Escales

Escales is a commune in the Aude department in southern France, principally involved in viticulture.

Geography

Escales lies in the northernmost part of the Corbières AOC wine growing area 30 km from Narbonne to the east, and 30 km from Carcassonne to the west.

Population

Economy

Escales benefits greatly from its wine. It has a small factory called 'Le Progres' which joined forces with a neighbouring factory in Tourouzelle in 2006 to manufacture red, white and rose wines. The factory was built in 1933 when 133 local winegrowers produced 10,210 hectolitres of wine.

Personalities

Achille Mir, an Occitan poet of note lived in the village between 1801-1879.

Landmarks

Within the boundary of the commune there are two important landmarks, the old tower which necessitates a walk through a wooded hillside, the other the church, which is situated in the centre of the village.

The tower

A good example of a square fortress tower which stands south-east of the village approximately 1 km away. The village cannot now be seen from the tower base as the surrounding area is now wooded, however it is 100 metres higher than the village itself. Nowadays it lacks a large portion of the castellation. It was abandoned during the 17th century where until that time it was a quadrangular-shaped manorial home, with 1.90 metre thick walls. The tower was renovated and heightened in the 11th century from 6 metres to 18 metres in height. Its dual purpose was as a look-out tower preventing Spanish invaders marching on Carcassonne, and a signaling tower using two lit torches sited on the upper platform. The upper platform was re-strengthened in 1980 where originally the main living area would have been found. Recent excavations have unearthed many pieces of black pottery and glass bottle shards which confirmed occupation from the beginning of the 11th century to the 15th century by a colony of Jews. According to legend, the original tower was built in Roman times.

Escales (TV)

Escales is a French television channel in the travelogue and world discovery genre. Currently, the TV station is owned by AB Sat SA and has a budget of 24 million euros, 100% from AB Groupe.

History of the channel

The TV station was launched in 1996 with the launch of the AB Sat satellite package as a documentary channel based on travel, in competition with the CanalSatellite channel, Voyage. To begin with, it was called Evasions.

Since October 2007, the channel has changed ownership, joining with its defunct German cousin Terranova which ceased broadcast in July 2007, and which also showed documentary programmes. Escales took over the broadcast of many its programmes and is still in competition with Voyage.

Budget

Escales is owned by AB Sat SA and has a budget of €24 million, 100% from AB Groupe.

Programmes

It is a channel based on travel and tourism. Its programming looks at tourist destinations and travel.

The channel shows, in a series of documentaries, a country, a region of France, Europe or the world, to give a tourist guide of picturesque sites for visitors, places, or unusual activities.