Monflanquin is
a hill top bastide town in the Lot and Garonne region of South West France –
part of the Aquitaine of Eleanor
of Aquitaine fame.
The bastide was built in 1256. Monflanquin changed hands several times
during the Hundred Years War.
Bastides were built between the 13th
and 14th centuries. Most have
a grid layout with a central market square surrounded by arcades. Monflanquin is one of the most historically
intact bastides in France.
The statue of a soldier is a typical WWII
memorial in French towns.
The Mairie (town hall), as is usual, was
beautifully decorated with floral hanging baskets and the obligatory flags. The central square was surrounded by
leafy trees.
There were flowers everywhere but no normal
shops. However there are lots of restaurants. Pretty much everyone eats lunch
out in France. We found that there was plenty
of parking even though we were there in late July which is supposed to be high
season.
We went into the Eglise Saint Andre (St
Andrew's Church) It was a large church
for a small town.
There were some nice stained glass windows.
This is the nice view over the valley
from Monflanquin
Carole, I've just read A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman (about 14th century France and England), so seeing pictures from a fortified town in Aquitaine was a nice surprise. Thanks for sharing the photos from your travels!
ReplyDeleteLove the pic of the glass window. I like to go to churches and photograph the glass windows, so you definitely hit it out of the park in my book. :-)
ReplyDelete