Visit to Dordogne

Bergerac - Castelnaud - Marqueyssac - La Roque Gageac - Domme - Sarlat - Beynac - Belves - Monpazier - Biron

We arrived by car from Marqueyssac in less than 10 min.
It is a village at the feet of some cliffs, placed in a narrow piece of land just between the cliffs and the river Dordogne . It has been inhabited since Prehistory and it was fortified in year 850 to prevent from the incursions of Normandy ships. During the Middle Ages it was the residence of the Sarlat bishops. It had a key role in the One Hundred Year war and during the Religion war.

It is a tiny beautiful village. It can be covered along a walk nearby the river with views over the piled up houses against the rocky cliffs. There is another pleasant walk through the village, parallel to the river, among the traditional stone houses and palaces.

In this authentic set we find a Neogothic fortress (the Malartrie), that dominates the village from the top.
The river invites to have a bath, because the environment is magnificent and nice, with the village and the cliffs on the bottom of the valley.

The unique objection is the lack of animation in the streets, something that other villages such as Sarlat, Domme or Monpazier exploit.
I have to review that the region is not only rich in medieval villages and very beautiful landscapes, but also in prehistorical sites scattered everywhere that make of this zone one of the most rich in Europe and it has been designed as World Cultural Heritage, concretely the river Vezere valley. We didn't visit any cave: Lascaux (there is a recreation in Montignac), the Eyzies settlement, the National Prehistoric museum (the biggest world-wide in this field) the Roque Saint-Christophe. All this settlements show the 400.000 years of human occupation and evolution.