After getting the rental car at the train station in Bourdeaux we headed out to the Dordogne region of France (headed east more or less). And headed for the small medieval touristy town of Sarlat la Caneda which at one time was 2 towns (Sarlat and La Caneda). I seriously doubt anyone will know Sarlat la Caneda but, you do know some things about Dordogne and just think of them as "French". So, the food is different throughout the country and Dordogne is foie gras and cassoulet plus walnuts. I suspect you have heard of foie gras and cassoulet is vaguely familiar to me. The other thing to know about the area is there is very old cave art here and several cute old towns to explore. It is also an area where the 100 years war with Britain was fought so lots of chateaus from that time period.
When we chose the place to stay, we went with interesting as in we are staying in an apartment that at one time was where the guards stayed to protect the town. It is hilly here so go up a steep short hill, to an old building (late 14th century) find the steep stairs up (guards lived above the stables) and then you enter into the first floor of our temporary home. The owners have definitely decorated the place eclectically. We have a folder on how things work and what all is around us like a Terracotta Warrior from China (real??), warrior with a bronze bow, and chairs that say they are from a palace in Bangkok. Yeah, just your usual Ikea stuff. 😉
from the spiral staircase to the second floor
Our neighborhood
On the main square, in frstop at the front of the old Sainte-Marie church with its huge doors designed by Jean Nouvel. The interiors hosts the covered market of Sarlat during the day.
Carol looks small by the enormous doors to the market
No info on the statue of a man sitting on the wall
Lantern of the dead is the cylindrical tower behind us. The lantern is from the 12th century, but its purpose is a mystery. Theories range from guiding the dead to a memorial to St Bernard saving people during the plaque.
Market day brought the crowds
Shopping with our Trader Joe bag to hold the goodies
One of the reasons we chose to come to this area is its ancient cave art. This art is around 15,000 years old and was completed over a 500-year period. Sorry Australia, but this cave art is way better than the rock art we saw there last year. While I believe the Australian was for directions, advice, etc for travelers this seems to have been done strictly as art. The artist used the contours of the cave to help with the feeling of movement or to get the correct curves of the top of an animal. Let me back up for one second. We were not in the actual cave that was discovered in 1940, but rather by an extremely impressive mock up. You are in a large warehousey building that is dark and led by a guide you go from area to area of the "cave". When I say impressive I mean: they used a spectrometer to reproduce all of the wall indentations, it is fiberglass so it is molded with the color variations of the actual walls, they hired local artists to hand paint reproductions of each painting and the carvings. Jeff and I really enjoyed our time in the "cave". Then you are in an area that has a second set of reproductions of parts of the walls you just saw. Here there is an audio guide that talks to you even more about each area. This is Lascaux III or a 2nd version of it anyway version III travels around the world so all can see it. Pictures were not allowed in the "cave" so Jeff took some in the exhibit hall.
Horses
Bison
Horses with maybe spears, upside down horse too
Les Milandes
This is our first French chateau of the trip. It has a tie to an American in that Josephine Baker owned it for many years in the early to mid 1900s and remodeled it. There is very little of the usual old castle stuff here - a little from the first owners. Rather it focuses on the time period when Josephine Baker lived here. I learned she was a St Louis girl who came to France to get away from racism.
Josephine Baker
Les Milandes
Chapel was recently restored and has amazing murals
She was a celebrity in France and was friends with many famous people and a few royals She served in WW II in the French resistance and received medals from General de Gaulle. In her retirement she adopted a dozen small children and demonstrated that people who look different can live happily together.
After we made it through the house we went outback where a falconry exhibit was starting. They had several birds - falcons, owls, the largest bird in Africa to the bald eagle. They showed how one bird would go after a rabbit (no bunnies were killed in the show). From there we ate lunch onsite and then explored the gardens a little before heading on to our 2nd castle of the day.
What caught our eyes about this castle is that it sits up high on a hill with views that go straight down. Below is the related town to the castle. Built in the 12th century, its lord twice fought in the Crusades and he was visited by Richard the Lion Hearted. In fact, we saw a recreation of a bedroom that Richard the Lion Heart used when he visited this chateau on several occasions. This was a very powerful and famous household through early history through the hundred-year war. The Castle is sighted on the then border between French and English forces. This was a sharp contrast to our first chateau. Since it was first a fort and then a home plus it is being maintained in its medieval glory by the current owners. So no 1950s era bathrooms, no electricity. But oh the views!
Castle Beynac
Chateau addition
It’s a long way down
Kitchens
Traveling on the Dordogne River in a Gabarre
Two castles was enough for one day so we decided to go on a one hour boat ride from La Roque-Gageac to Castle Beynac where we were earlier. A gabarre was a type of wooden flat bottomed boat/barge that was used for years on the Dordogne River. Some only made one trip downstream as it was too hard to travel back upstream. Later they added sails and tow paths to make the return journey easier.
We took a recreation trip up and down part of the river. Once aboard, we received an audio guide to listen to since the boats guide would be speaking French. We learned about the ancient Troglodytes building a defensible position high on the cliffs. Then medieval times brought construction of the town similar to what we saw today. The 36 second time lapse video below will show our journey past the town of La Roque-Gageac. We learned that the cliff reflects the heat of the day so that much of the old town has a mediterranean climate. High on the cliff face you can see ledges that are what is left of a 12th century troglodyte fort. Our turn around provided a great view of Castle Baynec that we visited earlier.
Click here to to watch the 37 second time lapse video
Castle Baynec
La Roque-Gageac
Chateau Panisseau
This chateau is a winery - well there is a chateau on the property but heavens no it is of British descent/design not French. Anyway, we were able to schedule a tour of the winery and a tasting. It was a private tour and tasting with one of the young owners. A young couple bought all the vineyards and buildings a few years back - since the website says she is 29 and he is 31 can't have been too many years ago! The winery itself is 900 years old By French standards it is a large winery - 100 hectares of land he told us, but some 30 is grapes and the rest is forest and corn. All of this with just the two of them, their dog and a handful of full-time help!
We went to the edge of the vineyards and talked about the different soils and climates that exist in his vineyard. We talked too about the current weather which is incredibly HOT for this time of year. He said that all of his vines are 3 to 4 weeks ahead of schedule because of the heat. Like he should have been able to show us blooms on the vines, but they were already gone and the very beginnings of the grapes were showing. Then we went into the building where all of the work is done. They use concrete vats for aging with wood staves - no wooden barrels. Stainless-steel vats for when the grapes are first pressed. From there we went to his tasting room. We tried his rose, one of his whites, 2 reds and I tasted a sweet wine. We enjoyed all of them and bought 4 bottles with plans to share with friends in Bordeaux.
Oh, we talked about the chateau some too. It was in bad shape when they bought the property - roof had a whole in it. That has been repaired and they are systematically going through the building repairing a room per year. They did a large room first which they now host weddings and large gatherings, 2nd room has been turned into an escape room game - seems popular here in France. Pretty sure he said the chateau had neither electricity nor running water. Jeff and I left heading for home by way of Bergerac.
town square of Eyemet - medieval town close to winery; ate lunch here
church in Eyemet
Historic grape press no longer used
Top right is first stage Bottom is concrete vats for aging. We saw this process in Spain in 202
Their Chateau
Bergerac
Is a town in Dordogne/Perigord region of France that is the center of this part of the country's wine culture. Sweet white wines and some reds are what this region is known for. In fact, back at the winery our host had told me that to be considered sweet a wine had to have 22grams of sugar or some such amount. Not sure if there is a true relationship or not, but they are also playing up Cyrano de Bergerac. We saw a couple of statues of him in our quick walk around town. Oh we are on the Dordogne River here so here too were the barge boat rides and a couple of original wooden ones on the riverside which gave us the chance for some photos. Another unique thing is that Bergerac has many half-timbered buildings - definite change from all the stone buildings we have seen in the area.
Gabarre
Half timber houses
Statue of Cyrano de Bergerac with Roxanne in the window above Jeff
La Madeleine
Originally a troglodyte village which is much more interesting than what we both had heard. Later a village in the Middle Ages that was not abandoned until the 1920s. Its original use as a home of troglodytes wasn't discovered until the 1870s. You can't see all of it, but you can walk around parts of it with an audio guide. They start you off talking about the advantages of the area since it is a high rock cliff overlooking the river below. Then you get into the old dwellings in the cliffs - no rock climbing here for us. They talk about how the people lived in different time periods. I think they believe that it was abandoned at one point but refound and reused later during the hundred years war. Above the rock dwelling is the remnant of the castle of Petit Marzet. Who had look outs and a chapel built. So while this area first held people as far back as 12,000 BC its usefulness continued off and on till the 17th century.
I am not giving it the respect it deserves here, We saw early cave dwellings and then further along the wall we saw an impressive wood structure attached to the outside of the cave; we saw a bakers house that had been carved inside the rock walls, we saw an area for the blacksmith who worked with the iron, a town square type area and some look out spots for protection. Protection was the key for this spot for all the years it was inhabited.
Oh troglodyte means people who lived in caves.
Grooves were carved into the rock face to direct water away from the structure and into an urn.
Forge
Structure under the cliff
Community oven
Castle of Petite Marzet
Chapel dedicated to Mary Magdalene
Chapel interior
Font-de-Gaume
From La Madeleine we went a short distance to Font-de-Gaume; a painted cave. This cave was well known to the locals for years, but not until 1901 did anyone realize the paintings in the cave were special. These paintings are multi-colored which is special and they are from the same time period as the original inhabitants of La Madeleine. I wondered if we would enjoy this cave after seeing the Lascaux - answer oh yes. We were in a small group with a guide who would use a laser pointer to outline the drawings and to show where some had been carved first. It was a very interesting hour. Lascaux was a great introduction, but seeing the real thing was really neat. We saw bison - in fact one of their best drawings is of bison. There is also wooly mammoths, reindeer, horses and one man (well face mainly). We did not get to see the whole cave art because some of it is in too tight of spots so we were shown a picture of the lion with the upright tail.
