Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste

Every February locals blacken themselves with soot and oil, dress as bears and chase onlookers through the cobbled lanes of Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste. This walled Catalan town on the Tech, under the Canigou, became French with the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, and Vauban's Fort Lagarde was built above it to hold the new border. The spa of La Preste lies higher up the valley.

Highlights

• The Fête de l'ours, the bear festival held each February
• Fort Lagarde, built by Vauban and reached by a covered walkway (FR)
• The Ball de la Posta, a carnival dance judging vice and virtue
• The spa of La Preste, once visited by lepers in the 14th century
• Mountain walks in the Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste nature reserve (FR)

Summary based on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), written with AI assistance.