*

Heritage in Entre-Deux-Mers

Stretching between the Dordogne and the Garonne, Entre-deux-Mers is a vast plateau traversed by valleys dotted with bastide towns, fortified mills, and Romanesque abbeys and churches, all of which can be discovered along almost 500 km of marked-out pathways and byroads, or by taking to the Roger...
More informations
Stretching between the Dordogne and the Garonne, Entre-deux-Mers is a vast plateau traversed by valleys dotted with bastide towns, fortified mills, and Romanesque abbeys and churches, all of which can be discovered along almost 500 km of marked-out pathways and byroads, or by taking to the Roger Lapébie greenway.
Reduce

It is also the land of the writer François Mauriac, of the painter Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, of the mellow white wines of Cadillac, Loupiac, Sainte-Croix-du-Mont and Saint-Macaire, and of France’s smallest municipality, Castelmoron d’Albret.

L'abbaye de Saint-Ferme
CDT 33 - Hubert Sion

A tour of the bastide towns

The bastide towns were built between 1255 and 1325, and served both as strongholds created to mark out the domains of French and English sovereigns (when the region was under English domination) and as market centres.

All bastide towns have the same layout – an arcaded square surrounded by galleries known as “cornières” or “couverts”, upon which converge streets cutting across one another at right angles.

Créon  : founded in 1316, the town still preserves its arcaded square and mediaeval houses.

Blasimon  : located on the site of an old “castrum”, Blasimon (“Blavini Mons”) overlooks the Gamage Valley where the Labarthe fortified watermill (15th  century) still stands.

Sauveterre-de-Guyenne  : built in 1281 by King Edward I, the town changed hands ten times during the course of the Hundred Years’ War, finally becoming French in 1451. The bastide town’s arcaded central square is still in existence, along with four listed gateways through its walls.

Pellegrue  : founded by the King of England in 1283.

Monségur  : the only bastide town in Gironde to have been built on a hill, Monségur provides magnificent views over the Dropt Valley. It is still keeper of the “Esclapot”, a wood-bound book containing the town’s foundation charter, and many of the original half-timbered houses are still standing. A walkway at the foot of the ramparts takes you all the way round the town walls.

Cadillac : the mediaeval ramparts and gateways (listed as Historical Monuments), along with two towers, are still to be seen in this bastide town built on the banks of the Garonne. Also well worth seeing is the Château des Ducs d’Epernon – which served as a women’s prison from 1818 to 1952, and which includes huge apartments with “French-style” ceilings and eight monumental fireplaces.

The “Marchés des Bastides” held every week beneath the towns’ arcades provide an opportunity to experience the atmosphere of markets in days gone by.

 

Patrice Dominguez aime Monségur et le Bassin d'...

A tour of the mediaeval towns and villages

Rions : this fortified village is one of the best preserved mediaeval villages in Gironde. A fine 15th  -century gateway and a 16th  -century merchants’ house.

La Réole : there are so many monuments and remains to be seen in this delightful little town! The Benedictine priory with its entrance gate, a masterpiece of 18th  -century ironwork, the 12th  -century church, the fortress of Quat'Sos (late 13th  century), along with one of the oldest Town Halls in France (12th  century) and the ruins of a surrounding wall dating back to the 13th  and 14th  centuries.

Castelmoron d’Albret : The smallest village in France (just 3.54 hectares) preserves all the character of a mediaeval hamlet along with a few fine vestiges of its surrounding wall, the Moulin gateway, and the old palace of the Dukes of Albret.

Saint-Macaire : set on a promontory overlooking the Garonne, Saint-Macaire has preserved its magnificent mediaeval fortified gateways. Also well worth a look are the Saint-Sauveur church (remarkable murals), the priory, and Place du Mercadiou and its superb mediaeval and Renaissance houses (16th  -century post house).

A tour of the abbeys

Blasimon  : Standing alone at the far end of the Gamage Valley, the venerable abbey church of Saint-Nicolas (12th  -16th  centuries) possesses a splendid doorway that makes it one of the finest examples of Romanesque art anywhere in Gironde.

La Sauve-Majeure  : listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1998 as a stage on the Way of Saint James of Compostela, the abbey was founded in 1079 in the depths of a vast forest (“sylva major”). Superb views over the region from the top of the 13th  -century bell tower.

Saint-Ferme  : standing in the grounds of a Romanesque-Gothic monastery that once took in pilgrims on their way to Saint James of Compostela, the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Ferme is particularly remarkable for its imposing facade, which gives it something of the air of a fortress.

The Dropt Valley once boasted a great many watermills. Only four of them are still in operation today, but you can still see the outsides of the splendid mills at Loubens and the fortified mill in Bagas, which was built in the early 14th  century and is a real fortress unto itself, with wooden footbridge, cross slit windows and watchtowers…

Also worth seeing, very near the Loubens mills, are the remains – metal framework arches and guardrail – of an Eiffel bridge.

Famous names tour

Saint-André-du-Bois  : the famous painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec came here every year until his death in 1901, staying at his mother’s property, Château de Malromé.

Saint-Maixant  : not to be missed is the Malagar estate, in which the writer François-Mauriac used to spend his holidays.

Verdelais  : site of a major Marian pilgrimage, as is evidenced by the many commemorative plaques to be seen in the Notre-Dame Basilica and the Museum of Religious Art. Toulouse-Lautrec is buried in the cemetery nearby.

Sainte-Croix-du-Mont  : renowned for its dessert wine, the village also boasts an unusual natural feature (near the Tourist Office) – a bed of fossilised oysters, bearing witness to the ocean’s presence here in the Tertiary Period and which can be seen as you walk alongside the cliff.

Information : Tourist Information Center of l'Entre-deux-Mers - +33 5 56 61 82 73 -  www.entredeuxmers.com  

Return to top of page