Sunday morning after a French B&B breakfast with croissants, bread, jam, cheeses, everything we hit the road at maybe 10 am and drove through the French country side on our way to our first stop. Well, actually, we took a little break after crossing this beautiful bridge over the river Vezere with our car, one lane only traffic!
We walked back and took a few pictures of the bridge and the river. The algae swaying in the river current made the most beautiful pattern and people were paddling down-river. The last picture shows the little village we had dinner in the night before, Saint-Leon-sur-Vezere. Here are the previous posts of this journey.
France Trip 2023 | Bordeaux
France Trip 2023 | Wine & Oysters
Blaye Citadel | France 2023
BTW don't forget that you can click on the photos to see them larger
La Roque Saint-Christophe
It is a troglodyte site that had been populated for hundreds (maybe thousands?) of years. Today it is has been transformed into a museum dedicated to the lives of the medieval cliff-dwellers who carved out their habitat from the 300 m tall limestone wall.
On the left is a little display of how the site could have looked like in the middle ages.
The pictures above and below also show you how far up from ground or river level these people lived in the rock. Imagine having to climb up and bring everything you need up there.
They built a pulley system with a winch to bring heavy loads from their river harbor up to their living quarters. On display are a kitchen, a forge, armory, Neanderthals fighting and, of course, remnants of a church. But it is just so very cool to walk those stone stairs and narrow paths high, very high, above the river and overlooking the countryside. People lived here and fought to survive and live.
If you know me just a little bit you can imagine that I took a ton of photos here. And a selection of them will follow below. So start scrolling - just not too fast!
This here was the only entrance reachable by foot, everything else had to be pulled up with the winch. Not hard to imagine how this location could be easily defended.
And everything had to be carved out of the stone. Granted, it is so called soft limestone, however, it is still rock and the tools we have today... I don't think I have to elaborate any further.
Pictured below even an (pizza - LOL) oven and a cabinet in the rock.
Look at tunnel and the views from the terrace spaces hewn into the rock...
On the last photo above you can see the winch and pulley hanging out from over the cliff. About 200 m (?) below is the river Vezere and they used to have a harbor there.
Looking at the next photo you can see how soft and somewhat porous the stone is. In that rock, including the ceiling are tons of birds, swallows or swifts - I don't know. They are constantly flying in and out feeding their offspring. Below I got a shot of one of the young in its nest (heavily cropped).
And now a few pictures of several of the displays at their original places
- kitchen area
- winch / lift
- forge
- armory
And, on the last picture, look at those narrow stairs in the rock!
And to finish off La Roque St. Christophe a final view from the terrace - one up and one down:
Climbing, hiking around this rock took us quite a while and we weren't rushed but wanted to take in everything. So we took our time. Did I mention it was hot? It was hot. Such nice weather though.
From Rock St. Christophe it was only a brief drive on country roads to our next stop:
La Maison Forte de Reignac
A similar but quite different site. Similar because it is also built into the limestone rock. But it isn't quite as old, well, at least what can be seen here today. Everything is from the 14th and later as you can tell from the interior furnishings.
There are soooo many stairs that you have to constantly climb up or down - wow - you'd have no chance but had to stay fit if you lived here. Imagining a broken or otherwise injured leg - no bueno.
I just couldn't help myself but had to take a few snaps of the period dresses - inspiration for drawing.
But also, look closely at the cabinet they're hanging on. Behind that door on the small side of the cabinet are a bunch of rifles and guns. Right in your bedroom!
And see on top of the bed post? That's a pistol. A trap to whoever opens that door... Good times!!
But then on the other hand, you had these beautiful views over the Perigord.
Beautiful! And beautiful memories were made by us. This is it for this episode of our 2023 France trip. Till next time!
Have a great rest of your day!
Cheers,
(Ocean)Bee
