Balazuc

Balazuc stands directly on the limestone edge above the Ardeche, its houses built from the same rock so that wall and cliff are hard to separate from the far bank. The village is medieval in plan, a knot of narrow lanes, some passing under vaulted arches called calades between houses, with a Romanesque church, a square tower and remnants of the walls. Silk was the trade here until disease and imports killed it in the nineteenth century, and the village emptied. Below, the river runs through pools used for swimming in summer, and a footbridge crosses to paths on the other side.

History

Balazuc has long guarded a ford over the Ardèche, and its name comes from the Gallic Baladunum, "fortified rock". Neanderthals hunted ibex here more than 50,000 years ago, Neolithic farmers arrived around 3000 BC with goats and sheep, burying their dead in stone coffins, and the ford was in use in the Late Bronze Age, around 750 BC; in Roman times the plain was farmed beside the road from the Rhône to Nîmes, and an early Christian sarcophagus carved with biblical scenes has been found. The medieval village grew around a church and a castle of the 11th to 13th centuries, the castle built in the 12th century and enlarged in the 13th with a square keep, and its ramparts, keep and fortified houses survive along narrow streets and vaulted passages. Pons de Balazuc, one of its first known lords, went on the First Crusade and was killed in 1099 at the siege of Arqa, near Tripoli, just before the capture of Jerusalem (Wikipedia, Balazuc).

What to look for

• The cliff site - houses built directly on the limestone above the river.
• The vaulted lanes - passages running under arches between buildings.
• The Romanesque church - a plain twelfth-century building in the village.
• The river pools - swimming spots below the cliff in summer.

When to go

April to October; July and August are hot and busy with river swimmers. Spring and autumn are better for walking. Winter is quiet with little open.

Before you go

Parking is outside and the lanes are steep, narrow and stepped. The village is very small. Summer river crowds and canoe traffic are heavy in August.

Nearby

The Ardeche gorges lie south; Aubenas is northwest.

Key facts