The Chateau de Lavoute-Polignac may not be an « essential » stop for tourists, but my visit there last summer was packed with interesting surprises. What I value most in my travels around France are the experiences, sometimes surprising, sometimes peculiar, sometimes intensely pleasurable, that remind us there’s more to traveling than getting a generic selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower with thousands of other tourists. In his remarkable book, Rediscovering Travel: A Guide for the Globally Curious, Seth Kugel talks about why getting away from the beaten path can be more rewarding than visiting well-known monuments.  And he focuses on how the people you encounter can turn a normal tourist experience into a richer, more memorable experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3MlUr0LV40