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On the route of D'Artagnan

August 10, 2015

Horse riders soon will be able to gallop in the fabled tracks of France's most famous musketeer - thanks to a project announced at the weekend in his hometown of Lupiac.

https://p.dw.com/p/1GCsB
Die drei Musketiere D'artagnan
The Three Musketeers in the film (1994)Image: picture-alliance/United Archives

From the annual D'Artagnan Festival in Lupiac in south-west France on Sunday (09/08/2015), organizers announced their intentions to construct a 4000-kilometer long bridle path - the first of its kind in Europe. "There are six million tourists on horseback in the European Union, but no infrastructure at the European level," said Alain Libero, founder and president of the Association Européenne de la Route d'Artagnan (AERA).

The path will follow the legendary travels of D'Artagnan and should be ready by 2017, passing through Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany and Maastricht in the Netherlands. The Count of D'Artagnan is a fictional character, created by Alexandre Dumas for his bestseller "The Three Musketeers." The character was based on the real-life Charles de Batz-Castelmore, who was born in Lupiac in 1615. He served the French King Ludwig XIV as the captain of the Musketeers of the Guard until his death in the Franco-Dutch war.

ot/jt (AFP)