This impressive series of buildings was built in the 14th century, after Rome became too violent for Pope Clement V and he, along with successive popes, set up home in Avignon instead. The Pope’s palace in Avignon continued to be home to the popes until 1377, and following a later split in the Catholic church it then became home to a faction known as the ‘antipopes’.
Archive for May, 2008
May 2008, and a few days of exceptionally heavy rain led to a great deal of flooding and damage in the Dordogne and surrounding areas. The picture shows the road, with the tops of fence posts just visible. Luckily the poor weather tends to pass quickly, but this type of flooding can occur at any time of the year (this years was the worst for 20 years) disrupting traffic and isolating towns and villages for a day or two.
OK you’ve decided on a location in France for your trip, now you need to choose somewhere where you can stay. We’ll leave the possibility of a holiday-rental for another day and just look at hotels. As with hotels everywhere, the price varies considerably according to the location, the season, and the quality of the hotel. It is usually possible to find a hotel room for less than 50 euros a night, but it might be a bit rough around [...]
Imagine you have a week in the south of France and want to see everything. Not easy – you could spend three months travelling across the region and there would still be lots of things you missed. However, we will imagine you are landing at Bordeaux airport and plan to travel from west to east in a suitably fast car and go home with great memories of your visit. Where to start? Day 1 Saint Emilion Head east from Bordeaux [...]
Conques is a very attractive village in the Aveyron department, with a renowned pilgrimage abbey and a main street lined with beautiful houses, all in a picture postcard setting in a wooded valley. So why does this photo of Conques show none of that? This house caught my eye because of the balustrades that form part of the external wall of this house – they seem to be actually built into the wall, rather than a vestige left over from [...]
We arrived in Puy l’Eveque around 10am in the morning. Good sign – it was a lovely warm spring day. Bad sign – couldn’t find anywhere to park, perhaps because it was market day. It took a few minutes to find that there is plenty of parking at the west edge of the town, very little if you approach from the east. It also turned out that the town looks very attractive if you approach from the east (Cahors side) [...]
Vacations in the south of France mean different things to different people. Coastal vacations in the south of France Some people think first of the coast of France when planning their visit. And for good reason – the coast and beaches in the south of France offer a wide range of possibilities! For some the perfect visit will include a week surfing in the fine waves of the Atlantic Coast around Biarritz, the capital of surfing in Europe. Others will [...]
The current fascination that people have with the cathar castles is perhaps because of the simple pure life that the cathars pursued; or perhaps because of the terrible persecution the cathars suffered at the hands of the Albigensian Inquisition. Equally, whispered suggestions that there might be a connection between the cathars, their castles, and the hiding place of the Holy Grail have done little to dispel interest. The book ‘The Da Vinci code’ has doubtless played a role. Of course, [...]
Less well known than the Dordogne to the north, the Lot et Garonne department contains some hidden treasures in the form of the medieval bastide towns that dot the region. Head south from Lalinde or south-east from Bergerac and you will enter the quiet countryside that typifies the region. Agriculture and small scale farming are the main business here with fruit, sunflowers and maize being among the main crops grown. The fruit includes many plum orchards that produce the fruit [...]
