11/8/2023 0 Comments Cities in dordogne france![]() ![]() It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful setting than this sparkling gem nestled between the mountains and the sea. On the edge of the Italian border, a mere 18 miles away, and facing the deep blues of the Mediterranean Sea, the living is easy and the weather is near perfect. If your tastes run to opera, ballet, and sacred music museums, art galleries, and good restaurants, this oh-so-elegant city was made for you NiceĪs France’s fifth largest city in terms of population, and the second largest city in the fabled Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region (Marseille takes the top spot), Nice has long been considered one of the most attractive cities to live in the country. Most visitors are drawn to Aix for the same reasons you might want to consider buying a home here: the desire to experience sophisticated pleasures. It’s not the folks from tour buses who are buying chunks of conger eel and individual sea urchins from the fishmonger, tripes à la mode de Caen from the butcher, and pain au chocolat from the boulangerie (bakery). This is a real city where real people live. You won’t see menus written up in six different languages…and you certainly won’t see anything that could be described as a tourist trap. ![]() The vast majority of visitors here are French. Although that honor now goes to Marseille, Aix hasn’t gotten the message yet…it still acts as the center of the cultural universe. Aix-en-Provence ©/RossHelenĪix is a wildly romantic little city of fountains and medieval streets that was once the Provençal capital. It wasn’t until 1453 and the decisive Battle of Castillon that the English were finally driven out of the Dordogne. The Aquitaine region once belonged to England’s Plantagenet kings, and the two enemies scrapped for it like dogs over a bone, building new strongholds with each bit of ground gained. Some bastide towns have French origins, others English. Most of these fortified settlements date back to the 13th and 14th centuries, the time of the Hundred Years’ War. In a number of these subterranean refuges, the prehistoric people who once lived the troglodyte lifestyle have left their mark on the walls.Īnother feature of the area is the numerous bastide(fortified) towns, though “towns” is a misnomer-some are little bigger than villages. Valleys are honeycombed with caves, passageways, and hidey-holes. There are dozens of picture-perfect villages, each one seemingly more enchanting than the last.Īnd it’s here in the Périgord that you discover that France’s reputation for culture dates back to Paleolithic times. Casting reflections in crystalline rivers, a fairytale château is perched on top of wooded cliffs. Under resplendent blue skies, the countryside is a feast for the eyes-a harvest festival of vineyards fields full of sunflowers, tobacco plants, and corn shady walnut groves and stands of oak trees that often hide an underground treasure trove of black truffles. The Périgord summers are gloriously warm and sunny. Everywhere here seems just so pastorally perfect, right down to the clouds of bright-blue butterflies and the lines of fluffy ducklings paddling down river. (Although some wags call it Dordogneshire because of its popularity with English expats!) For many prospective homebuyers, this is quintessential rural France, the dream place to go shopping for a little maison de village or a honey-colored stone farmhouse with a steeply sloping roof of russet-brown tiles. Just to confuse us foreigners, many French people use the name Périgord when talking about this incomparably lovely area.Ĭall it the Périgord, call it the Dordogne, call it heaven. This guide should help you decide where to live and where to avoid for the perfect La vie française.Īre you interested in retiring abroad? Yes | Not Sure Yet The Dordogne ©/jon chica paradaīoth a département and a river, the Dordogne is the golden heartland of the southwest, part of the huge region of Aquitaine. Some people are looking for wild, rocky shores, steeped in old customs and traditions…others cannot resist the allure of beautiful hill towns and lavender fields. The trickiest thing when deciding where to live in France is to figure out where has the qualities you’re looking for. ![]()
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