Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There:
Oradour-sur-Glane is well-signed off A-20 for drivers coming from
theDordogne.ThosedrivingfromtheLoireshouldtakeA-10toPoitiers,thenfollowsigns
for
Limoges
.
Taking public transport here requires dedication. Bus #12 connects Limoges with
Oradour in 30 minutes (4/day, 15-minute walk from Limoges train station to bus stop on
Place Winston Churchill). Consider a taxi. Limoges is a stop on an alternative train route
between Amboise and Sarlat (Limoges TI tel. 05 55 34 46 87).
Touring Oradour-sur-Glane:
Follow
Village des Martyrs
signs to the parking
lot and start at the rust-colored
underground museum
(Centre de la Mémoire), which
provides a good social and political context for the event. Thorough English explanations
arepostedforeveryexhibit(thoughtheaudioguidemakesiteasiertotakein).Theexhibits
convey a good sense of daily life in Oradour before June 10, 1944, and explain SS terror
tactics. You'llseehomemovies oflocals beforetheattack anddisturbing footage ofsimil-
ar events elsewhere. English subtitles are scant in the 12-minute film shown in the theater,
but (with the help of audioguide translations) its message is powerful.
From the museum, join other hushed visitors to walk the length of Oradour's
main
street,
past gutted, charred buildings in the shade of lush trees.
Lieu de Supplice
signs
show where locals were tormented. The plaques on the buildings provide the names and
occupations of the people who lived there (
laine
means wool,
sabotier
is a maker of
wooden shoes,
couturier
is a tailor,
quincaillerie
is a hardware store,
cordonnier
is shoe
repair,
menuisier
is a carpenter, and
tissus
are fabrics). You'll pass streetcar tracks, several
cafés, and a hôtel-restaurant. This village was not so different from many others you have
passed through on your trip. Visit the
church,
with its bullet-pocked altar, and walk into
the
cemetery
where most lives ended on that June day. The names of all who died in the
massacre are etched into the rear wall. Across from the cemetery, find the
underground
memorial
and see cases with rusted toys, broken crucifixes, dishes, and town mementos.
Two hours due west of Sarlat and just 40 minutes from Bordeaux, St-Emilion is another
pretty face just waiting to flirt with you. Unlike other French lookers, this one seduces in
English—the historic presence of British interest in the wine industry has given the town
an almost bilingual feel. It's an easy place for Anglophones.
