Mortemart is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in west-central France.
Wikipedia Link
Our stop in Mortemart included a quick tour of the town by its mayor, Nicole Gonthier.
Mortemart is a small town and has a few notable sites such as the
Porche De L'Anchien Couvent Des Carmes, the
Chateau Des Ducs and the
Eglise Saint-Hilaire. A picnic lunch was served in the rec room
adjacent to the church. Toni coordinated the meal with the good folks at the Hotel Diderot in Chinon......sandwiches, cookies, a heavenly flan
and wine/water. Alas, no pics of the food...
Note that the probably
the most photographed was the
swan in the pond adjacent to the church.
.
Oradour-sur-Glane is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in west-central France, and the name of the main village within the commune.
Wikipedia Link
It is also the site a post WW2 tragedy where the entire village was totally destroyed and all but a couple of its residents were slaughtered by rogue German SS soldiers. A new town was built along side the ruins. Charles de Galle made sure the tragedy of Oradour-sur-Glane would not be forgotten.
Prior to walking thru the ruins, I could not understand why our guide Toni was all choked up when describing the next site we'd be seeing. I fully understood after spending the time walking thru the ruins and seeing the devastation first hand. Unfortunately most of the pics I took of this site, including the visitor center and the iconic rusted out car in the middle of the road, was not saved. It was not meant to be.