Another Dordogne Trip Report , with a 12yo in Tow

To continue, we awoke Wednesday morning to the sounds of the setup for the "small" Sarlat market. We ate breakfast at tables for the Bar nestled among the stalls, and even enjoyed an extra cafe au lait.

Even DS had fun meandering among the booths. As planned, we bought supplies for a picnic lunch later in the day: cheese, primarily cabecou; bread; olives stuffed with anchovies; garigette strawberries; a delicious cavaillon melon; a small walnut tart; some choquettes, which are little bread "puffs" made with choux pastry (not very tasty, as it turned out). We ate almost all of it that day!

Our little surprise of the market was another American visitor there - the much-loved-by-Fodorites (hee hee) Rick Steves. He was filming a segment, so we watched him and his film crew check out the market and take 5-second shots of Rick and his writer, Steve, strolling through the market, and the cameraman take inumerable closeup food shots. We did talk to Rick, he was pleasant, and we told him how wonderful our B&B is. Steve told us (oops on us) that Chambre du Glacier is in their book (which we have an old copy of). What was even funnier, later on the trip, we heard some Americans talking to each other about how someone in their group had met Rick Steves in Sarlat!

We had decided today would be a chateau day, so picnic food in tow (we had already purchased wine, soda and water), we headed out.

First was Castelnaud, which houses a medieval weapons museum. As anticipated, DS LOVED the castle, the museum, the displays and even the computer game located in several rooms of the museum. This castle, while somewhat reconstructed, has (per my materials) been left less reconstructed than others. Not a lot of furnishings, though there were some. The English guide was quite good. The focus here was the weapons, primarily the trebuchet. As I had read "Castle in the Backyard," and had described to DS how the authors had problems earlier in the life of some of the trebuchets with stray ammunition landing in their garden, we had fun trying to figure out which house belongs to the authors.

For lunch, we drove on to Beynac, and sat on the river, watching canoers and kayakers float by. We also watched one couple capsize as they tried to land in Beynac. They were ok, but it was a struggle for them to get themselves and the canoe to shore against the current.

I was very pleasantly impressed by Beynac (though I'd liked it previously too). There's been a lot of reconstruction work done here since our 2002 visit, and the English printed guide was very informative and interesting without being too lengthy. The guide, I felt, also did a good job of explaining which time periods the various parts of the catle have been restored to. It's a beautiful castle. We walked up to the castle from the village, not using the secret path that I've read about, but just following the road up for part of the way, then following the pedestrian signs.

After this castle, we let DS choose the next one, and he chose the garden castle, Marqueyssac. It was almost hot, and sunny, so we first had an over-priced drink and ice cream (DS) at the cafe there. While the cafe does have great views, note that they are of the countryside to the north, not of the Dordogne river to the south.

While I think DS enjoyed the gardens, he wasn't thrilled about them. DH and I are not really garden folk, and we thought the whole area (pardon my candor) rather lame. It's not flowers, but primarily various trees and a lot of boxwood. If there are 6 km of paths there, it's because the owners counted every 1 cm of side paths. I think if you're interested in gardens, especially of the more wild variety, then you'd like this. The various kid play areas (I'd warned DS about this) were mostly for younger kids, and while DS wandered about a little, he didn't disappear into the undergrowth to make imaginery forts. Most people could easily walk to the farthest point of the gardens and back (also, there's a shuttle golf cart thing that people can ride back in).

It was early evening by this point. We spent time hanging around in Sarlat, DS had time to himself in the room, and we adults had drinks again.

Dinner was at Le Presidial, and it was a delight. Tucked in a corner of Sarlat, about 3 minutes from place de la Liberte. Again, dining was outside, in a beautiful courtyard area. It was somewhat formal, but not too much so. This was one of the few meals where we heard American voices, but we all behaved ourselves! I won't list everything we had, as it was all very good. I guess we were all more hungry this night; we all (even DS) got the 4-course menus. My foie gras du canard in a terrine (a starter) was especially velvety, as were DS's escargot with duck confit. My sandre (pike-perch) had a fantastic Monbazillac sauce (I refrained from licking the plate), and the boys' side dish of potatoes sarladais was appropriately decadent. Our cheese course was a single cabecou with salad, which was just right. Desserts were less exciting, though made more exciting due to the amount of chocolate that DS managed to spill on himself from his chocolate profiteroles. At the close of the evening, we got to observe some town cats lurk onto the restaurant grounds. They were wild enough that they wouldn't let DS pet them.

Next, DS' birthday day!

Lexma90...looks like we crossed paths in Sarlat. We also saw Rick Steves the day he shots the Wednesday market in Sarlat. We also saw him 3 times earlier in the week in Beynac and La Roque Gageac. I'm sure he thought we were stalking him.

I'm very much enjoying your report and can't wait to read more.

Crazy4travel - I wondered if we were anywhere at the same time; I'm afraid I haven't kept up to date on your trip report, it's been a little busy since our return! While I know it's part of his job, I did feel a tiny bit sorry for Rick Steves. He was trying to do his job, get camera angles, etc., and Americans kept walking up to him to talk!

Thanks for the report. I found it interesting how you were able to combine a countryside trip with lots of interesting activities for your son.

WillTravel - I wasn't sure how much DS would like the little French towns, either, though he enjoyed the time we spent in Amboise when we visited the Loire Valley two years ago. But he really enjoyed it, and said he'd love to return, even spending a week in one place in the area. That's not our usual method of travel, so I was happily surprised.

To continue, Thursday was DS's 12th birthday. It was also the day I'd chosen to visit Font du Gaume. I'd reserved the English tour in advance by email, with no problem. DH and I visited Font du Gaume on our 2002 trip, and I really wanted to show the cave paintings to DS; it is one of the "top 10" special things I've seen in my life.

In planning our trip, however, DS had placed Font du Gaume low on his "must-do" list, below Lascaux II. But after reading a very helpful post here on Fodors comparing the two, he changed his mind and put Font du Gaume on the "must-see" list. As it turned out, we did not visit Lascaux II at all this trip. Maybe next time. (One of our mantras, on this and every trip, "you can't do it all.")

The English tour at Font du Gaume was at 11:30, and we had to be at the ticket office at 11:15. So I planned that we would visit Chateau Puymartin, which is between Sarlat and Les Eyzies/Font du Gaume, first thing. I had confirmed from my guidebooks that the chateau opened at 10 am. So when we showed up at the gate at 9:50, we sadly discovered that the first tour (guided tours only at this chateau) was at 10:30, which wouldn't work. So, after deciding we didn't have enough time for nearby Chateau Commarque either, we drove on to Le Grande Roc, on the other side of Les Eyzies, thinking DS would enjoy the crystal formations in the cave. That guided tour started at 10:40 and lasted 30 minutes.

So I then gave up, and we spent some peaceful time hanging out along the Vezere River, and some less-peaceful time wandering through Les Eyzies (yawn) before our cave reservation.

Font du Gaume was enjoyed and appreciated by all, and was a good contrast to Pech Merle. Font du Gaume is small (a somewhat tight fit at some points) and intimate, and the artistry of the paintings is amazing. I remembered from our first visit, and noted again, the skill the artists must have had to use the contours of the cave walls to help form the animals' features. I was gratified that DS seemed to appreciate all that stuff too. (While we visited Combarelles last time, I didn't push it for this visit, as that tour is in French only, and on our earlier visit, had no English guide.)

After our tour, since we had to drive through Sarlat anyway for our afternoon's destination, we decided to eat lunch at "our" cafe. The cafe was almost full - we had decided it's a popular spot, as it seemed to always have more customers, both locals and tourists, than the other cafes in the square. It provided a reasonably speedy meal, as we had a trek ahead of us.

DS had chosen (it was his birthday) to go to Gouffre du Padirac. DH was grumbling about the drive there, even after being fortified by ice cream from a great little place on rue de la Republic, but even with horrid traffic leaving Sarlat (including a construction detour that allowed me to experience the skills of a French trucker on a tiny side street - luckily I was behind him), it took only little over an hour from Sarlat to Padirac.

It was actually easy to get there, and the signage was GREAT. How many places in the U.S. would have that many signs to a site in the middle of, basically, nowhere? Anyway, we went east to Souillac, then started following the signs for Padirac. We had an older larger-scale map, and a newer smaller-scale map, and the route that the signs led us on was barely on either map. But the roads were in great condition, wider than one lane, and got us there easily.

We could tell, from the size of the parking lots and concession stands, that Gouffre must be very busy in the summer. Now, in mid-May, it was merely somewhat busy, with very few lines at all (another thing DH had been worried about). The first thing you see is a very big hole in the ground; somewhat interesting to look into, but you can't actually see very far down.

Summary of Padirac: Kind of silly and cheesy, but also fun and beautiful. I wouldn't necessarily drive out of my way just to visit this cave, but combined with Rocamadour, and with a 12-year-old, it was a great place to visit.

There are three separate elevators down into Padirac, but you can also walk, which is what we did. Almost from the start, everything is wet, and the walls are dripping. As you descend, from below you can see all of the beautiful bright-green plants growing on the upper portions of the walls, a much better view than from up above.

Once down to the bottom of the stairs/elevators, we walked a short distance to the 11-person boats, propelled by boatmen in back with long poles. The tour is in French, but they handed us (the only English-speaking people in our boat) an English guide, which was sufficient. After the boat trip, which I believe is 1/3 mile long, we disembarked and continued on the walking portion, which included many stairs (300, the signs warned us) up and down. The rest of our group (we were combined with people from another boat) included a large group of elderly people, and they all seemed to handle the stairs with no problems.

The cave had many natural features, including stalagtites and stalagmites, in various shades of cream, pale red and orange, in shapes described as a cake, broccoli, cauliflower. The cave was huge inside (biggest in Europe, maybe?), stories tall, as were some of the formations. The features here, too, were different than either Pech Merle and Font du Gaume, primarily because the cave is so wet. We ended the tour with a boat ride back, then climbed the stairs back out.

We had enough time for a short visit to Rocamadour (which we visited in 2002), which was only about 10 minutes away from Padirac. We admired the town from Hospitalet, and parked up on top. To the delight of DS (and only because of him), we paid a lot of money (was it 4 euros?) to ride a funicular from the top (near the chateau) a relatively short distance down to the level of the church. We spent some time admiring the church and the black madonna, walked through town a little (still a billion tourist stores, though not many tourists), then took the funicular back up to the top (more fun, in the opinion of DS).

To return to Sarlat, we again followed the signs from Rocamadour, on a different route that was even quicker than our route to Padirac. Again, we had time to unwind with a drink at the cafe while DS hung out in the room playing Nintendo.

DS had chosen the restaurant for his birthday dinner, from a list made up by me. He selected l'Esplanade, in Domme, primarily because of the excellent view that I told him it has. I had made the reservation several weeks previously, told them it was DS's birthday, and asked for a table with a view.

It was a wonderful evening. We got there just a few minutes early, to wander around Domme a bit and admire the views. There weren't many other dinner guests, just enough to fill the lovely terrace of l'Esplanade, and we had an incomparable view down the valley of the Domme.

The food and the service were both very good. I would rate the food on par with Presidial, though the view and other things (read on) made for a very special evening. I especially loved the presentation and combination of my grilled foie gras, which was served with three small squares of gelled raspberry (like a fruit gel), each topped with a fresh raspberry. DH's lamb filet was also notable.

As we ate, I occasionally heard rumbling in the distance. It became obvious that it was a distant storm, off to the east. DH reassured us that weather travels west to east, so we'd be ok. Well, this storm travelled to the west. So throughout our dinner, starting with the amuse bouche, first course, second course, a huge storm created for us our very own sound-and-light show. It was magnificent, with no wind or rain, just the lightening across the entire sky and the almost-constant roar of the thunder. Our waiter had just brought out their huge cheese cart when the first drops began to fall. DH grabbed the most important thing - our bottle of wine, and we and the staff quickly scuttled everything else inside. Only our table and another weren't under their huge awning, so they had time to move us inside before moving the rest of the tables. BTW, l'Esplanade's cheese cart is the best I saw during our entire trip.

We then received a second show that evening, when our waiter helped us celebrate DS's birthday. The waiter brought out an 8-inch chocolate ganache cake, mounted on a stand, topped with a beautiful array of fresh fruit and a large card saying "Bon Anniversaire." And 12 lit candles. And four sparklers. It was incredible! Then the grandma of the restaurant came out and sang to DS what I assume was the French version of "Happy Birthday," only much prettier.

By the time we were done, the storm had mostly passed, and by the time we were back to Sarlat, it wasn't raining at all. It was a very special evening.

Lexma, what a special birthday for your son, topped by natural fireworks! Thanks for sharing.

Good morning, lexma. I will read this later and respond - I can't wait. Thanks.

Loving this! I, too, thought L'Esplanade was a wonderful restaurant, although it has received some less-than-stellar comments here...will stay tuned. Thank you for taking the time to write.

I love traveling with my kids, so your report is so helpful. When we were in the area, Font de Gaume was closed and I hadn't known ahead of time to make reservations. I sounds great so I guess we'll have to go back, kids and all. The birthday dinner sounds wonderful too - my son has a summer birthday - sounds like a plan!

It's a mystery about the English tour at Font de Gaume. 3 of the 4 couples thought they were getting an English tour and there seemed to be no other reason to ask our nationality other than to see if we were all English. As soon as the one couple said they were French, she said it would be a French tour.

Rick Steves has built a little travel empire on his name and being recognized. I'm sure it occasionally interferes with his shooting schedule but he relies on it for future business. His show on behind the scenes of filming his travel show was facinating. His schedule is very intense and he often works into the wee hours of the morning with script revisions and looking at film footage.

Your dinner at Esplande in Domme sounds wonderful..how nice that they made your son feel so special...a very nice memory for your family.

I enjoying your report. It's amazing that timing plays such a part in your impressions on a place. Gouffre de Padric was very busy in the morning. The lost was empty when we arrived and when we came out it was full of tour buses and cars.

It took us 20 minutes to find parking at L'hospitalet...and it was swarming with tourists. Both of these were on a Friday so I'm not sure if that's one of the busier days.

Can't wait to hear more....

Lexma90,
I'm enjoying your report very much, especially the details and your impressions. Your descriptions of your son's birthday dinner were wonderful- what a great birthday!

We're planning a stay in Sarlat this fall, and your report is very helpful. I'm looking forward to the rest.

More, more!!

I'd just like to comment on the garden at Marqueyssac, which several people have found not so interesting . I guess people's opinions vary, but we live here and we think it's wonderful. We were there on Sunday for the first time in a few years, and had a great time admiring the 'buis' garden, all trimmed into interesting flowing shapes. We actually met the man who designed the restoration 10 years ago, which was particularly interesting. Teh garden was planted in teh late 19th centruy, but had been abandoned for some time, and so had to have serious re-working.

If you do go, I would definitely suggest you take the bottom path along the cliff top to the 'Belvedere' point of view. The path has amazing views over the river and the other chateaux - Beynac, Castelnaud, Fayrac, with signs giving a short history of what you see. THer are at least 6 km. of paths going back and forth through the woods. We did that, and then took the main path, which is admittedly not so interesting, back to the chateau and the tea room. They do have ice cream cones as well as sit down service hand made ice cream and patisseries, rather than factory style, which accounts for some of the cost.

Anyway, we would definitely encourage people to go - but that's just my opinion.

The English-speaking tour of Font du Gaume, I agree it's rather a mystery. My tour confirmation didn't say whether it would be in English or not. On our way to our attempt at Grande Roc, I stopped in at Font du Gaume, and they confirmed then that the tour would be in English, and indeed, everyone in our group was American.

I noticed the timing matter in reading your trip report, as well. As you could see, we visited Padirac in the later afternoon, and then Rocamadour after that. There weren't many people in St Cirq Lapopoie when we were there, either, and that was mid-day. Padirac would have been less fun with tons of other people.

Carlux - I agree with you, that some folks will really enjoy the gardens. I should have paid more attention to my own advice, and noted to our family that we've never toured gardens on any other trip, so maybe that's just something we're not interested in.

And fun4all4, feel free to ask questions, and even email me directly if you'd like.

I'll post our last day in the Dordogne later today, as well as our short time in Paris!

Lex, I loved reading your trip report, and I just want to add something more to Carlux' thoughts on Marqueyssac, which I agree with. We always explain to our guests that calling it "gardens" is a bit misleading. I describe it as more of a park, with trails and lovely views. It's a place to go for a woodsy stroll. The actual gardens aren't bad, but are fairly small and mostly boxwood. For true garden-lovers, I usually recommend the gorgeous formal gardens of Eyrignac and the wilder, floral gardens of Cadiot. But Marqueyssac is more of a woodsy park walk, with boxwood gardens and tea room as a bonus. Glad you enjoyed your visit!

I enjoyed both Marqueyssac and Eyrignac gardens. The first for the views and the latter for the workmanship. My appreciation of gardens comes from the fact that I kill everything in my own. I am in awe of anyone that can sculpt bushes into such interesting shapes

Our last day in the Dordogne.

You may have noticed that we didn't go on a canoe trip, and we didn't on this last day, either. For us, it was just a matter of how to spend our time, and the concensus was that we'd rather visit more castles and prehistoric sites. I was also a little (possibly unduly) concerned about the canoeing, after seeing the couple capsize. DS is not a strong swimmer, and the river is wide (compared to the rivers we have near home) and the current a good one. Maybe on another trip, or maybe a canoe trip on the Vezere, which is smaller.

Anyway, we began Friday by stocking up on food for our train trip to Paris the next day. We bought cabecou (local chevre) and rocamadour from a cheese stall in the covered market (the lady there was SO nice, and practiced her English on me, with much laughter on both sides), and ANOTHER bag of chocolate walnuts from a different stall in the same market. Another melon and some other fruit from a store on the rue de la Republique. Oh, and stops at two patisseries on rue de la Republique.

Then on to one of the great successes of the trip, and I owe it (like Padirac) to you Fodorites - THANK YOU. Chateau de Commarque is indeed a delight, and even more interesting that I'd heard it described here. Commarque is located in a field through some deep woods (keep driving, it's really there). It was actually not just a chateau, but a "fortified village" consisting of some chevaliers (knights) and the family that owned the castle. So there are ruins of several buildings. AND in the limestone on which the village is built, a cave dwelling (they called it a "cluzeau") that still has the sleeping and storage niches, to which have been added various items as they would have been used by early villagers. Very cool. The English guide here was probably one of the best, which to me means it's in good English, and complete without being too lengthy. Also very interesting were the photographs of the Chateau when the current (I think) owners bought it in 1966 - most of what is currently there was underground. Then other pictures showed it prior to some reconstruction work. But not too much has been done, which I like. After too much reconstruction, it starts to seem kind of fake to me. But, for example, you could see how the wood floors were constructed in these early buildings. This was one of our castle highlights.

We decided to have a late lunch, and fit in another site before we ate. So up to Le Roque Christophe, which I hadn't read much about. I don't know why not, as we all thought it was (again) very interesting and well-presented. Keep in mind that all throughout the region, as you pass limestone cliffs, you'll see hollowed-out places high up, and sometimes little holes as well. All of those were homes to people at one time or another.

La Roque Christophe was a cliffside village in prehistoric times, and more recently, from about 1000 (or earlier?) until 1500 or 1600 (sorry, too lazy to check my notes). The reconstruction that's been done, and the displays there now, are primarily from the 1200-1300s. The guide was good, with numbered signs. In one portions were reconstructions of medieval building equipment. Very intriguing to all of us, but especially of course DS. There was also a kitchen as it would have been in 1000, and one display (here's the kitsch) from prehistory times, complete with roaring bear.

I couldn't help but compare this complex to Mesa Verde; there are definite similarities. And to be sure, people lived in cliffside for the same purpose of safety.

We headed back to Les Eyzies (St-Leon-Vezere is on my list for the next trip) for lunch, to a little creperie-pizzeria that we ate at on our previous trip, Le Mentalo. We had a fun time, ordering crepes for all, plus pate de foie gras (for me). Only in France - in a little, casual cafe, I received not just two slices of house-made pate, but they were arranged artfully on top of fresh mixed greens, with little tomatoes and cornichons as garnish.

We then took the pretty drive from Les Ezyies, through Compagne, to the Dordogne River, then on to our last chateau of the trip, Les Milandes, to see the falconry show at 4:30. As previously noted, the chateau itself is not so interesting; we probably spent 25 minutes viewing the chateau. The nude pictures of Josephine Baker were artfully done, but she was indeed nude! DS loved her bathrooms, decorated based on her favorite perfume bottles.

The falconry show was great fun, even though it was in French. At the back of the English guide to the chateau was one-page description of the falconry show, which helped, and I was able to translate some of the commentary. Ten or so of the people watching, including DS, got to hold one of the raptors, and it also jumped onto DS' head.

We had time after that for short stop in La Roque Gageac, for a cold drink and to gaze at the town (but not enough time to walk through it, as we wanted some time to hang out in Sarlat as well).

Our last dinner in the Dordogne was at La Meynardie, much recommended here on Fodors, and (again) deservedly so. It was an easy drive, though I'd say that it took 25 minutes from Sarlat. It's just past Salignac, to the left. Signs for the restaurant began appearing before Salignac, and we just followed them, and kept following them, to the bucolic location nestled in trees and fields.

The restaurant terrace was almost full, and is well prepared for the weather (which was good, as it was threatening rain again), covered scenically with vines, but also with a less-attractive but utilitarian clear plastic covering (which, because it was covered with the vines, was barely noticeable). The view from the restaurant was across a gravel courtyard, to some other stone farm buildings. An exploratory trip by DS indicated, by smell at least to him, that it housed horses.

The food and evening were both delightful. DH and I each got the 4-course menu; DS got only one course, and we each shared one course with him. I felt bad about this after I ordered, and I had even told the waiter that we'd share some of our food with our son, after discussions here (and comments by me) about sharing menus. But the logic was that neither DH or DS was hungry enough for their own first course, and while I wanted the menu, I didn't really want a dessert that night. I justify it (while still feeling guilty) by reminding myself that DS is still only a kid, and that he did have a main course.

A pre-amuse bouche offering on tiny pieces of bread included a small slice of blood sausage. That about reached the limit of DS' adventures in food, though he said he liked it. My first course was (again) a terrine of foie gras, the best I had on the entire trip, and a beautiful presentation. DH's starter of risotto was unusual, with a very fishy taste. Even now, I'm not sure that I liked it. DS had a fantastic duck confit, served in a casserole, on top of pommes de terre Sarladais and cepes. DH and I each had medaillons d'agneau, also great and very tender. I had decided on this trip to eat more cheese, so I tended to prefer that over dessert. Le Meynardie's cheese cart was better than any I've seen in the U.S. in terms of taste, but not as good as l'Esplanade's. I'd actually heard of most of Meynardie's cheeses! And my dessert, a chocolate collection, was chosen with DS in mind - I ate about one bite of each item and he finished them off.

Family life intrudes (plus a visit to my favorite restaurant ever), so I'll finish later...

Great report. Thanks and I'm hungry now.

This is starting to get freaky Lexma...we just missed you at Chateau Milandes. We saw the 3:00pm Falconry show and wandered around the grounds until about 4pm...looking at the other birds of prey in cages.

It sounds like you had a wonderful and most facinating Friday. I have new ideas for my next trip which hopefully won't be too far off.

Great report full of very useful info! I really appreciate all the details, especially the comparisons among the various castles, caves and restaurants. It really helps us choose and prioritize.

I have our reservations for Pech Merle, Lascaux, and Font de Gaume. We are also planning on Padirac. I am sure some of our experiences (such as in St. Cirq la Popie or Rocamadour or the caves) will be different since we will be there in July with more crowds.

In planning our meals, I agree that it is hard to have a full lunch and dinner - both timewise and because it is simply too much food. The one day we have planned a longer lunch (hopefully at the walnut mill in Martel), I think we will plan on a simple or picnic dinner. The rest of the days I think we will stick with salad/crepe type stuff for lunch and plan for a nicer dinner.

We will have 4 dinners once we arrive in Pont de Cause. One night we will plan on a picnic or casual dinner, one at Le Presidial in Sarlat, one at La Belle Etoile, and one ??? Maybe in Domme? I don't want to drive very far from the Beynac area - I am afriad La Meynardie is farther than I want to go. Any other thoughts?

Are you planning to post any pictures?

OK, gotta run ... last day of school and all sorts of activities going on.

Thanks again!

Great report, Lex! When I first started reading it, I had to double-check that it wasn't Crazy4Travel's excellent report that I was somehow re-reading.

And yes, you are making me hungry, too!

fun4all4 - Thoughts on that other dinner; I can definitely understand the desire to not drive too much after dinner!

In Domme, other than l'Esplanade, LaTourdeCause recommended Cabanoix et Chataignes, on 3 rue Geoffroy de Vivans. I have the following notes, which I think were from LaTourdeCuase: Casual. A fantastic foie gras selection -- six classic presentations to choose from. Or you can choose from a list of entrées and plats that include dishes influenced by a number of different cuisines...lamb tagine with prunes, gazpacho with fresh mozzarella cubes, avocado and pommelo salad with thyme sorbet. Presentations are lively and imaginative, and service is charming and consistent. Sorry, no duck confit. Has a terrace.

On our 2002 trip, we had dinner one night at Le Relais des Cinq Châteaux, in Vitrac. My recollection is that it was "pretty good." I do remember the great views, after the sun went down, of the various castles all lit up at night.

Another possibility that I had in my notes is Tournepique, a local restaurant on the bridge over the Dordogne under the castle of Castelnaud. Basque tapas. Hang out on the far terrace that overlooks the river below and the lit-up castle above you. Not touristy. My notes show that this information came from StCirq & LaTourdeCause.

A picnic meal can be very nice - we had great fun buying ours at the market! And for planning purposes, we bought 2 cabecou, 1 rocamadour and a medium slice of something, I think tomme. At our lunch, we finished all of it except a little of the tomme!

Am I going to post pictures? Hmmm. I'll have to rely on my son to do that - I'm computer-savvy, but not in the realm of pictures. Also, we'll only be able to post some of them. In my report, I left out our "adventure" at Beynac where DH dropped the camera on the castle floor (stone, of course). You can guess what that might do to a camera. We did buy a replacement, but it was non-digital.

Baasque tapas at Le Tournepique? Well, I know it changed management a few years ago, so perhaps....but it used to be a very local hangout with very local cuisine. Guess I better revisit it!

I forget what the consensus was on the Jardin de L'Epicerie between Beynac and St-Cyprien. I know two years ago it was all boarded up, but then I think Stu Dudley declared it open again. Anyone know? That would be a great place for dinner if it's in business still/again.

StCirq - My notes on Tournepique were based on something you posted, possibly long ago, so if it's changed management, your info is definitely more correct! (There was also another restaurant I'd written down for our 2002 trip and not made it, Les Fontenilles, to have a foie gras sandwiches, that you said had new management, and gotten worse.)

On Jardin d’Epicure, I didn't mention it because this April, LaTourdeCause posted that it had closed. We haven't been there, either, but I had collected notes on this restaurant, too.

FUN4ALL4 -- We're really looking forward to meeting you in July, and it's such fun to read about your plans. I think you've got a great visit in store, thanks to all your research and the great help of all the wonderful Fodorites! I'd suggest tying in your Commarque visit to your Font de Gaume tour -- will you be on the morning or afternoon tour at FdG?
Also, you might try ordering "The Duellists" from NetFlix to watch before you go -- if the first part fails to hold your son's attention (it can get a bit drawn out) just fast-forward and watch the last 15 minutes or so. The last dueling scene was shot on location at Chateau Commarque 31 years ago -- before restoration had begun (or during the very early phases). The rest of the movie was filmed in and around Sarlat. It's Ridley Scott's first feature-length film.

CARLUX -- Jardin d'Epicure is indeed closed, and for sale, as is the restaurant at Hotel Centenaire. Best news is that the poissonniere from Centenaire has moved into Le Grand Bleu in Sarlat (across from the train station) and is now serving the most extraordinary 29€ menu we've ever experienced. I'll bet you a sou that he earns a Michelin star or two in the next five years! Must try!

And if you want to try Le Tournepique in Castelnaud, contact me and we'll try to meet you there. We really, really like its friendly, fun atmosphere and great food. The tapas menu is great, but they have good "a la carte" selections as well. It would be great to meet you. Maybe we could pull together a dinner out while Fun4All4 is here.

lexma (and everyone else), thanks again for the detailed replies.

I should have been as diligent in detailing my question - I had Cabanoix et Chataigne as my first choice for dinner in Domme, but they are closed Tuesday/Wednesday (thanks, LaTourdeCause for your website info)which were the nights I was looking to fill. So, I may just have to take it off my list. L'Esplanade sounds wonderful, but after 2 nights at Moulin de Cambelong and a couple of nights for Le Presidial and La Belle Etoile, I am thinking something a little more casual would be better.

Le Tournepique sounds perfect - I had written it somewhere there was a tapas place, but forgot about it. LaTourdeCause - I would be delighted if it worked out to have a mini- GTG at Le Tournepique.

If I move around a couple of the meals, trying to still take into account the rest of our itinerary, perhaps we could do the following:

Tuesday - picnic or casual such as L'Eole for steak frites.
Wednesday - Le Tournepique
Thursday - La Belle Etoile
Friday - Le Presidial

La_Tour_de_Cause- we are excited to meet you too! I will definitely rent The Duellists. Our Font de Gaume visit is at 11:30. We will consider Commarque for that day and talk with you further once we are there.

OK, I am beginning to feel pretty set and am getting very psyched for our trip. Thanks again!

fun4all4...We enjoyed our meals at Belle Etoile but I don't think it get rave reviews from the research we did. We originally planned to eat lunches out and dinner at our gite but in the end didn't really feel like cooking. We enjoyed the town of La Roque Gageac and it was close to home for us...that's what motivated our choice to eat there.

I only mention it as I wouldn't want you to miss out on a special dinner elsewhere because of our recommendation. In comparison, I'm sure there are many other choices that may get higher praise.

Thanks, C4T, not to worry. It was on our list before you even included it in your report. We have seen numerous recommendations for it so no pressure on you! La Belle Etoile will be close to "home" for us, too, which is one of the reasons it made our "short" list.

Another factor to consider, for your picnic day, try to have your picnic with items you buy from a local market, if you're planning to visit one. For example, we had a picnic lunch Wednesday, because we'd been to the Wed. Sarlat market. I envy you your upcoming trip!!!

Thanks, lexma! We will picnic lunch on Friday after a market visit. The Tuesday dinner is after a travel day which is why we may pick up some cheese/wine if we can OR may go with the casual place right by the hotel.


I will post a report and pictures so you can share our trip so no need for envy, ok? Do you have photos?

Thanks again for all the work you did on this report - your details are amazing.

I had dinner in Domme last fall at Cabenoix et Chataigne; if you want to read about it you could scroll down in my (long) trip report..

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34894706



On my more recent stop in the Dordogne I liked Table du Terroir very very much, for anyone planning to be in the Montignac/Lascaux area.

Lexma: We are planning a trip to Dordogne /Lot area for Sept.2008 and also to Barcelona. At this point we are trying to find our options for flights (using FF miles if possible) maybe flying into and out of Barcelona, I noticed that you drove to Dordogne area. How long of a drive and would you do it again? How many miles? We love your trip report. Pictures are beautiful--What kind of a camera did you use? We are in the market for a new one.

nsalerno - First, I'm glad you liked the pictures, but you're probably referring to fun4all4's pictures. I didn't post any, partly due to my DH dropping his camera on the stone floor at Beynac castle!

Yes, I would do our itinerary again, though it turned out a bit differently, time-wise, than I thought it would. If you click on my name (you might already have) you'll see my report on Barcelona, etc.

In summary of our trip, we flew into Barcelona and out of Paris. The driving part in total wasn't far, and we tried to not drive too far on any given day. At the end, we drove the car to Brieve and took the train to Paris for a 1 1/2-day stay there. We have a hard time going to France and not spending at least a little time in Paris!

As you may have seen from my trip report, we took a train (about 3 hours) from Barcelona into France, picking up at Perpignan to avoid a huge drop fee due to picking up in one country and dropping in another.

We really wanted to visit the Dali Museum in Figueres, and I wanted to visit some smaller cities/towns in northern Spain, so after picking up our rental car, we drove back into Spain for the rest of that day, visiting Girona (very cute) and spending the night in Figueres (less cute but more real, and the Dali museum was very fun).

The timing "issue" arose the next day, and wasn't a problem, just one of those things that happens on vacation when you make choices on how to spend your time. We were late in leaving Figueres, as we stopped for a wonderful, local-type breakfast at a chocolateria. Our plan for that day was to visit several Cathar castles in the Langeudoc region of France, and possibly also Carcassonne. But by the time we left Figueres, it was late (probably around 10), so even though it didn't take real long to drive from Figueres to Perpeytuese, it was a later start that I had envisioned. So we took our time visiting two castles, but didn't get time that day to travel to Carcassonne.

The following day, prior to the trip, I had several possibilities in mind. Visiting more Cathar castles in the Carcassonne area, or going west to Foix, Mirepoix and the grotte du Niaux. Partly because I got sick that night, and partly because we didn't make it to Carcassonne the day before, we skipped the Foix route. We had an enjoyable day (except that I still wasn't feeling too great) visiting other Cathar castles and Carcassonne. We will definitely visit the Languedoe again, to visit more Cathar castles and the areas nearer Foix. (Possibly including it with visiting the Pyrenees.)

It was a bit of a stretch to include the Languedoc area in this trip; one could easily and quickly drive from Barcelona/Figueres/Perpignan directly to Carcassonne, then on to the Dordogne/Lot area. But I wanted to check out the Languedoc, knowing that it would be a brief visit and kind of a trial of that area. We all loved the area, and found the castle ruins fascinating.

You asked how long the drive was, and how many miles. I didn't really keep track. If you read all of my piece-meal reports, you could then use mappy.com to chart the mileages. I find mappy.com generally reliable, though on the autoroute our times tend to be shorter than mappy.com says, and on side roads, a bit longer than mappy.com says.

In your plans for your trip, if you're going up to the Dordogne, I would definitely NOT then travel back to Barcelona to end your trip. Try to fly open jaws, from either Toulouse or Bordeaux. How well that works will depend on the carriers serving the U.S. city you're coming from. We wanted to fly Lufthansa, which at the time we booked our flights, flew direct Denver-Frankfurt (now they also fly direct Denver-Munich, I'm happy to say), and from there to only certain French cities, so that limited our choices. And we decided we wanted to visit Paris anyway! Also, we visited Bordeaux relatively recently, so we felt we didn't need to do that again so soon. But definitely consider that.

Thanks for your reply. I did confuse the pictures from another fodorite as yours. I've been reading so much trying to comprehend it all. We planned on flying into Barcelona and then either driving or taking the train to the Dordogne region-stay there in Dordogne for 10 days or so and then fly to southern Spain (Andulusia) for about 10 days and then back to Barcelona to fly home. We need to research the flight like you said-it's just more complicated than our France trip last year. We flew into Paris then for 5 days and then took the TGV to Provence for 10 days and then TGV to Dijon for 4 days. Then TGV to Paris and flew home to Connecticut. It just seems that this trip to France/ Spain will be more difficult to find flights, trains,etc

nsalerno,

You will not find any cheap flights from the Drodogne to sourthern Spain, but I believe that there is one discount airline flying from either Toulouse or Bordeaux. You can check it out at
http://www.flylc.com/directall-en.asp

I forgot to add the destination of the cheap flight: Madrid.