Biscarrosse

French commune|nomcommune=Biscarrosse
région=Aquitaine
département=Landes
arrondissement=Mont-de-Marsan
canton=Parentis
maire=Alain Dudon |mandat=2001-2008
intercomm=Communauté de commune des Grands Lacs
longitude=-1.16277777778
latitude=44.3941666667
alt moy=26 m |alt mini=0 m |alt maxi=78 m |hectares=16,048
km²=160.48 |sans= 9,281|date-sans=1999
dens=57.8 |date-dens=1999
cp=40600|insee=40046

Biscarrosse is a town and commune in the Landes "département" of western France, located south west of Bordeaux (50 km). It is a seaside resort on the Atlantic Ocean .

Near Biscarrosse, at coord|44|27|N|1|15|W|, there is the CEL (national test centre) from which numerous French military rockets have been launched for test purposes. Likewise, the CEL has facilities for launching civilian rockets to study the upper atmosphere.

Near the town centre, outside the "Café de l'orme", there is what is believed to be the oldest elm tree in the World. Planted in 1350, this Smooth-leafed Elm "Ulmus minor" subsp. "minor" has almost certainly survived because of its isolation from disease-carrying Scolytus beetles. The tree is now a wreck, the trunk, 3 m in diameter, is completely hollow, supporting just a few heavily-pollarded branches [http://www.pijouls.com/albums/alblormedebiscarrosse/page_01.htm] . Legend has it that girls deemed promiscuous were forced to stand naked upon a barrel beneath the tree for a day. One unfortunate, unjustly accused, died of shame, the tree annually producing a corona of blanched leaves in her memory.

External links

* [http://www.univ-perp.fr/fuseurop/cemcel_e.htm Univ-perp]
* [http://www.astronautix.com/sites/bisrosse.htm Astronautix]
* [http://www.homelidays.com/EN-Holidays-Rental/fr_aquitaine_40-landes_fr/biscarrosse_r3.asp Go there]
* [http://www.touradour.com/Towns1/bisctour.htm Tourist Office]
* [http://www.eztrip.com/France/Biscarrosse/BISCARROSSE_FR_INTL.html Cheap hotels]
* [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/FR/97/Biscarrosse.html Weather and more]