With its huge coastline, protected countryside, towns full of architecture and history, peaceful
countryside and invigorating mountains, all illuminated by the un of the Midi, it's
easy to see why Languedoc-Roussillon enjoys a success unique in France.
Perpignan station is the cosmic centre of the world, said a certain Dali on 27 August
1965. His provocative vision is on the point of becoming a reality. More modest than the
"other" Midi, that of Provence, Languedoc-Roussillon, with its "garrigues" baked in sun
300 days a year, has patiently become the favourite destination of the French. This region,
whose mountains long harboured a taste of heresy and its grapes a taste of anger, has
quietly transformed itself into an Eden. From 1990 to 1999, the region welcomed more inhabitants
than it saw leave, from all age ranges, and now has the fastest-growing population
in France. If the trend carries on until 2030, its population will grow at a rate twice as high
as the average for the South-west, and well ahead of Midi-Pyrénées. And yet Languedoc-
Roussillon covers only a twentieth of France. Without any particular regional unity, it has
the world's largest wine region covering a whole range of "terroirs", from the Aude to
Hérault, the Gard and Pyrénées-Orientales. In addition to its incredible geographical
diversity, it also has a rich heritage. Languedoc-Roussillon: a vast amphitheatre with the
Mediterranean as its backdrop.