Sunday, June 17, 2007

PEROUGES, FRANCE

MIDDLE AGE IN XXI CENTURY - MAY 2005

Perouges is a lovely well kept medieval treasure located 34 kms from Lyon, 38 kms from Bourg en Bresse, and 120 kms from Geneva. At an altitude of 290 m, it has roughly 900 inhabitants, 80 of which residing within the walled city limits.
Perouges appears to have been founded by a Gallic colony returning from Perugia in Italy. The sites of the two towns are strangely alike, and their ways of spelling are identical. The Romans built a beacon tower here, governing the road from the Rhone valley and defending Lugdunum (Lyon). Standing high on the hill, Perouges was long fought by Savoy and Dauphiné, and finally became French by the Treaty of Lyon in 1601. It was rescued from demolition in 1911, and was freed from Nazi occupation by U.S. and French resistance forces in 1944. On June 27, 1996, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton made a visit to Perouges (just before a G7 meeting was held in Lyon). Mr. Clinton spoke beneath the so-called Tree of Liberty, which was planted in 1792 after the French Revolution and, according to CNN, challenged world leaders to «rally the forces of tolerance and freedom» against terrorism, calling for the same kind of allied solidarity that existed during World War II.


"PLACE DU TILLEUL is one of the best-preserved elements of the town with at the centre, the Tree of Freedom. It is situated at the end of the "Rue des Princes", and its Gothic gallery would often be chosen by the local merchants as a trading place"


"OSTELLERIE DU VIEUX PEROUGES - One of the most beautiful residences of Perouges. It's a corbelled house: vertical beams, horizontal beams and oblique beams encircle bricks... Serving as a hotel and a restaurant, it's a nice place to taste the famous Galette au Sucre"


"RUE DES RONDES/RUE DES PRINCES, with the pavement made of round pebbles, are the two most important streets in town"

21 comments:

Ash said...

Tres Wonderful!!!

Aditi said...

loved the narrative.. didnt know all that abt the tree of liberty..

Peter said...

Thanks for this interesting post. Never been there (and ashamed of admitting that I did not really even know about the place), but often so close. Stupid what you can miss! Maybe on my next trip southwards. Thanks again, Mr Globetrotter!

lyliane six said...

Very beautiful French village that I do not know. The rollers are larger than those of Funchal. Take care!! les galettes au sucre font grossir! I go back tomorrow to Madeira in my blog.

Anonymous said...

love the cobbled streets!

Cuckoo said...

That's beautiful !! The place looks so good that I just want to fly in there.

I love these type of streets.

Peter said...

Referrring to your visit on my blog (thanks): Mollard, yes a good idea for photos, but also and especially for some oysters and some other seafood!

Lori said...

Your travels are amazing. I'd love to visit this town. The streets and buildings are beautiful and charming. Thanks for sharing them with us!

Anonymous said...

MIDDLE AGE IN XXI CENTURY? lololol
that is really beautiful pavement and church!
tooo far to fly from here thoo. haha~

Anonymous said...

Ash,
Thanks!

Aditi,
The Lime is «the Tree of Freedom» because it was planted shortly after the Revolution. It seems, however, that the lime is not well, lost a branch and its future seems compromised...

Peter,
Have a nice trip there on your way to Provence!
Oysters, lobster, langouste… at Mollard is a great treat. But I’ll wait for next autumn!

Lyliane,
Le village mérite un détour, même si le Michelin ne le marque qu’Intéressant.
J’espère revenir sur votre blog pour voir Funchal! Merci.

Piika,
Cuckoo,
Perouges was saved from demolition by Edouard Herriot and Anthelme Thibaut in 1911. The cobbled streets are the same that were already there in the Middle Age...

Lori,
Thanks.

Niki,
Not that far! Just look at all the Japanese tourists we see all over Europe...

lv2scpbk said...

That looks to be a cute town. Looks like they may have little shops, which I like better than malls.

lv2scpbk said...

P.S. Love the stone walkways.

Ming the Merciless said...

The last two photos are so quinessentially french. I love the 2nd photo best because of the plants growing on the walls.

My friend's house in the Provence looked quite similar to this.

Shionge said...

Thanks for sharing all the interesting places...where are you now? :D

GMG said...

Lv2,
Thanks. Actually there are some shops which sell local specialties – including the Galette au Sucre (a sugar like pancake).

Ming,
Perouges is not far from Provence; no wonder the similarities! Also love those houses, in particular the Ostellerie...

Shionge,
Welcome back. I'm stuck... :(

Anonymous said...

Chaque fois c'est une découverte merveilleuse. Les photos sont super et les commentaires fantastiques. Plus besoin de se perdre dans les guides , tu nous donnes beaucoup plus!
Luisa de Sugnens

Anonymous said...

Merci Luisa, aussi pour ta contribution pour le charme des photos...

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Nous faisons souvent une halte dans ce village quand nous nous rendons dans les Alpes pour skier ou faire des randonnées dans la Tarentaise et la Vanoise.
Je ne connaissais pas toutes les anecdotes que tu relates.

Anonymous said...

Deslilas,
Un beau village pour une pause et une galette au sucre... ;).
Je ne fais pas du ski, mais ma fille est maintenant (25 février 2008) à Châtel (frontière franco-suisse) pour le sport...

A Lady's Life said...

Love the cobble streets
Very unique little place.

Trotter said...

Lady,
Unique is quite appropriate to describe Perouges!!