Yar, this here be the city gates. A castle was established here in the late 12th century by Phillip the Bold, the Roi of France, they then "encouraged" the locals to settle on top of this hill to make it a proper village. Im not sure if encouraged means (a) threatened by sword point (b) incentive by way of goats OR an alternative (c) Get out of Jail (Hell) card. Anyways, in 1307 a few Templar Knights were stuck here until the culmination of their persecution (the other, more fearful, "-tion" word, execution) and in the process they inscribed crosses and holy maps all over their jail cells. Locals call it graffiti, but maybe this kind of cheapens the last days of these knight, just a thought. I feel that there is not a subtle difference between me tagging my name on a highway pass for props from my buddies compared to painfully inscribing holy writ onto stone walls in light of most certain impending doom.
This photo has a very expensive looking car in it, which is on purpose. Just as I was walking up to gates, on a beautiful sunny afternoon, around 18 degress in the warming rays, an entourage of ridiculously expensive cars flew by. One by one, BMW's, Audi's, and bunches of other convertibles and sports cars flew by - the rich coming to their quaint provincial cottages in their pretty medieval town. Its really sad that this town is almost dead until summer, other than a cafe, a restaurant, a tabac, a boulangerie, and a small market that runs every thursday, this town is almost ghost like right now. The gorgeous stone homes that compose this village are mostly owned by the rich, and many of them English.
Domme is now considered a plus beau village, from which you get a sweeping view of the Dordogne valley, which is also famous for its many caves. The caves contribute to it as one of the first, and most prestigious, caveman cultural centres of pre-history, Lascaux is in the Dordogne along with many other lesser known painted caves. The immediate area around Domme is also blessed with Castles, and a great number of other plus beau villages, a coveted designation among tourist frenzied France. The Dordogne, or Perigold, is also the place of truffles, foie gras, wine (from Cahors and Bergerac), it is a lush and fertile lowland country.
This is the market at Sarlat-la-Caneda. But, wait a second (thinks the reader) this just looks like some dingy old church. Well, it ends up that this IS an old dingy church, but it has been converted into the most beautiful place to sell truffles, sausages, wine, and fine nuts. They took out a wall and inserted a 50 foot high metal door, to allow this church-market to become completely open air. Architecturally speaking it is a funny mix of both gothic and romanesque - having both roman and gothic arches. The gargoyles/grotesques on this church were few, but very well done and very large in size. Otherwise it had simple rib vaulting, few adornments, and the stained glass rose window has been exchanged (or not restored accurately) for a massive circular clear glass pane. A very clean and simple looking church that really screams out its structural features. This city has incredible windy little medieval streets, and is one of the best examples of the medieval town in France.
Because I'm such a hard working tourist sometimes I get really sleepy. So I usually just find closest dry stone cabanne or borie to fall asleep in. This one was about 4 kilometres into the woods off of a hiking path.
I recently visited Marqueyssac, a phenomenal garden, it REALLY blew me away. My next post will wax about its virtues, but in the mean time I include this photo to induce architectural salivation. Im swallowing spittle just seeing this little photo. This borie is named cabanne de cloche, or the bell hut. The name is self evident, it was restored just over a decade ago now, but it was included in the original plans of this garden's RE-designer in the 19th century. It's all stone, no mortar, roof included, fantastic construction.
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