Albi

By now we are falling into a pattern on travelling days. Breakfast, pack the car, choose one or two places en-route to visit, depending on the length of the drive, then go for it. Lunch is often a baguette and honey or vegemite (I brought a tube with us) or maybe some nice ham or terrine,  hopefully eaten In a pretty place, but sometimes in a roadside lay-by. Then again, lunch may be a happenstance lovely restaurant under the shade of a linden tree or plane tree.

Today, wild territory to start, with the white cliffs, overgrown huts in the fields, forests, winding roads sometimes going through small tunnels in the rock. We passed St Cirq Lapopie on the other side of the river where we stayed in 2008. So high up!

Interesting roads

St Cirq church from across the Lot

We headed for the Chateau of Cenevieres where it appeared on arrival that it was via tour only, and that tour would be in French. But the guide obligingly went and found another gentleman who said he was the owner, (though we met his very elderly father) who kindly gave us our own private tour in English.

The castle was built and improved over many centuries, with travelling Italian artists playing a large part in its partial conversion to a Renaissance chateau, with a beautiful colonnaded verandah and a terrace overlooking the river. The ceiling of the main room has been revealed again, beautifully painted beams instead of the previous covering of plaster. There is an alchemy room here too, as at Jumillhac, and some ancient paintings are being gradually revealed in this room and the grand salon. Then there are the primitive rock guard rooms and dungeons and the old kitchen as contrast. I could do without the figures set up tableau style in many rooms, but thoroughly enjoyed the visit.

The chateau in part	Renaissance colonnade and windows
The river from the terrace	The extraordinary painted ceiling
Grand salon	The drawings in the Alchemy room

On to Najac, a pretty medieval city with a big fortress at the end, and quite capable of being a film set at any time with half timbered and porch houses down the steeply sloping road. We got to the bottom of the hill but decided against attempting the fortress or the church beyond. Lunch on a deck looking out at the fortress. One of those happenstances!

The perfect medieval village

The porch houses

The castle dominates

Then on to Albi. Coming in was for all the world like driving into an Italian city. The architecture tended to be taller, maybe 4 stories or more, with rosy colours and curved tile roofs. The old bridge spanned the river and there was the massive cathedral like a fortress on the skyline. Many buildings are in brick, including the cathedral. It reminded me of Florence or Urbino. To contrast, we stayed at a rather plebeian Ibis Hotel, but it was reasonably convenient and clean.

Old bridge and cathedral

New bridge, riverside buildings

The main sights of the city are clustered together, the cathedral and the Toulouse Lautrec museum which is in the old episcopal palace. The museum first, though no photos allowed. I really knew little of Toulouse-Lautrec except his posters, so this was quite interesting, from his aristocratic family, his genetic disease that left him stunted (no one is really sure what it was) to his art studies and gradual immersion in the world of art, brothels, theatre and alcohol, dying at 36. He was a prolific artist but did many preparatory drawings, some of which are exhibited. Very worthwhile. We wandered to the back of the building and there found gardens, including a parterre garden beautifully maintained and then looked down on the river. This was part of the Bishop’s Palace.

Internal courtyard, Bishop’s Palace

Dwarfed by the walls

Then to possibly the biggest brick church in Europe, certainly in France. Massive, a fortress for the soul after the Albigensian heresy, plain outside to prove the church was not all about wealth, but then decorated inside. Every wall and ceiling was painted, there were numerous statues of apostles and saints, a choir screen that completely surrounded the choir area of the church with stone Gothic tracery. The interior painting reminded me so much of the interior of Mantova Cathedral, and hey presto! the artists were Italian and completed the work in about three years and it has not needed retouching since. Eat your heart out Michelangelo!

Fortress style	Fortress strength
Window niches all painted differently	The amazing ceiling, unretouched since first painted
The Flamboyant Gothic choir screen and rood	Nave, looking towards new altar

At some stage this church interior was turned around so the altar is now at the other end from the choir, which makes sense as the enclosed choir excluded the public, and fits with Vatican 2. At some other stage much earlier, no one knows when, a decision was made to cut an opening in the biggest painting of the Last Judgement ever known, which was on this wall, under the organ. So now the central Christ in Judgement is missing, but the saved and the damned are still there as a lesson for the faithful. (click to see them bigger

On the other hand the heritage listed and very old St Saveur church and cloister for some reason did nothing for us architecturally or spiritually. I don’t think I even tried to take a picture.
Next stop: Carcassone

Vers

Brantome to Vers was through wild country; many limestone cliffs along the rivers, little fields ploughed in the river flats and forests looming; the wonderful Dordogne houses in yellow and pink rock with the brown lauze (flat rock) roofs or the slate tiles. The houses are no longer the cream and white plaster and stone nestled together against the winds of the coast but solid stone places, often covered with roses or vines and with that typical sloped roof with the flip at the eaves that characterises Dordogne homes. In addition they are spaced apart, maybe with surrounding farm buildings, some in ruins. In the villages the poorer housing can form rather grim rows as you approach. This is tough country with solid houses.

Solid houses with lauze roofs

So a chateau was required. I had read of Marqueyssac but we had missed it last trip. This time we got there: among the fighting chateaus of Beynac and Castlenaud, and above the fertile river flats, was a little gem of a place which had begun the rejuvenation of its gardens in 1996. Not flowers, but woods and trees and some statuary and walls and views over the aforementioned castles, and, above all, trimmed box plants. Oh my! This place is magic in green!
Clustered near the chateau, pretty in white stone and lauze roofs, including fairytale conical ones, the box gardens are a wave of precise shapes flowing one into the other, or trimmed to cubes or spirals or spheres. There are wandering paths for miles if you can manage (we could not manage the higher paths) ending almost above Le Roque Gageac on the Dromme. You are allowed some small inroads to the chateau itself, but only a spiral stair and a room or two, then out on the terrace with the peacocks and into the garden.

Chateau entrance	Apricot climbing roses fade to white
Balls on sticks	One path to the chateau
The yuccas between hedges	Path to the chapel

If you can, go! It is not well signposted almost until the turn, and that not far before La Roque Gageac. There is excellent parking and picnic facilities before you enter, including undercover ones. There is also a useful gift shop with all manner of things for gardens and more.

We drove on, after a short picnic, to La Roque Gageac. I understand one can canoe and take a large boat for a pleasant sail, but apart from that I found this to be just a strip of tourist shops and hotels along a fairly busy road. Pretty in that pink rock and lauze roof way, but I am not sure what I would do there for any length of time. It may be fine as a base for a few days I suppose, or for camping with the river and fishing and long walks, but definitely not for us, who like to see and do things we can’t do back in Australia, but don’t do camping and fishing and long walks any more.

 

Houses along the waterfront

Building into the rock

And so, along the river to Vers. This seemed a tiny place with nothing much to see, but we wanted to visit nearby Cahors, and this looked like a reasonable base at a reasonable price. But I will admit to some misgivings, as La Truite Doree seemed to be the only place in town so we would need to eat there morning and evening. And mostly, for visitors, La Truite Doree is Vers, apart from a nearby camping ground on the river. The food at the restaurant was excellent, the situation around the pool or on one of several terraces or in one of two dining rooms provided great choice, the menus and cartes were well chosen and the food well cooked. Our fear for Vers were groundless. And our particular room had level access from nearby parking. http://www.latruitedoree.fr/

Cahors was on the agenda, for its “most photographed bridge in France” claim and for a strange cathedral with “the biggest domes in France”. The cathedral is unusual with two domes along the nave, some very old, faint frescoes across the back of the church and some interesting new stained glass which combines old images, photographs and local pictures to illustrate messages from the gospel. I couldn’t catch them very well, only a rose window, but I liked them very much.

Cahors cathedral	Cloister door	Cloister and domes
Older glass	Cloister	New rose window

Across town which has some very old sections, to the Valentre bridge, fortified with towers and with mighty piers below. It is very lovely and I can understand the “most photographed” tag though I don’t know how they count. Trouble is. it is too big to capture in one photo from anywhere close.

The panorama chopped the top off the tower

Looking across the bridge

Stairs to the tower

The fortified towers

 

Too big for one photo

Again, lunch in a pretty restaurant across the street from the bridge. This is getting to be a very addictive habit. Home to Vers, with a stop in the churchyard of Notre dame de Velles  and a walk by the rivulet as it joins the river Lot, all peaceful and reflecting. A very nice place to stay.

Notre Dame de Velles	Old house near the river, multiple parts of multiple ages
The cascade behind our room	The Lot River reflecting

Next stop: Albi

Brantome

On our way from Rochefort we went via Fontdouce Abbey, now in private hands and being restored with assistance from various bodies. The work is enormous and precious. So this abandoned abbey that had been used for storage and had silted up in parts due to the stream flowing through it, is being brought back to its beauty. The lower chapel and the exquisite Chapter House are just lovely and the garden has been planted with roses and the stream directed through proper channels.

We intended to see Chateau de la Rochefoucauld, the most fairytale of castles, but we sort of got sidetracked by a red awning under a large plane tree and people enjoying Sunday lunch. So we had to taste the Limousin beef served by Chez Steph. Very good indeed, even if it was “bleu” rather than “saignant”.

Nick at Chez Steph

After that the chateau. It is very lovely and I now understand quite intact rather than fancifully rebuilt, but the entrance fee was more than we cared to pay, so we took some pictures from outside. I suspect we made a mistake!

Chateau de la Rochefoucauld

Brantome is as we remembered, except the weather on arrival was nicer than before. We had worried about accommodation in this town and chose an inexpensive place, Hotel Coligny. But it was a great spot, right on the river, first floor with tiny balcony and a revamped bathroom, plus a lift. Yay! No stairs. A little noisy the first night, a Sunday, but then excellent. http://www.hotel-coligny.fr/

Brantome Abbey	Bridge and weir and tourist boat
A water gate to the river	View from a restaurant, first night
Dordogne River	Evening view

Great news the next morning; a new grandson born in Sydney, so much rejoicing. Welcome to the world little Jackson.

Off to Aubeterre for the underground church, companion to the one at St Emillion. Massive, and only a portion of what it once was, some having collapsed. On the way and in the village, beautiful foliage, roses everywhere, though the landscape is wilder and more forrested.

Roses in profusion

Lovely alleys of trees

Interior and stone reliquary for soil from Golgotha

The higher levels where excavation started

Around the village we also saw the local church which has a Romanesque facade as the only surviving part of the original church, but still a lovely old interior. And a second-hand shop seemed to have the world’s collection of old tea towels and serviettes and some very old wines. It was a bit as if he had found a stash in grandma’s attic and grandpa’s cellar.

Streetscape, Aubeterre

A few old wines

Walking back through the town square, under the linden trees, we were again sidetracked by tables set out and a menu from which we could order a few light things, like terrine and a salmon salad. So it was, and it was good! I could get very used to this.

Lunch again

Coming home we stopped at St Jean Baptiste de Drome, a tiny place with a Romanesque portal and a sweet apse for the altar, and lit rather incongruously by chandeliers.

The next day we chose Chateau de Jumillhac, a huge pile we had tried to visit once before. In luck this time, the gentleman taking the entrance fee was also prepared to show us and two others around in English, so we got a detailed history of the family and a personal tour through some very grand rooms. In the last one it was apparent from a photo on the mantlepiece that our gentleman was also the owner. No internal photos allowed as people have used them in the past to steal some of his older furniture and paintings.

Panorama of the forecourt at Jumillhac

 

The chateau

The rear gardens

A fine dinner at a local restaurant, Charbonnel, completed the stay.
Tomorrow: Vers