For The Love of Travel

A lazy day for us… Keith is garden oriented and Sue and I drive into town to see the vestiges of history at the Vesunna Gallo-Roman Museum. It houses the remains of a grand Gallo-Roman residence, adorned with painted plaster work, known as Domus de Vésone. Jean Nouvel won the competition for the design in 1993.  

 

Nouvel has enclosed the extensive ruin in glass, supported by thin steel columns. The tall lightweight roof, calculated geometrically from the plan of the house, has deep overhangs to keep out the sun. Nature and views of the surrounding town, visible through the trees or reflected on the glass walls, add to the magic of the building. The small entrance courtyard preserves an over 200 year old Oak. Its an archaeological site and Sue is very excited…but underwhelmed….back home, a bit of relaxation and preparation for Ms Perigueux’s Albane’s birthday party..woo hoo!

Off on another adventure today …..first to see St-Amand-de-Coly, with its stunning fortified Romanesque church that overlooks the pretty village.    Then to Sarlat, the capital of the Black Périgord, one of the most authentically preserved cities in the France, having been the first in the region to be protected by laws regarding the preservation and restoration of historic towns. It has an architectural heritage spanning over one thousand years, including narrow cobblestone streets. Pippin the Short, the father of Charlemagne, was reputed to have founded Sarlat, and built its magnificent Benedictine Abbey.  We had lunch their and experienced first hand, the obsession some french have with bringing their puppies along to a restaurant!

Then a lovely drive passing through countryside studded with chateaux’s, to the village of La Roque Gageac, whose houses are built right into the face of a hugh cliff facing the river.

Lastly, Beynac, one of the four major baronies of the Périgord, along with Biron, Bourdeilles and Mareuil. The village sits at the bottom of a 150 metre cliff, crowned by its impressive fort, and is one of the most picturesque villages in the region. 

The ancient and mystical town of Brantôme has fascinated visitors for centuries. Nestled in a cluster of limestone caves high on the Aquitaine plateau, Brantôme’s natural beauty, bubbling spring, and well-stocked river attracted its earliest inhabitants over forty thousand years ago.
The Celts, and their mystic Druid priests, gave Brantôme its name, a combination of the Celtic words for water and rocks. After the Celts, the town was inhabited by Romans, then early Christians, and a community of monks whose early monastery was to evolve into the splendid abbey we visited today.
After surviving the Black Death and 100 Years War, Brantôme saw a new era flower in the Renaissance, when magnificent structures like the new abbey and the Jardin des Moines (Monk’s garden) were built.
Brantôme withstood many invasions from the Visigoths and other ‘barbarians’, until the Franks, and notably Charlemagne, established the town as a leading religious destination. From the Middle Ages, Brantôme was a key stop on the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela, one of the three most important pilgrimages of the period. 

Sue, Keith and I walked around the town enjoying the summer warmth, a coffee at the mill, an art exhibition by Veronique Pascale Proust and lunch by the river. 

Caught the end of the “Tour de Dordogne” bicycle race…..

Bourdeilles is a lovely village which sits on the edge of the river Dronne and boasts a chateau, a moulin (mill), a medieval centre and an attractive stone bridge which was originally built in the 14th century but had to be rebuilt in the 18th century following severe floods.