Carnet de Voyage: Aquitaine History

Travel notes from the real France. Carnet de Voyage is a weekly personal travel story in France sent in by readers. If you’d like to write a story for Carnet de Voyage, head here for details on how to submit.

Not until I’d traveled to countries with centuries of civilisation have I appreciated history. My early exposure to history didn’t leave me wanting for more. Memorizing dates and places without putting such facts into relatable contexts elicited mere indifference. My first ventures into foreign countries usually lasted a very short time, sometimes less than a day. Still, such short visits can leave a few memories and a desire to keep exploring. 

During the first week of June, I visited Bordeaux in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwest France. I was there for four days, and they were hardly enough for a city whose harbor is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. All I got was a glimpse of a city. With a history traceable to centuries before Christ, I felt I needed to know it more intimately. 

To tourists, particularly wine drinkers, Bordeaux is wine. And yet, the city has a rich colorful past, attested to by its historical monuments, the number of which is second only to Paris in all of France. Its oldest historical monument likely resides in ancient ruins the city calls Palais Gallien for mysterious reasons. It was neither a palace nor the home of an emperor called Gallien, but a Roman amphitheater for gladiator battles with wild beasts. 

The face of the city, especially along the water has the magnificence of royal buildings that masks its deep engagement in commerce. It is, after all, a port city known as Port de la lune (Port of the Moon) that has facilitated commerce between France and the UK probably since Eleanore of Aquitaine married Britain’s Henry II of the Plantagenet line in the 12th century. 

Locals like to call Bordeaux “le petit Paris.” Maybe, this is an attempt to attract tourists. But Bordeaux has a charm all its own—French medieval history is more evident in Bordeaux than it is in Paris, particularly if you visit a couple or so areas within the region. Bordeaux would be the city I’d recommend to tourists after Paris. 

Sarlat is the city in the Périgord area of Aquitaine that we chose to visit. If wine is a major interest for you, Saint-Emilion might better match your interests. 

For me, it’s history I’m curious about, and what attracted me most about Sarlat is its well-preserved medieval roots. While Bordeaux has blended the modern (for instance, a digital presentation of famous paintings in the Bassin des Lumières) with the very old (a boulangerie at least a hundred years old that still bakes 200 or so baguettes per day), Sarlat—prodded and aided by André Malraux, writer, intellectual, and anti-fascist who became Minister of Culture—has chosen to rejuvenate and flaunt its medieval legacy. 

In Sarlat and its nearby villages, old stone structures and castles on the limestone cliffs along the Dordogne River are a throwback to the past. A few of them, partially carved out of the limestone hills, are a charming and unique site to add to tourist must-sees. We were warned that too-high or too-low water on the river would require a change in the itinerary, like a visit to a castle. Lucky for us, the weather cooperated. 

Sarlat is not just well-known for its medieval structures. It’s also a French-foodie heaven, producing at least two of the most expensive gourmet items—black truffles and foie gras. It‘s also France’s most prolific grower of walnuts. 

Finally, the region has the Lascaux Cave, known for its prehistoric paintings. However, to preserve the original, you can only visit a replica of the cave interior and its paintings.

Read our other Carnet de Voyage entries here.