TOWNS

CAHORS

SARLAT

BERGERAC

PERIGUEUX

SAINT-EMILION

ROCAMADOUR

PERIGUEUX
Set in a priviliged valley on the river Isle, the capital of Dordogne county is a cheerful city producing and marketing truffles and foie gras. The old streets around its famous five-domed cathedral have been intelligently restored over the past decades to give the city a lively heart.Walk around Perigueux, with its medieval paving stones, its centuries-old walls, its finely wrought staircases : two thousand years of history and more laid out at your feet.

 

BERGERAC

The town of Bergerac grew up around a feudal castle. The expansion began as early as the 12th century. Benefiting from the town's situation as a port and bridging point, the local middle class developed rapidly, profiting successfully from the trade between the central provinces of Auvergne and Limousin and Bordeaux on the coast. Like most of France's self-reliant mercantile communities, the Bergeracois converted to Protestanism. But in 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, denying Protestants the right to worship. A certain number of Bergerac citizens, faithful to their Calvinist beliefs, emigrated to Holland, a country where they had maintained commercial contacts. Bergerac is the capital of tobacco in France and more than 11 000ha of vineyards surrounding the town, produce wine.

 

SARLAT
Said to have been inhabited since Gallo-Roman times, Sarlat suffered from the Norman invasions and then from the Hundred Years War owing to its position as a frontier region between the kings of France and England. The town well fortified by its Consuls, withstood all attacks and only became English at the end of Hundred Years War (1360) when by the treaty of Bretigny, Edward III of England renounced his claim to the throne of France in exchange for the South West of France. Ten years later, the Connetable DU GUESCLIN chased the English from France and Sarlat became French. After the Wars of Religion which ravaged the countryside, peaceful days came to Sarlat with the reign of Henri IV .

Sarlat was a prosperous city throughout the XVI,XVII and XVIII, but after that, too far removed from the main stream, like the sleeping beauty, it fell into lethargy for nearly 150 years, to wake up again only some thirty years ago when road transport supplanted river and railroad as means of communication.Between the rivers Dordogne and Vezere, nestling in a small valley, Sarlat charms you at the very first sight of its old roofs. Wander through the narrow streets and through nearly a thousand years of unspoiled architecture where, from paving stone to roof top, glows the luminous local sandstone of this country. Sarlat with its outstanding vestiges has more buildings per square meter classified as cultural heritage than any other town in Europe.
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CAHORS

The town, enclosed by a meander in the Lot River and overlooked by rocky hills, was a flourishing commercial and university city in the Middle Ages and still retains precious vestiges of the past.Cahors wine was transported by barges to Bordeaux and from there by ship to various European capitals.

A spring discovered by Carthusian monks, led to the founding of Divona Cadurcorum, later known as Cadurca and later still as Cahors . The town grew rapidly in size : a forum, a theatre, temples, baths and ramparts were built . In the 13th century, Cahors became one of the great towns in France. The bishops still ruled, and did quite well for themselves, gradually gaining control of most of the Lot valley . The founders of Cahors perfected their skill at merchant finance and moneylending . As their wealth piled up, the merchants converted it into impressive palaces along the main streets. Cahors's golden age, which lated until the Hundred Years' War, produced not only these, but a new set of fortifications, magnificent bridges, a university and the completion of the Cathedral.

Cahors suffered from the Hundred Years's War only indirectly, kept the English out, but the disruption of trade meant a slow but inexorable strangling of its business affairs. During the Renaissance Cahors had a reputation as cultured city, full of academies and libraries.

SAINT-EMILION
Set amidst the famous wines which wander clamber over the hills, twine around the houses hug the bends in the alleyways, the town of Saint-Emilion brings together the breath of history and the spirit of wine. Founded in the VIIIth century close to the hermitage of Emilion, a monk from Vannes (in Brittany), it quickly became an important religious centre, protected behind its impressive ramparts throughout the period Hundred Years War; it subsequently little by little developed its splendour through the reputation of its wines. The town and history of Saint-Emilion continue to exert a mysterious fascination through the wonderful religious buildings, towers and medieval fortifications, and the innumerable underground quarries where the wine roots entwine.

ROC'AMADOUR

Hanging on the edge of a desolate gorge, Rocamadour was carved in the cliff by human faith .appearing as a cascade of roofs and rocks miraculously resting on a vertical line.Betwwen the castle which crowns the city to the little river Alzou peacefully winding along the bottom of the valley, a one hundred meter drop shelters the sanctuaries and the houses. Rocamadour was for centuries one of the most celebrated pilgrimages of the Christian world.

Photos and texts credits: Office du Tourisme de Sarlat, Perigueux, Rocamadour, Cahors, Saint-Emilion, Bergerac. 

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