Hello all, to day we visited our first ridgi dide medievil castle. Rooquetaillade is 30 min from Pissos in a little hamlet called Mazères. One thing I had forgotten from my school days was that the English had been here ( 100 years war, Joan of Arc and all that), and this is one of the castles that King Edward 1st built. Actualy the castle in the photo, was built in 1306, on top of the original which was smaller. It has a moat, drop bridges, escape tunnels and the works...fantastic. It's claim to fame from other castles and chàteau's scattered all over the area is that it has remained in the same family since 1306, and they still live there. Quite how they managed to survive the revolution and keep their land I was not able to work out; unfortunately the tour guide had limited English. There was an English information sheet, and we were able to listen in to a nice Pom, who was interpreting for his children. They have discovered a stone age grotto under the old castle, where arceologists have recovered artifacts. This seems to be a reccuring theme, sites with natural advantages, have been lived in for thousands of years, each tennant building on top of the previous.
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