Oradour-sur-Glane
A well maintained 800 km tollway took me from Barendrecht, Holland to Limoges in the middle of France. From there it was only 20 km west to Oradour-sur-Glane, where I rented a room at the local Hotel Glane. This was a simple family hotel on the main square with a fine restaurant. The village is constructed after the second world war next to the location of the original village. At this location it all happened on June 10th 1944 in the shadow of D-Day.
A group of German soldiers arrived in Oradour marching north to Brittany. The village was surrounded and all inhabitants were united at the main square. Men and woman were separated; women and children were brought to the church and the men formed small groups and were led to different locations.
Nowadays the ruined village makes an impressive sight. Everything was kept the same since the destruction. I was deeply touched while walking through the streets of this memorial site. Plaquettes on the ruins describe the old function of the buildings. A backery, a garage, a school. Only walls, rusty sewing-machines and car wrecks are the silent witness of what happened more than 60 years ago. Places of execution are located and even the tramway is still visible. It made me very silent...
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I rented a room in the two chimney hotel La glane, which is centrally located on the town square. You can walk a few hundred meters from the hotel to the entrance of the memorial site. As Oradour is a small village, you won't have any problem with finding your car parked. This can in front of the hotel on the square, but you can also park behind the hotel in a small field (and while parking have a view in the kitchen...).
If you enter the hotel you find a door on your right hand side leading to a bar. A very small reception (about 1 x 0.5 m) has a bell, so make some noise if you want your room key. Rooms are outdated and small. It's difficult to have a proper shower, but it has running warm water. I had a room with a view on the backyard, which was so great that I kept the curtains closed...
Most positive about the hotel is, that it had a great restaurant on avenue de 10 juin 1944. Really French cuisine!
