Salvador Dalí: Vermillion Coast
Discover the landscapes and villages that inspired the surrealist paintings of Salvador Dalí as he travelled across the French Pyrenees, along the Vermillion coast, and into Spain. Pass by Port Ligat, where the eccentric painter used to live and enjoy the magnificent views of the coast as you reach the Mediterranean. On the last day stop at Figueres, Dalí’s birthplace, to visit the quirky (its exterior is decorated with eggs!) Dalí Museum.
Vincent van Gogh: Provence
Van Gogh’s time in Provence – where he first arrived in early 1888 – was the most productive period of painting in his life. Along footpaths dotted with cypress trees and lone chapels, this trip follows in his footsteps from St-Rémy to Les Baux-de-Provence and onto Arles. Highlights include the Saint-Paul de Mausole monastery (where Van Gogh painted 150 paintings in a year!) and the painter’s much loved second home, the city of Arles.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Austria
From Mozart’s birthplace, Salzburg, to the Austrian capital, Vienna, the city where he achieved fame, cycle through Austria’s spectacular landscapes and trace the legacies of one of the classical era’s most influential composers. Mozart composed from the age of five and at 17 he was already engaged as a court musician in Salzburg; however, after travelling restlessly, he chose to stay in Vienna, where he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas.
Robert Louis Stevenson: The Cévennes
In the autumn of 1878 Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, set out to walk across the Cevennes accompanied by “a small grey donkey called Modestine”. His journey inspired Travel with a donkey in the Cévennes, which has since become a travel classic. Starting in the Auvergne, this trip follows a winding route across a region that boasts great natural beauty, sad romantic ruins and is almost totally unspoilt.