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Dordogne-Perigord

Sarlat , a walk through the old city

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What to tell more about Sarlat then you most stroll, loiter and give your eyes a feast. Nearly every boutique glitters with stacks of tiny shiny tins. Wander around in the “Jardin publique”, offering a good overview of Sarlat many steep “lauze” roofs. Take the stair, which leads you up to the “Lanterne des Morts”, a stubby stone rocket built at the end of 12th. The original use was forgotten but it may have been used as a commemorative chapel, or a funerary one. Below you will see the flying buttresses and bulb-topped steeple of the Cathedrale St.Sacerdos”.
The main square in Sarlat is the place de la Liberté, and favored café stop. There is even a landmark: Distillerie du Perigord (1861), “the original PASTIS LAPOUGE”, Perigords own rendition of the famous eau de vie.
Rue de Salamandre leads up pas 15th and 16th mansions and the handsome “PRESIDIAL” and its garden. This presidial was the seat of a royal court set up by Henri II in 1552 in defiance of local wishes to administer local justice.
Notice the curious, little polygonal lantern on the loggia: it’s now a good restaurant
More delights and gabled houses, carved portals, wait along the Presidial and rue Fenelon.
But let's conclude with some sort of stroll across the famous “Traverse”
-The Traverse cuts the wealthy Sarlat of splendid town houses, from the steeper, more popular neighborhood to the west, where some alleys are barely enough to walk arm in arm.
Visit the “Chapelle des Penitents Blancs “ in the rue J.J.Rousseau, and continue to the lovely, nearly intact, 16th century “Abbaye Ste-Claire”,
Further south are rue du siege a stretch of Sarlat’s walls that survived demolition. Here too is “tour du Bourreau”, executioner’s tower. In rue Rousset there is another tower from the 15th called “tour de guet”.

This is Sarlat:one of France’s best image, a superb medieval gem and a deep dive into fantastic history.