Photo : Jochen Jahnke at de.wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
La Garde-Adhémar
La Garde-Adhémar is a village in the south of the Drôme, east of Pierrelatte, set on a rocky ridge overlooking the Rhône valley. A former medieval stronghold, it was closely tied to the Adhémar family, who controlled it from the twelfth century. In the Renaissance, a castle was built there by Antoine Escalin, naval officer and diplomat. The village is listed among Les Plus Beaux Villages de France.
You stroll through winding lanes lined with houses of the twelfth to eighteenth centuries, vaulted passages and remains of ramparts, where art galleries and craftsmen's workshops now stand. The church of Saint-Michel, built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, is a fine example of Provençal Romanesque art, with its octagonal bell tower and two apses. The chapel of the Penitents recalls the confraternity of White Penitents that used it between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. A little below is the priory of Val des Nymphes, with a Roman-inspired façade. The land is turned towards vines and truffles.
