Créon

Today we were up early, and arrived at the Centre de la Mémoire d’Oradour as it opened.  For those of you who didn’t do your homework, Oradour-sur-Glane is the site of a Nazi atrocity committed on 10th June 1944 (four days after D-Day), where 642 unarmed men, women and children were rounded up and  massacred. Of these, 190 men were killed in six barns across the village; the 247 women and 205 children were killed in the village church. After the massacre, the Nazis looted the buildings before setting the village on fire.

After the war, General Charles de Gaulle decided the village should never be rebuilt, but would remain a memorial to the cruelty of the Nazi occupation. 

As we were there so early, we had the place to ourselves, and it felt quite spooky to be walking through the place on our own. Here are some photos:

I first found out about Oradour-sur-Glane when reading a book about the resistance in WWII, and I’ve also read other people’s blogs, but there’s nothing like seeing it for yourself. It always seems a little morbid to go to see places such as this, but I think it’s really important that we don’t forget about the horrors of the past.

After lunch in the van, we drove to tonight’s stop in Créon, just outside of Bordeaux. We’re staying on a camp site rather than an aire, so we have shower facilities and a launderette, as well as electricity, water etc for the van. We have an ACSI discount card, the cost is just €17 for the night.

We still haven’t decided where we’re going tomorrow. If it’s viable, we will cross the border into Spain, and spend a couple of days in Pamplona. If that’s not realistic, then we’ll stop tomorrow night somewhere in between.

We hope that you’re enjoying the blog. Please feel free to add comments, it would be good to get some feedback from you. If you have any questions about what it’s like living in a motorhome then please ask away!

Mike