_The Roman Amphitheatre_, dating back to the third century, is now planted with trees, and the space inside contains some Roman remains. The Counts of Périgueux made this amphitheatre their château in the twelfth century, and inhabited it till the end of the sixteenth century. In 1644 the town ceded it to the Visitandines, who despoiled it of its stones to build their convent. _St. Étienne_, the former cathedral, is close to the amphitheatre. It belongs to the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and is surmounted by three domes and a tower analogous to St. Front. The interior has three carved oak altar-screens of the seventeenth century; the largest one, formerly in St. Front, is the work of the Jesuit Laville, who took ten years over it. A richly sculptured tomb on the right on entering is that of Bishop Jean d’Asside, who died in 1169. _The Tour de Vésone_ is part of a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to Vesuna, the tutelary goddess of the city. Some specimens of the red-and-green marble which formed the outer casing are preserved in the museum. _The Château Barrière_ has a Roman base. The highest tower, externally round, dates from the tenth century, while the body of the castle is late Gothic. Near the château is a Roman arch called the Porte Normande. =Alternative routes from Périgueux to Carcassonne= are (1) viâ Cahors, Montauban, and Toulouse; and (2) viâ Rocamadour and Albi (see large folding map at end of this book). In either case the route takes one to places famed for their architectural and historic features. On leaving Périgueux the river is crossed in a south-easterly direction, and the first turning to the right leads one to a steady ascent out of the valley of the Isle, with the site of the original city on the right among the trees. The view backwards over the dome-crowned city in its setting of richly wooded hills is full of romance and charm. On nearly the whole of the thirty-three miles to Bergerac the road winds in and out among steep tree-clad slopes. It is a splendid drive, and on a clear moonlit evening, with the pale shadows of trees thrown across the road, and the dim mystery of the encompassing forest all around, there is left on the mind a vivid impression of a vast uninhabited country--one of those forest areas of the Dark Ages (fourth to tenth centuries) through which chivalrous knights were wont to travel in search of adventure and fair ladies. Between Clermont-de-Beauregard and Lembras, the feudal fortress of Montastruc stands above the River Condeau, and its Gothic towers fall in well with the spirit of its surroundings. The last two miles to Bergerac are on a very straight open road, which brings one to the east side of the town, and takes one in a fairly direct fashion to the bridge across the Dordogne. SECTION IX BERGERAC TO MONT-DE-MARSAN, 96¼ MILES (155 KILOMETRES) DISTANCES ALONG THE ROUTE