South of France

A few years ago, the village of issigeac was not very well known, and even now it lies some way off the ‘tourist trail’ in the Dordogne department.

Although it is in the Dordogne, Issigeac is about 25km south of the river, and the ‘big sites’ such as Sarlat and Domme, and a little further from the Vezere Valley.

Hence, the sheer weight of well known attractions - castles, villages and prehistoric sites - to the north means that people don’t often venture south to see Issigeac.

As a result Issigeac has no particular tourist shops, the streets aren’t lined with ice cream vendors and postcards for sale, and all is quiet. This changes on a Sunday morning in the summer when the Issigeac market springs into life and the town centre is buzzing, but for much of the time the town is very calm.

But it is perhaps surprising how little impact tourism has had on the town. Although small, it has an extremely well preserved medieval centre with streets lined with ancient half-timbered houses and numerous small decorative features. Dating from the 14th-16th centuries, some of the houses have been renovated in recent years - but not all, and Issigeac has not yet lost the authenticity that makes it so special…and so unusual!

It will only take you an hour or two to explore the narrow streets, and perhaps an other hour to pass in one of the bars in Issigeac. One of them is startlingly like a trendy recreation of an ancient bar - creaking floorboards, wine barrels all around, wooden furniture etc - except of course it isn’t a ‘period recreation’ it simply has not been modernised for many decades!

If you are coming to the Dordogne or Lot-et-Garonne regions a visit to Issigeac is highly recommended.

On a recent trip across southern France I at last give into temptation and stopped off at Cassis, south-east of Marseille, so that I could take a boat trip along the calanques.

The coast in this part of France consists of high craggy cliffs that plunge into the turquoise sea below, with occsional inlets where boats can enter to be surrounded by this dramatic landscape - these inlets are known as the Marseille calanques.

Some of the calanques even have small beaches at the head of the inlet, which makes a perfect beach setting and backdrop.

There are two ways to admire these calanques - by footpath along the coast, or by boat-trip departing from Cassis. Both are very worthwhile, since this is some of the most beautiful coastline to be found in France.

Although the schedule advertises that the boat visits up to eight of the calanques (pay more, see more) some are much more impressive than others - there are perhaps four or five that are spectacular.

Pay attention, it is the view out to see from inside the calanques that is the most impressive - don’t be distracted into staring too much in an inland direction and miss out on a great part of the attraction!

Boats don’t need to be booked in advance (indeed, can’t be booked in advance) just turn up and pay and get on the boat. The trips take an hour or so. See more details of boat trips prices and destinations at Marseille Calanques. Don’t forget your camera!

If you have a short while to wait take a walk around the harbour at Cassis - small but very pretty. To relax after the trip take a look at the beach - Cassis beach is right next to the harbour and also in a very scenic ‘cliff-backed’ setting.