Brive got "La Gaillarde" ('gallant') tacked onto to it,
because it withstood many a siege during the 100 years war. The
very ramparts that saved it then, were eventually torn down and
replaced by tree-lined boulevards.
Towns survive and prosper by adapting and moving forward. Brive
has done this and the result is much hussle and bussle... and traffic,
which flows around the 13C church and the few surviving mediaeval
buildings. Worth a a look-see are the Renaissance Tour des Echevins
and, Hotel de Labenche. The railway station (Paris in 4hrs) is very
imposing.
With the coming of the A89, the new east-west Motorway linking
Bordeaux and Clermont Ferrand intersecting the A20 Paris-Toulouse
motorway here and a new international airport nearby at Cressensac
on the way, Brive is going places.
