Gallery
La Vie en France

Since we retired and moved to France in June 2015, we've largely curtailed our long-distance travel. There's so much to see and do right here in and around our own department of Dordogne that we don't feel the urgent need to venture far afield--we'd rather just savor our life in France. All of the photographs below were taken within a radius of a few hours' drive of our house.

The fortified city of Carcassonne, located in southern France, occupied an important strategic position during the Middle Ages. The encircling ramparts were built in the 13th century and restored by the architectural historian Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century.

Carcassonne's Château de Comtal is a fortress within a fortress, built into the ramparts that surround the city.

Carcassonne's restored ramparts are accessible to visitors for both guided and unguided tours.

The Château de Comtal in Carcassonne dates to the 12th century; it was once protected by a moat.

A few steps from our hotel in Carcassonne was the Basilique St-Nazaire, whose fearsome gargoyles were presumably intended to frighten anyone who refused to believe in talking snakes.

The small suite at our hotel in Carcassonne featured a private terrace that overlooked the Château de Comtal.

We spent my 66th birthday at the Château de Nieuil in the nearby department of Charente.

Some of the château-hotels we've stayed in have been so thoroughly renovated they seem like modern buildings, but the Nieuil still retains the flavor of a Renaissance château.

There's a formal walled garden behind the château.

Château de la Côte Hotel & Restaurant

Teresa's 62nd Birthday

The Château de la Côte is located in Dordogne, southwest of Brantôme

The Château des Milandes in Dordogne was once home to Josephine Baker, the American expatriate cabaret performer who became a French citizen (and also served in the French Resistance during World War II).

The Château des Milandes features daily shows with their resident raptors, including owls, falcons, and eagles

The Château des Milandes has lovely, well-tended gardens and pleasant wooded walks.