Villages and castles

On our last day in le sud-ouest as this region is called, we orgnized the house, did some packing, and when we got a good jump on our "must do" list, we thought about what should be on our "want to do" list. 

France has a designation given to certain towns, called Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. The towns must be historic and have much of their original architecture in tact. They must also have some sort of tourist attraction, like a castle or a bastide layout. In the Lot-et-Garonne, where Duras is, there are very few of these special villages, but one of them, Monflanquin, is not too long a drive. So we headed there to see what's so special.

It was very cute and we had a quick lunch in La Bastide, which was a cozy hangout for locals. 

We were looking over the village walls at the distant views and spotted a giant edifice on the horizon. There was a sign indicating that the structure was the Chateau de Biron, which was almost 15 kilometers away. It was so massive and imposing at that distance, we got on the road to see what it was like up close. The dramatic skies just added to the spectacle.

Voila!

So we discovered that it was open. We paid 8€ each and were the only people in a place about the size of Yankee Stadium. It was a treat to explore freely. Joe tried being the Duke at his dining table:

I measured all the fireplaces:

We just enjoyed a beautiful fall day being king and queen.