DORDOGNE - Domme

Domme was one of my ‘must do’s’ for this trip and I was not disappointed. I got slightly disorientated coming out of the car park on foot – had I turned right, I would have been on the pretty main square in just a minute, but actually it turned out well because I got to see some beautiful parts of the village that I might have otherwise missed.

I started off at the aptly names Porte des Tours which I assume would have been the main point of entry to the village. These days it is still only wide enough for one car to pass through at any given time which was scary when you see the speed at which some of the locals where whizzing in and out – it made me quite homesick for Corsica!



I’d planned to take the ‘Domme Passport’ which gives entry to the four main sights; the Grotte (cave), The Bastide Royal & Graffiti Templiers (never found those) and the l’Oustal (museum of arts and traditions, but once I found the tourist office, I realised that I’d probably have more fun just exploring the town on foot.

The tourist office issues a badly photocopied map of the town with a suggested walking route to see the sights. It starts at the Belvédère de la Barre where there is a fabulous view of the river, and then takes you on a gentle stroll along the Promenade des Falaises (cliff walk) to the public gardens. I could see that there was a windmill nearby, so I followed my initiative and managed to find it, although it did look a little sad with its skeletal sails.

From here, I headed up past the Couvent des Augustins - there wasn’t much to see – to the Place de la Halle where I was able to visit the church, take a few photos and buy Guillaume a crocodile magnet with springy arms and legs.

It’s also the starting point of the tourist train which offers a 20 minute tour of the village with commentary, but as they’d nearly run me down earlier in the day and I’d seen pretty much everything I wanted on foot, I decided to pass this time.

All in all, Domme was stunning and well worth the visit. The one small gripe is the parking situation because the car parks in the village offer only 3 options of an hour for 1€ (not long enough), 4 hours for 3€ (perhaps too long for me) or a whole day at 5€. The high parking charges were what prompted me to approach a young family and offer them my ticket, but my smugness at beating the system was short-lived as I accidentally decapitated the crocodile magnet in the process. Ggggrrr!