Bort-les-Orgues and the Dordogne Gorges
Cathedral of St-Etienne
A name to conjure
Hard and translucent
Developed and encouraged by Turgot
Administrator of Limousin in the 1700's
A mix of kaolin, quartz and feldspar
Slow dried, and then fired at 950-98O degrees centigrade
This biscuit is covered with liquid enamel
And refired at 1400 degrees, to vitrify the paste
Then decorated, and fired yet again at 800 - 950 degrees.
These are the three major elements of 30 operations that make up
Porcelain.
And Limoges is the capital of the French Porcelain Industry.
Visit the city, the tiled house opposite St Pierre du Queyroix
Walk back in time down the Rue de la Boucherie
Past half-timbered houses, and then again, slip into the secret world
Around the Cathedral, and sink into the half light of glistening stainglass windows
And the statuary of tombs.
Finally breathe in and go down to the 13th century St Etienne bridge spanning the Vienne
The hot stuff of volcanoes spewing fast and cooling
Towers of rock, fissures breaking the flow of landscape
These are Les Orgues. Travel in this landscape phenomena
Climb to the top and see the view, and then take to the water
The cool lake of the Dordogne
And the strange round towers of the Château de Val
Now fill your head with the height of slopes and the fall of water
Travel down the Dordogne Gorges
Haute-Vienne Creuse Correze
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