Beuvray
Anyone interested in archaeology and history will be fascinated by the oppidum or fortress settlement called Bibracte. The Museum of Celtic Civilization has been built (courtesy of President Mitterand) on the wooded hillside near the excavation site. In the first half of the 2C BC as many as 10,000 of the Aedui tribe lived in the settlement, located on the trade routes linking Celtic Europe with the Mediterranean. The mighty Vercingétorix commanded the troops here in 52BC and led them into battle against Julius Caesar at Alésia. He was to loose all, causing the demise of the oppidum, Celtic Gaul, and the Roman ascendancy of Autun. |
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Tradition and Folklore
We can’t leave the Morvan Sud without a word about the tradition and folklore of the area. There are three unique and highly unusual annual musical events of note. In July, the festival of the cornemuse, an instrument resembling the bagpipes, is celebrated throughout the Morvan; then there is an accordion festival in August at St-Léger-sous-Beuvray, and also that month, the village of Anost hosts the hurdy-gurdy festival.
See also Morvan Nord and Autun
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Burgundy-tourism
The Burgundy area main tourist website |
Southern Burgundy
6 areas within South Burgundy: thematical and complet website in several languages
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Nievre-tourisme
Department Tourist Board, quite hip, english available
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Parc du Morvan
French website of the Parc naturel régional du Morvan |
Bibracte
This Gaulish town brings Celtic history to life: interesting website.
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Burgundy Today
Morvan Forest, Bibracte and more … |
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