Bergerac provides a wonderful combination of gentle countryside, picturesque old town and local, gourmet specialities.
Monument's discovery in pays of bergerac
LAFORCE - ruins of the Château des Ducs
LE FLEIX - visit of the Wine Co-operative
ST MEARD de GURSON - visit of the church which has undergone several alterations, has a cruciform plan; the nave consists of two Gothic bays; the portal is sixteenth-century; the transept and polygonal apse are nineteenth-century. A covered, wooden hall is joined onto the church.
Visit to village carsac de gurson,pays of bergerac
CARSAC de GURSON - visit of the 12th century church with a façade heavily influenced by the Saintonge style: the portal has four round archivolts which are supported by pillars with sculptured capitals and it is framed by two blind arches.
VILLEFRANCHE de LONCHAT - visit of the English bastide.
Visit of montpeyroux,picturesque lidoire valley
MONTPEYROUX: Perched on a hilltop, the small village of Montpeyroux, « Monte Perroso » (Pierre’s Mount) reflects the calm of the Dordogne countryside. The commune of Montpeyroux is situated in the picturesque Lidoire valley and was historically and economically important up until the end of the eighteenth century. St Pierre’s Church was built in the twelfth century and is listed as an Historical Monument. The château was bought by Michel de Montaigne for his younger brother who had it rebuilt at the end of the sixteenth century. The tithe barn, dependant on the castellany of Montravel, should also be visited.
Visit of castel st michel de montaigne
ST MICHEL de MONTAIGNE:
Origins: The fourteenth-century château, in which Michel de Montaigne was born and died, was burnt down in 1885. However, the fire spared the « library tower » (listed as an Historical Monument) in which the philosopher had his library and wrote his essays.
What to See: Montaigne’s rooms have not been altered since he lived and worked in them and his bedroom, the chapel dedicated to St Michel and, of course, the famous library whose ceiling is decorated with his reflections, exude his presence.
Visit of montcaret,discovery of gallo-roman sites of south-west
MONTCARET: The eleventh-century Romanesque church of this small village in south-west Dordogne, stands among the remains of a magnificent Gallo-Roman villa. Church and villa are both listed as Historical Monuments.
Archaeological digs have unearthed thermal baths, a mosaic-covered swimming pool and two mosaic-decorated rooms covering more than 400m². The remains date from between the first and fourth centuries AD and form one of the most amazing Gallo-Roman sites of South-West France. The mosaics are open to the public as is a museum which traces the history of the site and of its discovery.
To discovery gardens betray english and florentine influences
VELINES: The gardens were created in the fifties around an eighteenth-century building and betray English and Florentine influences. The gardens are an exquisite mix of foliage, water and architecture and a glorious, sensual riot of colour and scent.
PORT St FOY: River Transport Museum - Established in a former barrel warehouse on the quay, the museum tells the story of the river from prehistoric pirogues to the latest in dredging barges. The visitor will find out about the lives of those who worked on and around the river and the goods they transported, as well as the river faun and flora and the wine that was for so long intimately linked to the river.
Visit of architectural to bergerac
BERGERAC: Bergerac’s heritage has been carefully preserved and all renovation carried out with great attention to architectural style:
In the heart of the old town, in the Peyrarède House, the Museum of Tobacco recounts the social and cultural history of tobacco and of civilisations through the ages.
In a brick and timber frame house on the Place de la Myrpe, the Wine and River Transport Museum retraces the tale of a once-flourishing river trade and Bergerac’s river heritage, and of the evolution of wine and the vineyard.
The heart of the old town is formed around the Place de la Myrpe, bordered with delightful timber frame houses, the Place Pélissière, towered over by St Jacques’ Church - a halt on the St Jacques de Compostelle pilgrimage road -and the Récollects Cloisters, now used by Bergerac’s ‘Maison des Vins’, as a wine showroom.
