Blogs from Montcaret, Aquitaine, France, Europe

Advertisement

Europe » France » Aquitaine » Montcaret August 6th 2016

Geo: 44.8587, 0.06384This afternoon we visited a archaeological site in the small village of Montcaret. We explored the remains of a 1st century AD Roman villa that was inhabited until the 5th century. Then in the 11th century some monks built a church on the abandoned site. The church was partly destroyed during the 16th century Wars of Religion. The cemetery and village grew up around it, erasing all traces of the villa. In 1827 it was discovered but it wasn't until 1926 that it was listed as a historical monument. Unfortunately, much of the villa still lies beneath the church and village.The residential part of the villa was at one time luxurious, and laid out around courtyard surrounded by galleries, with vast reception rooms and thermal baths. One pool was adorned with mosaics of dolphins, ... read more
Jim checking out the ruins
Fish mosaic on pool floor
Squid mosaic

Europe » France » Aquitaine » Montcaret July 16th 2013

Yet another 30+ day and so it will continue. It's the birthday girl's Big Day. Welcome to the Club, Karilyn. After the birthday wishes and breakfast we headed for St Emilion earlyish since we had heard that it gets pretty crowded after midday. All too true. It was nice and quiet when we arrived but soon many people arrived to look at this lovely medieval, historic town which is an UNESCO site. It sits on a limestone plateau not far above the Dordogne Plain and is the centre of wine making in this area. St Emilion was a monk who came to the area, if I remember correctly in the 8th century and lived in a natural cave. By all accounts miracles happened and others came and soon the town flourished. A monolithic church was built ... read more
Archway in the old town wall
Mosaic floor from Roman bath at Montcaret
The Birthday gathering

Europe » France » Aquitaine » Montcaret July 14th 2013

It's another beautiful summer's day again in the Dordogne. What better way to start our stay in the area than going to a market. We set off for Libourne which is about a half hour drive from here and is reputed to have a great market which it does. It was very busy and filled the square plus some side streets as well as an inside cool market. The street scene had heaps of fruits and vegetables with some meats, breads, cheeses and apparel. The place I liked the most was the inside cool market which had meat, fish and cheeses. Not just some, but a huge choice with products that we don't have at home. Karilyn, of course, was in her element - food, food and more food of which we bought a lovely selection ... read more
Lunch alfresco at La Vigne
A beautiful spread for lunch
Bastille Day fireworks

Europe » France » Aquitaine » Montcaret July 13th 2013

After a hot night despite having a fan running all night, we breakfasted, packed up our gear and then all got taxis to the railway station. Deborah, Richard and Daniel got off at Tours as they were going to England for their further holiday with Dan. Cherie continued with us to Orleans where we got a bus back to our first hotel where we picked up the car and miraculously managed to fit 5 people’s gear into the car plus ourselves. We set the route on the GPS to Moncaret and headed right back to Tours where we had just come from! This was going to be the fastest route south for us. The distance to Moncaret was 502km which Lindsay drove pretty much in one hit with a break for lunch and a stop to ... read more




Tot: 0.073s; Tpl: 0.004s; cc: 8; qc: 32; dbt: 0.031s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb