Perigueux is in the Department of the
Dordogne in the Acquitaine region of southwest France. It is 302 miles southwest
of Paris, 156 miles north of
Toulouse and 79 miles northwest of
Cahors. The tourist office
web site is only in French.
We
have visited twice, once on our first trip in 2002 and once in 2005. Perigueux is another of the many picturesque medieval towns
in France. And this one has some very interesting leftovers from the Roman era. It has a "
Cella" or holy temple,
in this case to the goddess Veruna. The Cella is a large circular tower whose wall is about two-thirds complete. There
also is the remains of a very large Roman mansion, recently discovered and unearthed to become an in situ museum. The museum
consists of a glass-walled structure with a roof built over the archeology site. Perigueux also has an extraordinary looking
Cathedral,
St. Front, which, unfortunately we did not enter. (See
photos)
Perigueux has a very nice market square. In
2002 we parked in a lot close to the center of town and when we started walking we noticed that some people were walking in one direction with
empty shopping bags and in the other with full ones. It was market day and that was lucky for us because we love market days.
It was lucky for another reason. Perigueux is near Cahors and is also a
foie gras producing area and an area where
truffles grow
and can be bought from farmers. And some of the small farm producers of foie gras were there giving away samples to taste.
Delicious. But very expensive. At the time it was 25 Euros ($34) for a jar smaller than a can of tuna fish.
We
visited again in 2005 shortly after hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. We remember this because we saw a sign that had been
posted on a street announcing a benefit Jazz concert for the musicians who had been adversely affected by the storm.
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