Le Bugue- in the footsteps of Bruno Chief of Police

Remember my addiction to Martin Walker's Bruno Chief of Police series of books? Well, yesterday was the rather special day when I enjoyed the sneaky indulgence of visiting Le Bugue, the town that inspired the fictional town of St Denis. It actually was like walking through the pages of the books. If you really want to appreciate this bloggage, you'll need to go and read the books; there are nine. You'll like them, and you'll feel compelled to visit Le Bugue too. I feel compelled to return. Soon.

Feast your Francophilic eyes on these:










We lunched at Oscar Cafe Restaurant on rue de la Republique, next to the Mairie. We were accompanied by the most gorgeous couple of expats, Em and Pete. I invariably spend most of my time with them laughing- that's all I need. But I also needed food. We chose the 12.60 Euro menu which included a starter, main, dessert and coffee or wine. Three of us had steak and frites. Yes, I know that sounds a bit predictably English, but that was what was on offer. We sat on the terrace at the rear, overlooking the wide curve of the clear, slack Vezere river. The terrace was canopied by the most expertly pruned vine I've ever seen. We let time slip by as we enjoyed a perfect lunch.

 The disappointing and scary rear view of Oscar's. This is on the river front! What are they thinking?























Picture
This is the fictional map of the town presented in the front of the Bruno books. I hoped to find some resemblance to the reality, but I have to report that there's some, but not a lot. I need to go back in order to check... I wouldn't mind living here; there's quite a good selection of property for sale at the moment.

 There's a brief, heart-warming article on Martin Walker in Le Bugue here:

 http://paris-expat.com/travel-services/perigord-dordogne/day-martin-walker-le-perigord/

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