At a time when our last trip is starting to date and the next one is unfortunately no longer on the agenda, a few great classics allow you to escape from your couch. First author of our series: Albert Uderzo, by Toutatis! As the great comic book author and father of Asterix (with René Goscinny), in particular, passed away on 24 March, this is an opportunity to plunge back into the adventures of the famous Gaul and his companions. Brave ancestors who went through a lot of trouble and who offer us the opportunity to travel a little in total confinement. From the famous village of Armorique to India, passing through mysterious lands, where did Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix carry a serpent, a menhir and a magic potion?
A village of die-hard Gauls? Yes, but where ?
But where is the village of our illustrious Gauls really located? As early as the first album Asterix the Gaul, published in 1961, we can see the famous map and its magnifying glass, which seem to indicate that the village of the irreducible Gauls is located between Brittany and Normandy, towards Mont-Saint-Michel. More precisely, it is at Cap d'Erquy, in the Côtes-d'Armor, that the action seems to take place. Uderzo himself once acknowledged that, although he had not deliberately chosen Erquy, he had drawn heavily on the Côtes-d'Armor coastline, a region where he had found refuge with his brother during the Second World War and the German occupation to escape the Service du Travail Obligatoire (STO). And where he then regularly went with his family for the holidays. The plot of many of the albums is therefore set in and around the village of Armorique. According to some historians, the Armorique of before the Roman conquest does not refer to Brittany, as is often believed, but to a large Celtic-Gallic territory that included all the lands along the English Channel. The Battle of the Chiefs, La Zizanie, The Domain of the Gods, The Soothsayer, The Gift of Caesar, Obelix and Company, The Son of Asterix or The Rose and the Glaive all take place in this famous village and in the surrounding forest. And despite the great outdoors of the Armorican coasts, the moustachioed Gaul and his acolytes will soon be on the road for adventures far, far away from Cap d'Erquy
Adventures in the four corners of Gaul
Because we're going to find Asterix and company on the roads and paths of our country. In the album La Serpe d'or, the hero and his faithful companion Obelix set off for Lutetia (Paris) to replace the druid Panoramix's serpent, an indispensable object for making the magic potion. In Le Bouclier arverne, the merry troupe will pass through Aquae Calidae (actually Vichy) for the spa treatment of Chief Abraracourcix, but also in the Puy-de-Dôme in Gergovie (at the foot of the eponymous plateau), in Nemessos (Clermont-Ferrand) or in Borvo (La Bourboule). Corsica can also be seen in the aptly named Asterix in Corsica, or Condate, the current Rennes, in Asterix and the Cauldron and Asterix and Latraviata. In Uderzo's drawings, you can also see the medieval half-timbered houses that can still be seen today on the quays of the Vilaine in the Breton prefecture
Uderzo did not forget the other territories of France, since, in the fifth album of the saga, Asterix and Obelix's Tour of Gaul, Asterix and Obelix, following a wager made with an envoy of Julius Caesar, will take a tour of Gaul to bring back regional gastronomic specialities. In Paris, they will buy ham from Lutetia, before tasting the nonsense of Cambrai in Camaracum and drinking a few glasses of sparkling wine in Durocortorum (Reims). After a passage (and a few wild boars) in Divodurum (Metz), the two companions will enjoy sausages and quenelles in Lugdunum (Lyon). It will be lighter with a Niçoise salad in Nicae and, after a game of pétanque and bouillabaisse in Massilia (Marseille), they will disembark in Tolosa (Toulouse) to taste some good sausages. In Aginum (Agen), they will treat themselves to a few prunes, while in Burdigala (Bordeaux), they will enjoy oysters drizzled with white wine. It will then be time for them to reach their Armorican village by boat, after a last stop at Le Conquet in Finistère
Once Gaul has been discovered thanks to its best culinary specialities, it is time for our heroes to cross the borders and set off for the assault on Europe. Soon the Old Continent will have no more secrets for Asterix and Obelix. Adventures to be found in the next episode of our series.
Also to be read: Asterix and Obelix, Uderzo's travelling Gauls (Part 2)
