Riverside Villages

Najac stretches along a narrow ridge above a bend in the Aveyron river, with a 13th-century castle anchoring one end.

Built directly into a limestone cliff above the Dordogne river, La Roque-Gageac once held nearly four times its current population as a working river port.

Frías holds the formal, centuries-old title of Spain's smallest city, granted by King Juan II in 1435.

Liérganes sits on the Miera river beneath a row of grand 'indiano' mansions, built by villagers who returned wealthy from the Americas.

Dürnstein's ruined hilltop castle once held Richard the Lionheart prisoner in 1192, on his return from the Third Crusade.