patj19

There are so many places you could visit, I do not know where to start ! As you write it there are indeed several castles in a quite small area around Bort-les-Orgues : you've got the Château de Val (the loveliest to my eyes) surrounded by the waters of the lake of Bort's dam (with a very big beach with a lot of activites on the water in summer such as a trip on a "bateau mouche" on the lake, jet ski, swimming......) but the castle is only opened from april till october, and during the school holidays (november, chrsitmas, winter, easter) The seconf castle you can visit is the castle of Auzers (open from easter till the end of October) You've also got different castles that are private so impossible to visit but very beautiful such as the Château de Pierrefit You've also got some ruin of castles such as the château de Thynières, le château de Madic...... You've also got some castles that are just like big houses (the other ones I mentioned above are typical castles with the towers and so on) just like the château de Champagnac.... All this castles are in a quite small area (maximum 20 km around Bort) and the list above is not complete there are a lot of others (chapels, ruins....) and there are other castles in the south of corrèze such as the château de Sédière, les tours de Merles...... In Bort's area you can also visit the dam of Bort (or rather the "espace energie") a free guided visit explain the way a dam work and the history of the dam, and many other things (open the all year but it's much easier to visit it during spring and summer ) You've also got a panorama viewpoint on "les orgues" (a big cliff dominating Bort les Orgues 300 metres higher than the city), made of volcanic rocks looking like an organ/"orgues" the music instrument with different tubes ) and this site is considered to be the best viewpoint over the massif central (you've got a 180 degree view over about 100km) and the "plombs du Cantal" (mountains in the cantal departement) There are museums (at least three or four around or in Bort) in Corrèze (Sarran) you've got Jacques Chirac museum too (the previous french president who is from the corrèze departement) You've got a lot of historical monuments with sometimes painting exhibitons (château de val, les bains douches, la halle aux blés = all these in Bort)...... You've got so many things to see and discover that you should tell me what you're intersted in so that I could give you more precise advices. If you want to walk there are dozens of ways in the countryside with great landscapes and viewpoints (you can use these way with bicycle, horse, or just your feet ! ) you've got a cyclist way too, there are a lot of places for fishing (corrèze and Limousin are considered as the paradise for fishing ) There are also a lot of activities and festivities all around the year but espacially in summer (fireworks, typical meals parties, typical open air markets with different animations, funfairs......) Hope this help (hope you've reached the end with no headache ![:-))] If you need more precise information just ask, I'll be pleased to help you Regards Patrice

Thanks for welcoming me on this forum ! Concerning the house in corrèze, it depends on the place where you are since most typical houses do not have several balconies they  are often  made of stones (those you may have seen might be in Argentat = south of corrèze) Concerning the Chastang dam it is not the biggest it is even one of the smallest ( Bort's dam is 125 metres high and Chastang's dam is 85 metres high, the lakes too are differents Bort's lake contains 477 millions square metres of water while Chastang lake just got 187 millions square metres of water) Here are the 5 major dams on the Dordogne from the highest to the smallest: Bort (125m), Aigle(92m), Marèges(89m), Chastang(85) and Sablier(31m), concerning the lakes from the biggest to the smallest : Bort (477 millions m3 of water) Aigle (220 millions m3 of water) Chastang (187 millions m3 of water)  Marèges (47 millions m3 of water) and finally le Sablier I can tell you Bort is the biggest since I was the person who was in charge of the guided visit of the dam last summer and will be again this year, so I know it very well [;-)] If you need more information/photos just ask I'll be really please to answer you !!! (I am in love with the place where I live so really happy to make it discover, but I think you've already understood I am passionate...[:)] Once again thanks a lot for welcoming me, and I am happy you liked the photos I posted !!

Hello, I've just found this forum and it seems really great !!! This part of the forum is really interesting since I am a Corrèzien !!! Indeed, I am french and I am born in corrèze and I live in this beautiful french departement. If you want any information just ask I'll be really please to answer you. If you know a little bit the departement I live in Bort-les-Orgues (at the very east part of the departement, near the Parc des Volcans d'Auvergne) it is a very beautiful area with one of the biggest dam in France, and thus a very big lake (about 21 KM long ! ) on which you can practise different activities. There are a lot of beaches and on one of these beaches you can admire the Château de Val surrounded by the waters of the lake just an amazing place at 5km from the city. Here is a link to see some of the photos I've got of Bort-les-Orgues(I've got some more to show you other beautiful areas in Bort-les-Orgues, and I can tell you there are a lot of other beautiful historical building, landscape as "the Orgues....") http://img571.imageshack.us/g/hpim2853.jpg/ I do not have the time to post others for the moment but I you want to I could give you other photos. Just note that Bort-les-Orgues is a small city (about 3500 inhabitants) a lot of shops (100-150 or even more) 1 big supermaket (3000 m3) 2 other smaller supermarkets....1 elementary school, 1 primary school, 1 secondary school and 1 high school....there are a lot of outdoor activities (on the lake, in different ways in wood or on the cliff "les Orgues", there are a lot of associations (culture, sport,....)You can have very high speed ADSL with no problem.....................; If you want anykind of information just ask [;-)] Kind regards from France Patrice