The Dune of Pyla - Lost in the desert

Friday, February 13, 2015

During fall Andrea and I took on a weekend getaway in Bordeaux, 2 hours driving north from here. Do you remember the posts (here and here)? Well, what you don't know yet is that before driving back we decided to stop visit the Dune of Pyla (or Pilat), the tallest sand dune in Europe. We had heard it to be a wonderful place, but never been before. So, we took the route and decided it was the right time to go there, since we where just 10 km far.

We didn't expect it as one of the most magical places ever. It's basically a desert falling directly into the ocean from one side, and into the wild forest from the other. Such a stunning view, our jaws dropped open.
Unluckily for us, other people thought a Sunday afternoon could be the right time to visit the dune (not really an original idea eheh!), but the place was huge enough not to make us feel crowded.

From Wikipedia:
"The dune has a volume of about 60,000,000 m³, measuring around 500 m wide from east to west and 2.7 km in length from north to south. Its height is currently 110 meters above sea level. The dune is a famous tourist destination with more than one million visitors per year.The dune is considered a foredune, meaning a dune that runs parallel to a shoreline, behind the high tide line of a beach. The dune has been observed to move landward, slowly pushing the forest back to cover houses, roads and portions of the Atlantic Wall."

We had a magical and romantic time. The sun was setting and lights started playing all over behind the sand dunes. Everyone was speechless (a part from a couple of teen age girls who didn't stop laughing and taking selfies).
Anyway, I highly suggest you to go visit it if you ever pass by - maybe during work days it'd be better, but actually it's so beautiful that it would be worth a visit every time and day of the year. And if you're living not so far from there, you could think of it as a romantic St.Valentine's getaway ;)

Even if I'm sure they don't show at the best its immense beauty, I hope these pictures can give you an idea of it.

I think we'll go there soon again.


Credits // Author: Marta Tomasini, Photography: Marta Tomasini & Andrea Scatolero

Post Comment
Post a Comment

What did you think of this post? Leave your comment here :)