I could start by writing about the famous wine region and the world heritage city often called “Petit Paris.”
But this is my space and I’m most eager to tell you about Bruno.
For the uninitiated, Bruno is Benoît Courrèges, and he doesn’t really exist. Bruno is the chief of police of the fictional village of St. Denis in the lovely Dordogne Valley area of France. He’s Andy Griffith with a French accent, and he never lets solving the crime get in the way of a good meal.
Bruno is the creation of Martin Walker, a retired journalist turned mystery novelist. Mr. Walker and I shared the same employer (United Press International), although not at the same time. He is an Englishman who has a holiday home in the Dordogne and, according to a New York Times profile, modeled his hero after a real local police chief.
I’ve been so enthralled with Bruno and his lovely country that I had pegged the Dordogne as our main destination on our family trip to France last year. But then April happened in Michigan, with unrelenting blizzards (yes, really), just as we were making reservations, and we had a family consensus that we needed to go as far south as possible. The Mediterranean won out over the Dordogne.
In my part-time bookseller gig, I often recommend the Bruno books to fans of Louise Penny, who also writes a mystery series with recurring characters and a village setting. I don’t know which charming town has a higher murder rate, Louise Penny’s Three Pines or Martin Walker’s St. Denis, but I would happily take my chances as a resident of either, if they existed.
For those who want to visit Bruno-land, sometimes called Dordogneshire for its popularity among the British, Mr. Walker proposes a seven-day itinerary on his website.
The relationship between England and this region of France, also known as Le Périgord, is a long one. Several centuries long. The English had claims to the land from Alienor d’Aquitaine (remember her from two weeks ago?), and it was a bone of contention during the medieval Hundred Years’ War. The legacy of this period of conflict is the stunning, picturesque landscape known as the Valley of 1000 Castles.
Another prime attraction of the region predates castles and feuding monarchs by many millennia. Paleolithic humans left a substantial legacy. The Vézère Valley in the Dordogne region has 147 prehistoric sites and 25 decorated caves that are a UNESCO World Heritage site. The most famous are the Lascaux cave paintings, which had to be closed to tourists to prevent damage; a replica site nearby is open to the public.
I also must mention that one of our favorite movies was filmed in the Dordogne. Ever After, a feminist retelling of the Cinderella story starring Drew Barrymore, is a fun way to get a look at the place from afar.
Finally, Bordeaux. The sixth-largest city in France, affectionately nicknamed “Little Paris,” boasts a stunning center of historic architecture that is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s also a port of entry for exploring the famous wine region, which we will do next week.
