Gauriac: Holiday Apartments and Holiday Homes

The picturesque Route de la Corniche is a 10-kilometre route starting in Gauriac. Between Gauriac and Bourg, it runs along the Gironde estuary, partly at the foot of the cliff and partly along its upper edge. Along the route, information panels bearing the designation “Fenêtres sur l’estuaire” provide information about the Mascaret tidal bore, the islands, fish and shipwrecks. In Gauriac, the Port de Roque-de-Thau is the starting point of the route; visitors can rent a Carrelet there and walk out onto a wooden landing stage extending into the estuary. In 1956, the port was shortened by half to accommodate the development of road traffic.

Those wishing to combine Gauriac with the Route de la Corniche may also want to rent a holiday apartment there.

Trails and Landscape

Several marked hiking trails cross Gauriac. Wooden signposts and wooden poles with colour-marked tips are used to mark the trails.

The Boucle patrimoniale offers views of the Gironde estuary, the Bec d’Ambès, Île du Nord and the Médoc. It leads to Château de Thau, a 14th-century building that was damaged during the French Revolution. There used to be a drawbridge at the entrance to Château de Thau.

The Boucle pédestre des Coquines is an easy, 10-kilometre circular hiking trail starting in Gauriac. It runs above the Gironde estuary and its islands and leads through the vineyards of the Côtes de Bourg.

Culture and History

The Romanesque Church of Saint-Pierre in Gauriac, dedicated to Saint Symphorian, was mentioned by Pope Clement III in 1190. The Romanesque chancel apse has been preserved above all: it dates from the 12th century and forms a seven-sided apse with a domed vault. The church also houses a polychrome wooden Pietà from Spain, which was installed on 26 March 1774. A painting from the Louvre depicting the Supper at Emmaus was donated to the Church of Saint-Pierre in Gauriac by Napoleon III in 1860. The church’s interior furnishings are comparable to those of only five churches in Aquitaine.

The troglodytic houses along the Corniche originated from former stone-extraction openings that were converted into dwellings and later inhabited by fishermen from the estuary. They can be viewed from the road or from hiking trails, but cannot be visited because some are still inhabited.

Nature

The Site du Mugron is a limestone outcrop in the form of a small hill with holm oak, hawthorn and dogwood scrub as well as grassy clearings; several species of orchid grow there. Barracks of the French Navy are located on the Mugron; the troops of the Third Reich abandoned the site in 1944.

More local pages: Rimons, Le Teich, Marcheprime, Saint-Trojan, Saint-Morillon, Périssac, Sallebœuf, Bouliac

To the overview of the surrounding travel region: Gironde.