After checking into our hotel (Appart hotel – a very good value for money chain of apartment hotels), we headed out to explore the town centre. Montpellier is the capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, and one of the biggest cities in the south of France. We started off our exploration at the focal point of the town centre, Place de la Comédie, a lively square which seems to be a popular meeting place for the locals. From there we headed into the cozy, pedestrian old town. It’s a very lively place, with loads of bars & restaurants. In general, we really liked the young vibe of the city (when you’re living on the Cote d’Azur, you sometimes forget it’s not normal for half of the population of a town to be made up of retired people ;-). In fact Montpellier is one of the main student towns in France – it has one of the oldest universities in the world (it was founded in 1160). Anyway, after a very enjoyable and reasonably priced dinner at a charming, lively, little square, we headed back to the hotel. Lots of driving ahead of us the next day...
We got up bright ‘n early, and hit the road after a quick breakfast at the room. Our first stop for the day was Carcassonne. Carcassonne is probably the most famous medieval, fortified town in France. The city became famous during the 13th century, when it was the capital of the cathars (the cathars had a particularly grim form of belief – which held that the physical world is basically evil - and that man must transcend the physical world, therefore denouncing all earthly pleasures etc. Or something like that. Pretty grim stuff, all in all.). Anyway, it’s true that Carcassonne is very impressive indeed from the outside, surrounded by its might city walls and turrets. The inside is another matter – with streets lined up with tacky tourist shops and restaurants lining up the streets. A real pity – for me it ruins the atmosphere and authenticity of the place... After visiting the impressive castle and cathedral, we carried on. It wouldn’t be fair to say Carcassonne isn’t worth visiting – for sure it’s very impressive and also occupies a central place in a rather dark but interesting period of French history, but I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed by the Cite.
Our next main destination was Toulouse. Instead of carrying on along the motorway, we followed the advice of a friendly lady at the tourist office and took the departmental road north of Carcassonne, which snakes through the black mountains and the Lauragais plane towards Toulouse. Our first stop on the picturesque route was Montolieu, a pretty village just a few km north of Carcassonne. It’s known as the “book village” due to the numerous book shops in the village (we spotted at least 10 during our quick walk around town). We then carried on, stopping at Saissac next. Saissac is famous mostly for its impressively located castle, strategically located at the entrance of the black mountains. The castle was also historically an important cathar stronghold. We didn’t have time to visit the castle – so swiftly carried on to the next village – Saint-Felix-Lauragais. After a pleasant walk around the picturesque village, which also affords great views over the surrounding plains, we once more jumped into the car and carried on. 
We finally arrived in Toulouse in the late afternoon, and even managed to park eventually in spite of some chaos in the town centre due to some demonstrations. The main reason for us stopping in Toulouse was of course to say “coucou” to Philippe and Aniko, who live there, conveniently next to the main square. Great to see them again! Having caught up with the latest news ‘n gossip (the grist of which was that they are planning to move up to Paris), we hit town for dinner. We ended up in a great little place in the town centre, serving up local specialties along with great wine. Just my kind of place. After the filling dinner (the local cuisine of the area is not what I would call light), we headed down the local pub (George & the Dragon) where Philippe apparently shows off at the pub quiz every week, for a couple of pints. Almost reminded me of old blighty :-) We then headed back to the flat, where we watched a couple of episodes of Dexter (first time for us – and yes I can see myself becoming an addict...) before hitting the sack. Once more our well-intended plans to paint the town red came to nothing (we must be getting old or something?). 
On Sunday, our trip carried on north, towards Limoges (which was where we were planning to spend the night). We left the motorway after a couple hours of driving to explore the Quercy and Perigord for a bit. Quercy and Perigord is probably fit most peoples’ image of what the French countryside should be like. Gentle rivers (like the Dordogne, which crosses the Perigord), pretty villages with stone houses, gentle rolling hills, great food, wine... In short, just the sort of place I like :-) The first village we stopped in (the name of which escapes me...) was pretty much picture-perfect, with it’s stone church, pretty little farms, and the little Citroen 2CV parked in the middle of the village. It was almost too much ;-). The next stop was at Gourdon (not to be confused with the Gourdon on the Cote d’Azur, which is also a very pretty village), an impressive hilltop town. We spent an hour or so wandering around its pedestrian streets, enjoying the views over town and the Quercy plains from the hilltop at the site of the ruined castle or Gourdon, and visiting the impressive Romanesque Église Saint-Pierre.
From Gourdon we carried on into Sarlat, which is the main town of the Black Perigord region (Perigord is divided into 4 parts). Here’s a useless fact for the pub quizzes: Sarlat apparently has the highest density of historically classed monuments of any town in the world. Not sure whether that is true or not, but Sarlat is for sure one of the prettiest towns I’ve visited in France, a real gem. It’s a bit what Carcassonne could be if they got rid of some of those tacky tourist shops. OK, to be fair, Sarlat is touristy as well, for sure, but it’s been handled with a lot of taste... We also had what one could consider a “very solid lunch” here (let’s just say that Perigord cuisine is not for those who are on a diet – some of the specialities include foie gras, magret de Canard, cassoulet...).
Most impressed with Sarlat, we nonetheless pushed on, since we wanted to see a bit more of Perigord before pushing on to Limoges. Our next stop was Beynac-et-Cazenac, yet another “too pretty to be true” village. Beynac is basically built on the slope of a hill next to the Dordogne river, with a castle built on the summit of the hill. So it all looks very dramatic. The hike up through the postcardesque (??) village was rather sporty (which was a good thing, considering the rather heavy lunch we were digesting….), but well worth it for the views over the river and a close-up peak of the imposing castle (which we unfortunately didn’t have time to visit). Our next stop was at the equally pretty La Roque-Gageac, also built by the riverbank, the village “climbing” up the slopes of the nearby hill. We also managed to pay a visit to Domme – which is apparently a typical Perigord “bastide” type village (whatever that means). Anyway, we were less impressed by Domme than by the previous 2 villages, pretty though it was, but took the opportunity to shop some local specialities (not truffles though – which are the most famous Perigord speciality – a wee bit too expensive for us...). Well, we were running out of daylight, so decided it was time to push on to Limoges. All in all, Perigord was a real discovery for us, I think we might come back one day for a longer visit...
An hour and a half later, we arrived in Limoges, and quickly checked in, eager to have a chance to quickly visit the city while we still had some daylight. Limoges is the capital of the Limousin region, located on the Vienne river, and famous for the porcelain produced here. It’s not a particularly touristy town, but seemed a pleasant enough town, based on our quick exploration of the town centre. There is the Chateau quarter, with it’s pretty half-timber houses, which is also the commercial centre of the city. No castle to be found, though. And there is the more historic La Cite, which is where the old, imposing cathedral (which we was closed unfortunately) is located. Unfortunately we didn’t see that much during our short but brisk walk – to be honest we were a bit nackered after rather a long day, so went back to the hotel as it started getting dark...
We started the next day with a short detour to Oradour-sur-Glane. It’s one of the most visited places in Limousin, but not for the usual reasons. Oradour-sur-Glane became famous because of the events of 10th of June, 1944, when a detachment of Waffen-SS soldiers massacred nearly the entire population of the village. In total 642 men, women and children were killed (many of them burned alive in the church) – the worst civilian massacre of its kind in France during the 2nd world war. After the war, the ruined village was left as it was (there are still burnt out vehicles, overturned chairs and tables to be seen) as a kind of sad testimonial of that day’s events. A new village was built a few hundred meters away. Well, it was certainly a sad site to visit, and a poignant reminder of the madness of war... From there we pretty much drove straight on to our destination, Angers, through the gentle landscapes of Poitou and Anjou.
More photos here.
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