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Access to the Château de Bertholène is rather unceremoniously blocked
Less than 5 miles from our house perches yet another village with, in my humble opionion, untapped tourist potential: Bertholène.
As my husband and I were driving to our New Year's Eve dinner in Lozère, we passed by this nearby village, which I don't often see as it is the opposite direction from Rodez.
Its skeletal clifftop castle -- basically just a façade, but a beautiful one -- was magnificently illuminated.
I remembered that when the girls were much younger, and "getting out" was a necessity on weekends, we had taken them to it on several occasions.
I had to go back.
Fortunately, I have a compact camera
New Year's Day was brightly sunny, and no sooner were we home from our New Year's Eve overnight that I was out exploring again. I couldn't wait to stroll around the Bertholène château grounds and take in the view.
No such luck.
Despite its proximity, Bertholène is part of a different "canton," or small administrative district, and I really don't know what is going on with its château -- perhaps there are security issues, or perhaps one can only walk around it during the summer.
At some risk to my wrists, I stuck my camera through the make-shift wooden barrier, and managed to snap this photo.
I left the large château parking lot feeling quite frustrated.
However, my New Year's Day outing would not be in vain, as we will see in coming posts!
4 comments:
Hello, I am very glad to see you are back on this blog, as I have enjoyed it over the years. We visit the Lot just west of Villefranche-Rouergue a few times a year and adore all the mini sites on small roads! Thanks for your blog which whets our appetite while in Canada. For concerts, perhaps you might want to look at the website for the departmental music school, www.crd-aveyron.fr. They have schools & concerts in Rodez, Millau, V-R etc. Our next door neighbor teaches there. We went to an English Horn concert last spring, awesome. Thanks again!
Thank you for your comment Madame M! You are the first commenter to come up "out of nowhere" after my 4-year hiatus.
We are quite familiar with the CRD as we have both been students there over the years, my husband on viola and piano, and me on violin and harpsichord. We are not "adult students" there anymore, but do go to some of their concerts.
Thank you again for commenting! I love the Lot department too, but don't get there often enough.
Your photo captures the light and essence of Bertolene. Your story makes one feel they are once again walking with you through the French countryside.
Thank you Sue! The best of this outing is yet to come -- I rediscovered some real treasures. I'm thinking these are some places my mom and sister might like to see when they are here. On my parents' previous trips, we focused more on the "big sights" in the area.
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