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Bergerac, capital of PĂ©rigord Pourpre, lies on the river bank in the wide plain of the Dordogne. Once a flourishing port for the wine trade, it is still the main market centre for the surrounding maize, vine and tobacco farms. Devastated in the Wars of Religion, when most of its Protestant population fled overseas, Bergerac is now essentially a modern town with some interesting and attractive reminders of the past.
Bergerac offers its tourists something throughout the year thanks to its museums and to its well restored and working old city, whose lanes evoke to perfection the environment and decoration of the XIVth, XVth and XVIth centuries, with a multitude of half-timbered houses furnished with 'bricou'. Turning one of the corners, one will be 'nose to nose' with... Cyrano whose statue recalls proudly how much the fame of the city rests with this well-known character. The Festival of Theatre, each summer, could not do other than bear his name.
The Museum of Tobacco presents its unique collection of objects from all sources, being financed by the consumption of tobacco, and examines the sociological and other aspects of this phenomenon from its origin until today. Those who are interested can also visit the Institute of Tobacco of SEITA, which is internationally recognised for the quality of its research.
The Museum of Wine and Shipping located at the heart of the old city presents all the traditions of the trade by river which made Bergerac one of the very first 'ports gabariers' in the country, handling very large tonnages until the end of the last century.
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