The Gouffre de Padirac is a mysterious, 30 meter wide and 75 meter deep well which for centuries was a source of superstition and ghost stories. Now anyone who is willing can descend into the hole, either by stairs or by elevator, for spectacular boat...
The Pech-Merle cave is no less than 2 km long. Part of it contains original prehistoric drawings of bison, horses, mammoths, aurochs, deer and handprints. The most famous image is that of the dotted horse, an image that really burns itself into your memory. A...
The caves of Cougnac are located in Payrignac, not far from Gourdon. They contain petroglyphs from about 30,000 years ago - few other figurative drawings of that age are accessible to the public! A visit to the caves takes an hour, and groups are capped...
The charming town of Brive-la-Gaillarde is located in the Corrèze department and with its 50,000 inhabitants it is the largest city in the neighborhood. Georges Brassens once wrote a song about the Brive market, which now bears his name even though he supposedly never set...
The fact that Martel was once a prosperous trading town can still be seen at the mighty covered marketplace that dominates the central square. Martel is called the 'city of the seven towers', but once you start counting you will quickly find that there are...
Rocamadour, built against a cliff, is the second-largest pilgrimage site in France after Lourdes. It is on the road to Compostella. Once upon a time, prison sentences could be circumvented by going to Rocamadour on pilgrimage with a ball and chain shackled around an ankle....
The Castle of Losse was originally a medieval fortress on the banks of the Vézère that got transformed into a Renaissance castle. The original 16th and 17th century furniture is beautifully polished. In a small salon you bump into a Rubens and a Van Dyck...
In the renaissance castle of Milandes everything is dedicated to Josephine Baker, who lived there with her 12 adopted children until she went bankrupt. Her artistic talent, big heart and excessive spending pattern make for a fascinating story. The French garden, full of references to...
