Bergerac tourist information
Of course you cannot help thinking of Cyrano, the most famous of the Cadets de Gascogne, swordsman and poet immortalised by Edmond Rostand. "It’s a peak, it’s a cape, what am I saying a cape, nay, it’s a peninsula !" Sorry about the legend but the real Cyrano was born in Paris, and all that his nickname did was to allow him to enter the company of Monsieur Carbon de Castel-Jaloux.
In the Middle Ages Bergerac enjoyed commercial privileges and exported its wines to England. At first the town became rich and in the Renaissance period became the intellectual capital of Protestantism. Persecuted, the rich merchants fled to England and Holland, at the time more tolerant. The town however became an important centre for boat building and you can still visit it in a "gabare" (flat-bottomed boat), a good opportunity to glide along in the cool of the river.
Today Bergerac is recognized as the tobacco growing centre of France. For it is on the plains of the Dordogne that the majority of "fag weed" is grown. "The passion of honest folk" said Molière. You must not fail to make a trip to the museum devoted to it.
Not far away you will find yourself in Monbazillac country the country of those syrupy white wines that are appreciated with dessert. A good enough reason for stopping there.
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