Saturday 9 June 2012

Limousin and surrounds


Large areas of France has 'Chateux' to recommend it, and the Limosin/Dordogne area is no exception. Today was the first 'real' disney style castle day, with rounded towers and crenellations. As you will soon see, there are *many* castles. I hereby apologise for failing to name most of them. I probably could on the day, but three days later? Nope. Whilst the second image looks just like a castle to me, apparently it's just a 'mairie'. Townhalls never look so good in England!





 First major stop was Oradour Sur Glane. Actually if I'd realised quite how horrendous it was going to be, I think I'd have given it a miss.  The original village was destroyed on 10 June 1944, when 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company. A new village was built after the war on a nearby site and the original has been maintained as a memorial.
The majority of the women and children - 500 plus - were burned alive in the church. Not much to say so I'll leave the pictures to explain. 








After a quiet moment in the van, ( and a fast Orangina ) it was time to head to the campsite. Couldn't end the day on such a glum note though, so made a detour to a.....castle!!
















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