Photo : Benjamin Smith / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Agen
Built on the banks of the Garonne in the heart of a rich farming plain, Agen owes its national fame to its prunes, dried for centuries according to a local know-how now protected by a geographical indication. The town's most spectacular structure is its canal bridge, more than five hundred metres long, which carries the Garonne lateral canal over the river, a 19th-century engineering feat still used by pleasure boats.
The old town, with half-timbered houses and brick mansions, is centred on the Cathedral of Saint-Caprais and the fine arts museum, housed in several Renaissance mansions with a remarkable collection including works by Goya. At the meeting point of Gascony, the Quercy and the Périgord, Agen is a pleasant stop along the Garonne.
