Tomorrow morning I leave the charming and historical town of Sarlat-la-Canéda with its wonderful 15th and 16th century houses and take the early bus north-west to Périgueux, the heart of Périgord Vert.
As it was a warm day I decided to take a stroll along the shaded banks of Pèrigueux's river, the Isle, which itself is a tributary of the mighty Dordogne. On the outskirts of Périgueux, as I was about to descend to the river, I came across quite a remarkable construction, a medieval outpost. This imposing wooden edifice was called the "Eschif de Creyssac" and was built in 1347. Before Pèrigueux became a modern town it was known as the village of Puy-Sainte-Front, named after the usual suspect. Puy means a volcanic hill and this outpost straddled its fortifications and served as a look-out post between the village and the river. From the riverside one also has a splendid visage of the domes and cones of the Byzantine Cathédrale-Ste-Front.
Agen on the banks of the mighty Garonne, which flows through South-West France and Northern Spain before finally debouching into the Atlantic Ocean at Bordeaux, is another charming town with old lanes and handsome wooden and brick houses. My first stop on my morning walk was the composite Romanesque and Gothic Cathédrale Saint-Caprais with its gorgeous water-coloured frescoes on the domed ceiling above the Altar and Choeur. I next headed to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, magnificently housed in four adjacent 16th and 17th century Renaissance mansions with its huge variety of archeological exhibits dating back to Roman times such this 2nd century AD head of a consul and a wonderful Art collection of painters such as Goya and Tintoretto. The town is famous throughout the world for its Pruneaux d'Agen (dried prunes) with their exotic flavours such as Armagnac, introduced by Benedictine monks, and I made sure to sample them. Tomorrow I continue west to Marmande.
I commenced my walk this moning at the gorgeous Porte Cailhau. This 35 metre high monument dates back to 1494 and was built to commemorate the victory over the kingdom of Naples by Charles V11. From its summit one gets a panoramic view of the River Garrone. Next I went to the Musée des Beaux-Arts to view their priceess collection of paintings and sculptures with artists such as Matisse, Renoir and Picasso. Here is a glimpse of what the port of Bordeaux looked like in 1804. I finished up at the Palais Gallien, a Roman amphitheatre dating back to the 2nd century AD where up to 25,000 spectators watched gladiator contests.
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