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| Sign on the northern shore of the Dordogne River |
... and the myth of Cyrano ...
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| There are at least two statues of Cyrano "de Bergerac" in the town |
Cyrano de Bergerac was a real person - an innovative author and duelist of the 17th century - but maybe not actually from Bergerac. Some of you reading this may remember the terrific 1990 movie where Gerard Depardieu had one of his great roles before becoming so dissolute and self-important. If you haven't seen it you would be hard-pressed not having an enjoyable evening watching it from the comfort of your loungeroom and the facility afforded by one of the many online streaming services.
History of Bergerac
It's been very interesting poking about on the internet to discover a bit more about this town, which is located roughly 100 kilometres directly east from Bordeaux.
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| The location of Bergerac in Medieval Europe |
Apparently, wine-growing in the region date back to the Roman conquest of Gaul and the first grapes were planted in 281 AD. The Battle of Bergerac in 1345 effectively kicked off the Hundred Years War, so the area really is steeped in history. This Dordogne Valley site gives a nice summary of the town's history, economy the importance of the wine industry and the revitalisation of the area in recent times.
There are several churches in the town. The fairly recently constructed (1856-1865) Eglise Notre-Dame is the most imposing ...
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| Eglise Notre-Dame |
... but in my opinion the historic 13th century Eglise Saint-Jacques le Majeur is far more beautiful ...
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| Eglise Saint-Jacques le Majeur |
For me, the two most fascinating aspects of the town's history are the river trade and the grain milling operations.
Traffic up and down the river and in places through canals which bypassed rapids played a massive part in the economic prosperity of the area. This one sits on the riverfront near the major bridge that spans the river at Bergerac ...
This angle gives a better view of the anchor winch and the cargo area ...
We rode past a number of these barges during our rides along the canal, including this one further upstream that seemed a bit larger than the one above ...
All of the barges running up and down the river would have had to been constrained in size to fit into the locks along the canal that bypassed any sections of rapids ...
Bergerac Today
To me, Bergerac has the feel of Delta Dawn, a once gorgeous babe who has seen better days - but in this case with a bit of a face lift, some new clothes and general make-over. The old town has had some serious sprucing up, there are some more modern monuments to go along with the traditional ones and it is billed as a centre for the arts.
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| Artistic sculpture? |
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| First World War memorial |
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| Le Vieux Pont connecting Bergerac and Madelaine |
Apparently, the Dordogne was once very abundant with salmon - which I'm guessing is what this sculpture recognises - and although that is not the case today there are still lots of other species to be caught by recreational anglers ...
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| Sculpture on the roundabout at the entrance to Madelaine |
This is probably the most inviting part of the old town ...
... and here's another of the early buildings, but unfortunately defaced with lurid signs ...
The more "modern" section close to the old quarter has a nice vibe about it ...
But what I found most fascinating - but at the same a bit frustrating is the presence of an old grain mill right near the river. It's a huge building and there is some good interpretation happening outside, but what an amazing attraction it would make if the whole building was restored to what it was like at the height of the milling industry.
Translation:
"Since medieval times Bergerac millers have used locally sourced millstones.
The best stones extracted from Saint-Néxant, Saint-Aubin-de-Lanquais and Saint-Sabine enjoyed a high reputation. The quality of the millstones from the Bergerac region rivaled that produced in the Sarlat area, which was also large, as well as by the famous quarries of La Ferté-sous-Jouarre in Brie.
In the 19th century, exported throughout France, as well as to Belgium, Germany and England, the millstones from Bergerac were particularly appreciated by the large mills for their ability to produce white flour."
I estimate the old grain mill on the bank of the Dordogne here in Bergerac to be about 20 metres tall so he mill workings themselves must have been massive. There are still channels in and out of the building with water running through them. Here's a couple of images (one of which has sadly been defaced showing the structure of the workings inside the mill ...
Exploring the Countryside around Bergerac
Today is our second-last day here in Bergerac before we leave on Thursday morning. We've done a fair bit of exploring around the place on our bikes, and we drove southward today to a trio of places that our friend Alain Gillot (from Tours, with home we rode in Tours in 2018) put us on to. First up, I thought I'd just pile in a bunch of images from the cycling, starting with a heat map showing where we've been on our bikes since arriving in Sarlat and up until the end of the day yesterday:
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| The darker the lines, the more time spent on those roads |
So you could look at all the gorgeous photos below OR you could take a short cut and watch this very short mashup of experiences we had touring around the place on our bikes. I recommend both. 😉
Here is much more, mostly with captions ...
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| Water being pumped from the Dordogne to the now-disused canal running alongside it |
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| Typical architecture in the area and a fairly comfortable home one would imagine |
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| Bike "parked" across from what became our favourite lunch stop in the area |
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| Bridge at Port-de-Couze, where we crossed the Dordogne several times |
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| Chateau de Pile ~ 10 kms east of Bergerac on the south side of the river |
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| Definitely NOT a château but probably worth saving |
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| Avenue of what is - for this area - relatively young plane trees |
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| Looking downstream from the Vieux Pont between Bergerac and Madelaine |
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| We found it hard to stop taking photos of the canal with its many pretty viewpoints |
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| Another "parked" bicycle. The rain gauge on this one shows how much it rained the day before, when we definitely did NOT ride |
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| A damp ride; another bridge across the Dordogne |
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| A village we rode past one morning when the mist was still lifting |
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| Di's photo from a little further back |
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| The sun has been out for a little while but Di is still a bit cool |
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| The "nouveau château" is impressive but I really like the gates: note the horses |
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| Definitely not "nouveau"! You have to wonder what tales this place could tell ... |
I told you that we found it hard to stop taking photos of the canal ...
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| Roadside jewels,I believe aka black currants. Lots growing in places besides fields |
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| Tobacco drying in the sun: ugly product but striking image |
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| It seems that this place has been lovingly looked after for centuries |
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| Two punts in the ... no, not the canal: the RIVER! 😁 |
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| There was something about this photo of Di's that I really liked: the way the steps spill down ...? |
A Change of Pace
A few days ago after Dianne and I had been for a ride and posted some photos on Strava a friend of ours from Tours suggested we visit three historic places all close together and not far from Bergerac. They are Beaumont du Perigord (the oldest English bastide in France!), Monpazier (one the plus beaux villages de France), and Château de Biron - the largest castle in the Nouvelle Aquitane region. We did a bit of a whistlestop tour of the three of them but we do have some nice things to share. Here's where they are in relation to Bergerac and the little loop we drove to visit them:
Beaumont du Perigord is a lovely place, and I've learned something new doing this post: a "bastide" in the way it applies in this case means a medieval fortified town, planned as a whole and built at one time, especially in southern France, for commercial or strategic purposes. This particular bastide was built in 1272, so it has hung in there for quite a while.
There was an open air market happening while we were there and we bought two local cheeses and some very nice vegetables. After our walk around the village we also enjoyed a short stop in the very popular local patisserie for a coffee and nibble. Here are some images from the town:
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| The church from the cemetery nearby |
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| A closer look at the church |
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| One of the beautiful windows inside the church |
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| A gorgeous laneway just inside the town boundary |
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| Broomsticks and baskets |
And something special - a man doing real old-fashioned masonry, up on a scaffold hand-sawing a piece of sandstone to fit in place just right.
Monpazier
This town is yet another bastide, and altogether quite charming. We felt right at ease as soon as we parked and spotted a calm, distinguished looking dog standing atop a stone wall:
We walked along another perimeter laneway and came past this sign:
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| The white and red "X" means the Grand Randonnée that passes the village doesn't go to the gate of Paradise! |
At the western end of the village there was a very grand hotel (parking out the back if you please):
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| Hotel Edward the 1st |
Again there was a central square, but this one was significantly more grand than that of Beaumont du Perigord:
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| Looking out into the square |
... and here's a short video looking right around the square. Note that a number of buildings have a open, covered area at ground level ...
We couldn't believe how quiet both this town and Beaumont were, given their significance. As Di remarked, this seems to be an excellent time to be poking around anywhere other than very famous places like Lascaux and Rocamadour. The highlight of our visit to this old town though was lunch at "Privilege du Perigord" the only restaurant that was open today in Monpazier, and it happened to be a very nice place indeed:
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| That's our table: front and centre! |
Lucky us: we arrived and placed our order just before the place suddenly filled up with mostly French tourists, but at least three other Anglophones. A main course with a glass of local rosé, followed by a delicious dessert ... what more could you want partway through a little driving tour to three historic places?
Château de Biron
This was quite the place to finish our day playing tourist. The largest castle in Nouvelle Aquitane, sitting imposingly at the top of a hill with a commanding view of the surrounding countryside. As you come around a bend in the road, this is what you see:
... and I'll let the rest of the images speak for themselves:
... except this one, which is the fancy work above the entrance to the church ...
Di also shot a video panorama of the countryside surrounding Biron:
As you can see, there's nothing that overlooks the castle!
Moving On
After another day here - hopefully out and about on our bikes - we will start a significant new phase of our sojourn in France. It's back to Toulouse to visit with our friends Michel and Brigitte for a couple of days, then off to Mende via train with our bikes. We'll spend a day there before setting off on a "flashpacking" trip (travelling by bike with just enough stuff to get you from one overnight accommodation stop to the next, to the next, to the next ... and so on).
Our plan is to travel down the River Lot to where it joins the Garonne, and then on to Bordeaux. It's a bit over 500 kilometres. We'll hang out there for a day before our friends Brigitte and Michel join us to ride back to Toulouse. If you would like to see what that journey will look like (but not quite exactly) click here.
By definition, flashpacking won't allow me to carry my laptop with me, so it won't be at least until that trip is over before I'll be making another post ... and it's likely to be even longer, because Di has another plan for after our flashpacking before we return to Australia.
All will be revealed eventually. In the meantime, thanks to all of you for following our adventures so far, and best regards from the two of us.
