Labastide D'Armagnac and St. Justin

The entire region of Armagnac is a subregion is Gascony. The local language there is Gascon and none of the younger generation speaks it really. However, I'm told that if you attend sunday services at the single church in the miniature town then you'll hear it spoken by the older generations. There is some debate about where this language and group of languages (occitan, aranese, etc) as to whether it is a romanace language (primarily) or a language developed from Basque and Latin. In any case, the younger generation is allowing it to die slowly.

Labastide D'Armagnac is a booming metropolis of about 700 folks. There is one bar, 2 restaurants, a church, and a bunch of distilleries! Included in Labastide's populus are The Bouglons (of chateau du prada) as well as Martinne Lafitte (of Domaine Boigneres). If you don't follow the brandy world much, Martinne Lafitte is the proprietor of what some consider the finest brandy house in all the world. I don't know if it's the single best house ever, but it's in the top 10 without any question and little thought.

The problem for my stay there is that I was there at the end of April. Apparently the French are on Holiday until May 1. Apparently everything comes back to life after May 1. So I walked around the streets for some time, found THE bar, and the restaurants which were closed and realized there wasn't much else happening in that town. Luckily the Bouglons told me about another restaurant in the next town over of St. Justin. Hotel France. An original and inventive name for a hotel in france I thought. It turns out that they have an exceptional prix fix 4 course menu every night. Wandering around St. Justin, you'll find a carbon copy of Labastide except that at the end of town there is a fire station and a school and a library. Otherwise not much is happening there either. It's an interesting place. It's like a ghost town when everyone is on holiday, but I suspect I'll make another trip back as soon as possible.