Issigeac

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.