Bergerac

The town of Lalinde, near our B&B, was having their market day today.  It’s a food and everything else market, from flowers to shoes, knick knacks, books….almost anything you could need.  We bought cheese and bread for a picnic.

Hope these little guys aren’t for dinner!

We had a little rain shower as we left Lalinde but it cleared up by the time we got to Bergerac.  Bergerac is a fairly large town with a small old quarter in the middle of the bustling downtown.  We found a shady spot on a pleasant square to have our lunch and spent an hour or so wandering the maze of narrow streets.

   

     

I liked the sign for this dance school.

There’s a pretty park, Place de la Myrpe, with a statue of Cyrano de Bergerac.  Our guide book says that the play was inspired by a 17th century philosopher who was not connected to the town of Bergerac but the town “adopted” him anyway and put up the statue.

 

The area around Bergerac is big for wineries.  The Monbazillac Vineyards have restored and refurbishes the Monbazillac Chateau, originally built in 1550.  They also have a wine tasting room on the grounds where we were given samples of their specialty, sweet white wines,   It’s a great castle and they’ve certainly spent a lot on it.  It’s in really good condition.

  

The Grand Salon and the Vicountess’ bedroom.

The Lanquais Chateau is a castle without big money to care for it.  It’s 200 years older than Monbazillac and was added onto in different styles over the years.  It’s seen better days – and worse – those are cannon ball holes in the front wall.  The hexagonal tower was built in the 1300s while the extension was added in the late 1500s.  It was supposed to be even larger with a full extension where the 2 story conservatory type building is now.  There were only a few visitors here. The young ticket seller was the only employee we saw.

   

You can see the different building styles better in this photo – the medieval tower on the left and the Renaissance wing on the right.

 

Don’t tell, a sign said no photos, but this full wall fireplace mantle is so unusual – there were several like this.

  

Lanquais is rather dilapidated but very photogenic!

I didn’t take pictures of our dinner this evening because the dishes didn’t look unusual – until we tasted them.  The flavors were so delicious, just what you expect from French cooking.  The restaurant, Lou Peyrol, in the tiny village of St Marcel du Perigord, was recommended by our B&B hosts.  I had veal slices with a sauce and little morel mushrooms over asparagus.  Will had beef served with a puree of parsnips flavored with white chocolate!  Both meals came with au gratin potatoes in little individual La Crusette pots.  We shared a chocolate mousse/gateau dessert that was lovely but didn’t compare to those potatoes!