Marciac, for most of the year, is a quiet, unassuming village deep in the Gers. Almost overnight at the end of July, it is transformed by the annual 'musicfest' aka Marciac Jazz Festival, which lasts two weeks and draws huge crowds and big 'stars' from all over the world. It has benn going and growing for nearly 40 years and Marciac now also boasts a Museum of Jazz and a College of Jazz. The Bastide villages are essentially old fortified settlements straddling the ridges of the undulating hills of the Gers, north of the Adour valley, with interesting names such as Bassoues, Montesquiou.
Marciac and the Bastide Villages
