Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Foie Gras and Beyond:
Tourist-pleasing stores like La Boutique du Badaud line the
streets of Sarlat and are filled with the finest local products. This quiet shop sells it all,
fromtrufflestofoiegrastowalnutwinetotruffleliqueur.Theyalsooffertastings
(dégust-
ations)
of various products (see what's on the table to taste). To better understand what
• Turn left (behind the boy statue) and trickle like medieval rainwater down the ramp into
an inviting square. Here you'll find a little gaggle of geese.
Place des Oies:
Feathers fly when geese are traded on this “Square of the Geese”
on market days (Nov-March). The birds are serious business here, and have been since
the Middle Ages. Trophy homes surround this cute little square on all sides. Check out
the wealthy merchant's home to the right as you enter the square—the
Manoir de Gis-
son
—with a tower built big enough to match his ego. The owner was the town counsel,
a position that arose as cities like Sarlat exited the Middle Ages. Town counsels replaced
priestsinresolvingcivilconflictsandperformingothercivicduties.Touringtheinteriorof
themanorshowsyouhowthewealthylivedinSarlat.It'scarefullydecoratedwithauthen-
tic 16th- to 18th-century furniture, and offers a peek at the inside of its impressive
lauzes
roof(€7,dailyApril-Sept10:00-19:00,closesearlieroff-season,rotatingexhibitsincellar,
tel. 05 53 28 70 55,
www.manoirdegisson.com
)
.
• Walk to the right along Rue des Consuls. Just before Le Mirandol restaurant, turn right
toward a...
Fourteenth-Century Vault and Fountain:
Forgenerations,thiswasthetown'sonly
source of water, protected by the Virgin Mary. Opposite the restaurant and fountain, find
the wooden doorway (open only July-Aug) that houses a massive Renaissance stairway.
These showy stairways, which replaced more space-efficient spiral ones, required a big
house and a bigger income. Impressive.
• Follow the curve along Rue des Consuls, and enter the straight-as-an-arrow...
Rue de la République:
This “modern” thoroughfare, known as
La Traverse
to loc-
als, dates from the mid-1800s, when blasting big roads through medieval cities was stand-
ard operating procedure. It wasn't until 1963 that Sarlat's other streets would become off-
limits to cars, thanks to France's forward-thinking minister of culture, André Malraux.
The law that bears his name has served to preserve and restore important monuments and
neighborhoods throughout France. Eager to protect the country's architectural heritage,
private investors, cities, and regions worked together to create traffic-free zones, rebuild
crumbling buildings, and make sure that no cables or ugly wiring marred the ambience of
towns like this. Without the Malraux Law, Sarlat might well have more “efficient” roads
like Rue de la République slicing through its once-charming old town center.
