They say that to visit Angouleme (Angouleme in French) in addition to traipsing the streets one should spend their leaves in full color as you would with a comic book of a lifetime. Maybe because all of it is part of a great universal comic in which the streets are written in snacks and onomatopoeia part of the local slang. It is sufficient to find the murals painted with cartoons from yesterday and today that involved in the life of this city in the country Cognac, in the French region of Poitou-Charentes, become part of their daily lives. Angouleme lives of the genius of those artists who have seen the facades of the buildings scenes heroes and characters born of his own imagination arise. Responsible for hosting the International Festival of more important Comic Europe not just limited to promoting reading a genre considered by many as the ninth art, but to make the city the pride of all who love this way go beyond when illustrations narrate this and other worlds.
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Angouleme escape is to undertake a trip to the city of comics and see how escape through the window without the Dalton brothers Lucky Luke realizes while the stylized figure of Corto Maltese seeks new adventures slowly consuming a cigarette. The fantasy of a parallel universe is in the subconscious of those who visit this curious, friendly and fearless town on the Charente.
When Angouleme became the capital of comic strips
It was in 1974 when he started riding a benchmark for Comic Strip, which is known as a comic and, ultimately, to comic books both in France and in Belgium . Two years before had an exhibition about the city and given the success he thought of turning it into an annual event for the fans of this mode of expression. That's when the International Comic Strip Festival d'Angoulême did nothing but grow with the help of great geniuses as the great Moebius, Hugo Pratt (creator of Corto Maltese), Hergé (The Adventures of Tintin), Will Eisner (The Spirit ), Enki Bilal or grand prize winners like Albert Uderzo (Asterix), Bill Waterson (Calvin and Hobbes) or Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball). Currently the International Comics Festival of Angouleme moves around 7,000 professionals and 200,000 visitors from many countries of the world, which makes the city for the duration of the event usually always be made in January reached quintuple its population. But best of Angouleme is that his passion for the comic can be enjoyed all year round at museums, streets and shops, making it a highly recommended destination regardless of whether they go to the festival or not.
The first comic Angouleme already has nearly a thousand years of history
It notes that Angouleme has extensive experience with comic terms. Although it sounds strange his first comic XII century and is located in full Ville Haute (Upper Town), where a harmonious historical district is concentrated in the top of a promontory. It is nothing less than the front facade of the cathedral of San Pedro, one of the best examples of Romanesque present in western France. There biblical stories in what clearly seem distinct vignettes are narrated. In a masterful sculpture collection arise more than 70 main characters in the Final Judgment and others obtained events of the Bible with which it was moving the sacred book of Christianity to those who could not read in the Middle Ages, it was the vast majority.
Therefore, the first comic, though not on paper but on stone, we find directly in the cathedral, whose neo-Romanesque tower (it was demolished in the wars of religion and rebuilt in the I continue XIX) can be seen from almost anywhere in the city ( both high and the banks of the Charente, where a metropolitan area extends with more than 100,000 inhabitants). It is very curious if we look straight to the right, the scene of hell in which a monstrous creature's taking a condemned language. And also religious temples then what they wanted was to frighten rather than instruct. And they succeeded ... go if they did.
Next to the cathedral the old Episcopal Palace, with elements of the twelfth century XXI, it has become a museum of History and Art not only the city but also the world. And like good comics, it encourages us to move off the couch and go (Do not do Tintin and Corto Maltese?). While it explains perfectly the importance of Angouleme to France, his great gift is in the section devoted to Africa and Oceania. In fact, it is considered to have one of the best collections of African art throughout Europe. The closing of this issue we find on the facade of the palace, topped by a curious stone monkey. Tradition has it that Saint-Gelais, Bishop who commissioned its construction, wanted to make a nod to his name. And in French pronunciation of this name it sounds like "singe laid", which would mean something like "ugly monkey". He lacked mood at all (well, this is one of the aspects of not a few comics).
Place New York, the castle walls to theater
Bordering the street remaining walls that ceased to exist long ago and from which there are beautiful views of the countryside of Charente reach Place New York, a rectangular park with aristocratic houses that target the old castle - now City Hall - Angouleme . Why New York in a major city square is because Giovanni da Verrazzano, the Italian explorer in the service of Francis I of Valois-Angoulême house he named New Angouleme in honor of his master the bay formed by the Hudson River Delta was discovered in 1524. Later would be New Amsterdam and then New York we all know. Hence there is a closer than many imagine between Angouleme and the Big Apple relationship.
To the right of the nineteenth-century Municipal Theatre building it leads to the remodeling of the old town that Angouleme lived at this time. But we should not sit in the front but seek his back to meet a huge painted in comic mode that shows what happens behind the scenes wall. Angouleme things are not where they seem and are to be found. The mission of locating the murals or painted scenes, not always visible, it is essential to grasp what city they want to teach.
Returning to the square is hard not to marvel at what remains of the ancient castle of the Counts of Angouleme, members of the Valois-Angoulême house that went into effect the plans of France from 1515 (in 2015 is celebrating the fifth anniversary throughout France, especially in the Loire Valley ). His most famous monarch, Francis I, archenemy of Carlos V, addressed in style inaugurate a new dynasty. He was a native of Cognac, near there. His sister, Marguerite de Navarre, was born years ago in one of the towers of a castle that was almost completely renovated in the nineteenth century to give it a style that mixed Gothic and Renaissance. With one of the walls completely covered with thick vines offers a romantic and nostalgic view of Angouleme was. Currently you can go inside and even climb one of the towers to enjoy a delightful view of Angouleme, especially on days when the sky is clear.
After finding the painted facades
Once we missed the castle began an almost obsessive search for the trail of the painted murals that still brand new European capital Angouleme comic book. Then the street journey through the straits of an old town that retains its white stone houses and large wooden shutters takes on a new dimension. It is opposite the castle when our imagination takes flight. We headed for the Rue Herge (yes, the legendary creator of Tintin has a street in Angouleme). The path to the market (Les Halles) leaves us a picture of Natacha et P'tit bout d'Chique, Belgian François Walthéry characters, watching one corner of Rue d'Arsenal. The street becomes a pedestrian and to reach the market through Place Marengo found a high density drawings.
We entered the market to smell the aroma of strawberries and turn right, about to step out of the old city, to realize that on the side of the town of Beziers hotel tinted blue with a girl leaning sees some walls. It is without doubt one of the most famous and beautiful images of Angouleme. "Le fille des Remparts" Max Cabanes, as the great works that the city, is used to the windows of buildings that appears to prolong the drawing and history. The integration of the murals in the city could not be more appropriate and elegant. The perfect combination of comics transformed into urban art with the profile of this city makes quirky and tacky never be friction. Bad taste has no place in Angouleme.
The tour of the murals (The best examples)
We have work to do. We must find more painted facades. Or, at least, all we can. It is very good idea to stop by the Tourist Office of Angouleme in Rue du Chat (next to the market) to give us a plane with what is known as "Walk the murals" that points no less than 23 paintings to across town, both at the top and on the banks of the Charente (you can also download the track in this direction with information in Castilian). That's when we realize that it is difficult to see all, but we can find many of them, especially the most hidden. Rue Gambetta to the train station is especially prolific, for example. For other cases it can even be used to offset the car, but in reality it is enough to walk to see most of these comic scenes painted walls.
Here are some of the most impressive painted murals Angouleme. Or at least, they called me more attention:
Lucky Lucke and Dalton
58 Avenue Gambetta (road station)
New York sur Charente
15 bis Rue de la Grand Font
Le Jardin Extraordinaire
24 bis Rue Pierre Semard
XXème Memoires du ciel
Place Saint-André (My preferred challenge. Locate angel astronaut reflected in a shutter)
These are just a few. There are more examples that do not even come in the plane of the tourist office. And we must not only look at the facades, and even the mailboxes have cartoons painted on them. You are advised that the shadow of comic Angouleme is long ...
The Museum of Angouleme comic book
To go further and publicize the work of the city of Angouleme in the international festival held every year spend is worth the Comic Strip Museum , one of the best in the world on this subject. Quais located in the Charente, on the banks of the river, in a former winery suited to hosting the largest and most comprehensive facilities in Europe dedicated to the comic. Open daily except Monday until 18:00 (in July and August until 19:00) and the museum is priced at € 7 (€ 3 for children under 18, free for all first Sunday of the month except July and August). The library is free and the museum shop is one of the best in all of France to acquire some specimens among a formidable collection of volumes, some even not too easy to find.
And so Angouleme, one of the first mandatory stops for travelers in the country Cognac, in a wonderful route through the region of Poitou-Charentes in western France, between Aquitaine and Brittany. A destination with history ... and cartoons. So that the streets are between sandwiches and heroes out of the walls of buildings.
Useful:
+ One of the fastest ways to get to Angouleme from Spain is taking a flight to Bordeaux, which is about an hour and a half drive (129 km). The company Air Nostrum has no less than eleven weekly flights from Madrid to this destination. Connections between Spain and France are numerous, as well as cities such as Bordeaux takes Paris , Strasbourg, Lourdes, Lyon, Marseille , Nantes, Nice , Perpignan and Toulouse.
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