EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Beautifully situated on the banks of the Dordogne, 8km upriver from Castelnau-Bretenoux, BEAULIEU-SUR-DORDOGNE boasts another of the great masterpieces of Romanesque sculpture on the porch of the church of St-Pierre in the centre of town. This doorway is unusually deep-set, with a tympanum presided over by an oriental-looking Christ with one arm extended to welcome the chosen. All around him is a complicated pattern of angels and apostles, executed in characteristic "dancing" style, similar to that at Carennac. The dead raise the lids of their coffins hopefully, while underneath a frieze depicts monsters crunching heads. Take the opportunity also to wander north along rue de la Chapelle past some handsome sculpted facades and down to the river.

The most appealing hotel is the riverside Les Charmilles , on the northeast side of town (tel 05.55.91.29.29, fax 05.55.91.29.30, charme@dubinternet.fr ; 300-400F/¬46-61; restaurant from 105F/¬16.01), with Le Turenne , in a former abbey on central place Marbot (tel 05.55.91.10.16, fax 05.55.91.22.42; 220-300F/¬34-46; menus from 100F/¬15.24), coming a close second. For cheaper rooms head further north to the Hôtel Fournié , on place de Champ-de-Mars (tel 05.55.91.01.34; fax 05.55.91.23.57; 160-220F/¬24-34; good restaurant from 100F/¬15.24). The welcoming HI hostel is at the far end of rue de la Chapelle in a magnificent half-timbered and turreted building, with surprisingly modern rooms inside (tel 05.55.91.13.82, fax 05.55.91.26.06; closed Oct-March). There are river-bathing and canoeing possibilities and a good riverside campsite , Camping des Isles , close by (tel 05.55.91.02.65; closed Oct-April).