We visited several hilltop villages in southern France called bastides. The peasants could retreat behind their walls when under attack during the Hundred Years’ War. The walls have crumbled, but the towns have survived.
Accessing these towns is not easy for modern tourists, even though nobody’s pouring boiling oil on you from the ramparts. The roads up to them are narrow and don’t accommodate small cars well, let alone tour buses. Our map app sent us on wild routes through countryside and tiny villages. The destinations, fortunately, are well worth the hassles.
The first bastide we visited was Domme (pronounced dumb). This is an adorable town that overlooks the Dordogne. Our hotel, L’Esplanade, was near the church and town square. The specialties of the region are foie gras, truffles, strawberries, and walnuts. We had dinner at the hotel, which was superb. Julian had the foie gras, while I had shrimp. The walnut bread served on the side was wonderful, a pain de campagne (country bread) rather than a heavy non-yeasted loaf. We had breakfast at a little pâtisserie in town that served interesting jams with the croissants and breads–rhubarb and peach-walnut.
The Hotel Esplanade in Domme.
We stopped at two other bastides on the way to our next hotel in St Cirq-Lapopie. The towns of La Roque-Gageac and Beynac are right on the Dordogne, but the chateaus and ramparts are on cliffs above the river. The views were spectacular. Parts of Beynac are excavated into the cliffs, and those areas are currently being reinforced using more modern construction techniques.
Beynac.
St. Cirq-Lapopie is another clifftop town with stellar views and amazing medieval architecture. Its patron saint is the youngest person canonized in the early Christian era–at age three years, according to the church literature. To get to this town, the map app directed us over a one-lane bridge that barely accommodated our rental Peugeot. (Needless to say, the tour buses take an alternate route up the hill.) The town suddenly got very crowded about 10 am with French, German, and British tourists. There are only 18 hotel rooms and a few rental apartments in St. Cirq-Lapopie, so the bus tourists have to stay elsewhere. As a result, the town gets quiet around 6 pm. On our last night we had the terrace of a restaurant to ourselves and had a splendid meal. Julian found this the most interesting village to photograph.
St. Cirq-Lapopie
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