Day 6 - les châteaux et l'omelette du dimanche


'Chàteaux's and the Sunday Omelette'...
Another day in Bourdeilles. Rained overnight and a bit dull to start with but the sun came out about 10 as we set off into town to do a bit of sight seeing. Two for the price of one; a castle and a chàteaux, next to each other on the same plot. 
The castle from medieval times, 11th century and the chàteaux from the 16th. The older part was a defensive fortress and the newer part built as a luxury residence not a defensive castle. Constructed on a rocky spur and dominated by an octagonal keep. The octagonal keep is 35meters high and has walls 2.4 meters thick and it dominates views of the village and the river. This made it highly prized for its strategic position and was much fought over.
You can get right to the top of main tower and the views of the surrounding countryside are spectacular, but the stone staircase is a little tight to say the least. Nevertheless it was very interesting from both a historical point of view (English/French royalty) and a insight to the furniture, weapons, bits and bobs from the period. Plenty of intracate wood carvings, bits of metal, locks etc to keep me interested and history for Jill.


Plenty to see outside as well as you could walk round the grounds and along the walls, past the old mill and part way along the river.
The little town it self is very pretty with some tiny 'olde worldy' streets, very old buildings and still maintains a  medevial feel to it. Only 2 resturants and a cafe, its not been swamped by tourism even tho the site we are parked on has 36 pitchs.
All this touristy stuff can work up an appetite, so sat under the shadow of the castle we decided to treat ourselves to a sunday lunch, deciding that from now on, we will treat ourselves, once a week to a meal out either on a saturday or a sunday, lunch or evening meal. Although the little resturant was really nice , in France it seems, sunday lunch means sunday omelette, chips and salad. Oh well, 'when in Rome' and all that; thick filled, mushroom omelettes, home made chips, salad, bread, beer, coffee, puddings..... sat in the sun watching the world go by 🤗
   All that was left to do was to have a walkaround the outside of the castle and the walls, admire the beautifully restored church and stick my head in a cave before we wandered back to get the chairs out and have a beer watching all the French campervans come rolling in around tea time 😁

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