Taxi Bordeaux — Mont-de-Marsan

Mont-de-Marsan is the prefecture of the Landes, a human-scale town at the confluence of the Douze and Midou rivers, which form the Midouze, a tributary of the Adour. While less known than Dax or Biarritz to tourists, it holds a major place in south-western culture thanks to its Madeleine ferias, one of France's largest bullfighting events. Every July for 5 days, the city transforms: 750,000 visitors flood the streets, bandas (street brass bands) play relentlessly, cow races and corridas follow one another in the Plumaçon arena (7,000 seats), and bodegas (pop-up bars) never close. Mont-de-Marsan is also the 'city of three rivers' and has forged an original cultural identity around contemporary sculpture: the sculpture trail counts some thirty monumental open-air works, and the Despiau-Wlérick Museum (in the Lacataye dungeon, a 14th-century medieval fortress) is France's second museum of figurative sculpture after the Rodin Museum. Air Base 118, one of the French Air Force's most important, also sustains the city. Landes gastronomy is omnipresent: foie gras, duck breast, confits, pastis landais (brioche flavoured with orange blossom and rum), Armagnac and Floc de Gascogne.