There are plenty of reasons to visit La Couvertoirade – its rich history with the Templars and the Hospitallers, its status as one of France’s “most beautiful villages”, and its distinctive medieval architecture. But one other thing about the place caught my attention, too… I’m not an engineer myself, but the best years of my professional life were those I spent working alongside some of the finest engineers to be found in French and American industry. I like to think that their approach to the world – heavy on data and analytical problem-solving – rubbed off on me in some ways. In any event, working with them gave me a deep and enduring respect for how people have analyzed and […]
An ancient, dark landmark dominates the skyline of Clermont-Ferrand
Widely known as “the Black Cathedral” in Clermont-Ferrand, the Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption has a distinctive appearance and a rich history that are unique in France. I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to write about a landmark that is prominent in all my memories of life in the deep heart of France: the Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption, perched atop a steep volcanic butte in the medieval center of Clermont-Ferrand. That city will always be my home away from home when I’m in France, and I’ve written often about why Clermont is one of the best places to live in France, and about why we love the town so much. I’ve written about that one forgotten day when Clermont was the capital of France, […]
I only understood later how extraordinary my visit to Lavoute-Polignac had been
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
Capendac is officially “one of the most beautiful villages in France”
Capendac is a medieval fortress and a survivor of centuries of war, surrounded by spectacular views of the Lot River valley. One of the local tourism sites calls it “a slender village on a meander of the Lot”, but as I walk through the Roman and medieval sites of Capendac-la-Haut other words come to mind: “steep”, “ancient”, “calm”, and…did I mention “steep”? But no matter which adjectives you apply, they all connect somehow to the 30 criteria required to join the elite association of “The Most Beautiful Villages in France” – that’s why this little town was accepted as a member in 2010.
Discover Figeac – a window into the 12th century in the deep heart of France
Figeac is a well-restored medieval village southern France – still vibrant in the 21st century, and one of the “most beautiful detours”” in the country! I know it’s neither cool nor politically correct to say you’ve “discovered” a place that has existed for 1,500 years and that has its full share of visitors wandering through the streets on any given summer day.
Visit Montsalvy – an ancient “Sanctuary City” in the Deep Heart of France
Montsalvy was created a thousand years ago to be a “place of refuge” in the Cantal wilderness, deep in the heart of France – but the logic behind that choice might surprise you! The concept of a “sanctuary city” is often in the U.S. news these last few years, and it usually evokes a particular response depending on which side of our political divide you sit. (And if you’re not American, I’d be interested in hearing from you in the comments about what the idea means to you!) On this side of the Atlantic, the phrase has only been in broad use since about 1980, when it came to describe a state or local government that declines to share information […]
Lupin is back for Season 3 – does it have roots in the deep heart of France’s Auvergne?
Karen and I loved every episode of the first 2 seasons of Lupin, the French series that jumped to the top of the Netflix charts around the world. Now it’s back for a third season, with another great “heist” story – but it’s really the character of Arsanne Diop (the modern-day incarnation of Lupin) that makes the series worth watching. He’s a “gentleman thief”, a Robin-Hood hero who operates outside the law but is driven by a bigger sense of justice and “doing the right thing”. (Think The Equalizer but with elegance and a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor.) The series also makes for an excellent opportunity to practice your French, if you’re inclined that way; you can watch it dubbed […]
Visit Puymartin – the castle haunted by the White Lady
To be clear: I don’t believe in ghosts, I don’t care much for ghost stories, and I’ve never written about one for this blog. Still, if any of the places I’ve visited in the deep heart of France ever had a legitimate claim to harboring a ghost, it must surely be the lovely Chateau du Puymartin in the Périgord Noir, only 6 km (3.6 miles) from Sarlat-la-Canéda. Karen and I spent a pleasant morning there in June, and even though the site exploits the incredible story of “the White Lady” to the max, the castle is an interesting and rewarding place to visit for plenty of other reasons. As with so many of the fortified châteaux in this part of […]
An afternoon in the classical gardens at Eyrignac
The calendar says Spring should be here already…but today is another in a recent string of wet, chilly days and I’m tired of it! I really meant to write a new post about one of my favorite towns in the Corrèze (and I still will!), but today I’m feeling like recalling something more appropriate to the season – the memorable Spring day when I visited the Gardens of Eyrignac… We’re in the Périgord Noir region of the Dordogne – only 20 minutes northeast of the great medieval market town of Sarlat-la-Canéda. Eyrignac is just one place to visit in this concentrated area where you’ll find some of the best places for tourism anywhere in western Europe. I’ve […]
At Vulcania, take a journey deep into the heart of the volcanoes of central France
You can’t talk about the deep heart of France without mentioning its volcanoes. They’ve made frequent appearances in this blog, in stories about Blaise Pascal’s groundbreaking experiments on barometric pressure done at the top of the Puy de Dome, the grinding challenge of the mountain stages of the Tour de France, or the medieval lava quarries at Volvic that gave so many landmark buildings in this region their characteristic gray-black color. The volcanoes dominate the skyline behind the Auvergne’s largest cities, and even though they are all dormant (for now) their superheated internal plumbing feeds the hot springs that have brought tourists here since the first humans inhabited the area.
The Manoir de Veygoux: Humble beginnings for one of Napoleon’s greatest generals
If you’ve followed this blog, you know I have a longstanding fascination with people who come from difficult beginnings in remote parts of the country and somehow forge a national reputation and a lasting place in history. It’s not that I follow the “great man” school of historic thought – I don’t! – but many of these people just have personal stories that are so compelling they are worth knowing about. Joan of Arc is certainly a prominent example in French history; in this space, I’ve written about Lafayette (hero of both the American and French Revolutions), about Pope Clement VI (a monk from the remote abbey at La Chaise-Dieu), and about the Count of Montmorin (Louix XVI’s “right-hand man”), […]
