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![[Flag of Region Centre]](latest2010/fr-r-ce.gif)
   
Historically, the Centre Region
included the three provinces: Orleans ( now Loiret, Eure-et-Loir,
Loir-et-Cher), Berry (Cher and Indre) and Touraine (Indre-et-Loire).
These identities and their traditions still remain in the
hearts and minds of the local people - despite government
reorganisation. This is highlighted in the way they promote
their tourism (sometimes confusingly) using both the old
traditional areas and the new departments. The Region Centre which has adopted the 'Val de Loire'
tag to promote its tourism had in fact wanted to have it
officially recognised as its name, unfortunately to do this,
by law, it was first necessary to get the approval of its
own departments and that of all the other Regions. Not
surprisingly the region of 'Pays de la Loire' took exception
to this, believing that it would diminish their marketing
efforts and anyway the 'Loire' tag belonged to them!
The
Ministry for the Interior agreed, so the procedure was
aborted.
The mistake had, in fact, been made at the assignation of
names for the newly formed Regions as with the river Loire
flowing through four of its departments, Centre, as opposed
to Pays de la Loire (with only two) had the stronger claim
to have it included in its name. So an early marketing
opportunity was lost. Now by adopting the name they
are making it easier for their potential visitors to
associate the region with its most envied attractions the
Châteaux de la Loire.
The region within France
The
Departments
Centre region in France is made up of six Departments:
Cher [18], Eure-et-Loir [28], Indre [36], Indre-et-Loire [37],
Loir-et-Cher [41] & Loiret [45].
The region has much to offer the
discerning tourist and where perhaps it is the
Departments of 37, 41 & 45 that have the more well
known attractions (they contain a major part of the
Unesco
World Heritage site) they all have much to offer.
Orleans
in Loiret is the administrative capital of the Region though
it could be argued that Tours
, its largest city,
in Indre-et-Loire might be considered its cultural capital.
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