TURENNE, just 16km south of Brive, is the first of two very picturesque villages close to the town. Capital of the viscountcy of Turenne, whose most illustrious seigneur was Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne – the "Grand Turenne", whom Napoléon rated the finest tactician of modern times – the village today would still seem familiar to him. The same mellow stone houses crowd in the lee of the sharp bluff on whose summit sprout the towers of the castle, one forming part of someone's house. The other, known as La Tour de César, can be visited (April–June, Sept & Oct daily 10am–noon & 2–6pm; July & Aug daily 10am–7pm; Nov–March Sun 2–5pm; €3), and it's worth climbing for vertiginous views away over the ridges and valleys to the mountains of Cantal.
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