Hi moolyn

Glad to see you got your report started and looking forward to the rest! Provence is certainly in the works for one our trips in the next few years

Oooh Moolyn - excellent. I am want to visit the Dordogne so much! I was sorry I couldn't fit it into my last trip.

Glad you found gluten-free ok in France. As a vegetarian, I relate to special dietary concerns.

I can't wait to hear more

Cheers,

Murphy

More more more!!!! May be going next year and am eager for info..

Oh boy, I'm looking forward to this one. I've had a yen to visit the Dordogne for a long time.

Jill, Murphy, Chicagolori and Road Crazy,

Thank you all for the encouragement! I'll post again as soon as I get the picture sharing straightened out.

Jill, Provence is great but the Dordogne is even better. I hope my report convinces you.

Murphy, your reports on France and Greece inspired me. You'd love the Dordogne. It's full of friendly people as you'll see from my report.

Moolyn, looking forward to your excellent adventure.

Cant wait to read more!

Looking forward to hearing about your adventure. We are booked to go to the Dordogne and Lot next May.

jamikins and crazy4travel, I'll try not to disappoint.

laartista, I actually thought of you on our last day when we visited Bleu de Lectoure and saw all the art supplies made from woad pigment: pastels, inks, dyes and paints. I bought one tube of glorious bleu aquarelle plus a gorgeous blue linen scarf!

Sorry about the delay. The next section was ready to roll but my photo link didn't work. Here goes:

It Started Badly

First of all, my hairdresser talked me into layers instead of my usual blunt cut and my hair looked straggly no matter how I tried to tame it. She had promised to fix my hair it if I didn’t like it but there was no time to return that last week. Besides, how do you reattach missing chunks of hair? I packed my large Tilley sunhat.

Then the hotel we had booked in Conques, Moulin de Camberlong where Ira so happily stayed, cancelled our long standing reservation completely and gave it to someone else when I tried to tie up loose ends by enquiring about the demi- pension we’d requested but which hadn’t been confirmed. After unsuccessfully contacting several other recommended hotels in the area on my own, I decided to take a chance and accepted the offer of the very apologetic Inns of France booking service for an alternative hotel an hour or so north of Conques in the Cantal region.

Our flights were delayed both in Toronto and in Frankfurt where we changed planes. Then, in cold, rainy Frankfurt we had to deplane after finally boarding and wait on a bus until a replacement aircraft arrived. My gluten free meals were horrible on the overseas flight and I couldn’t sleep even with an inflatable pillow, earplugs and melatonin. There was no gluten-free meal for me at all on the much delayed flight to Toulouse. For a belated breakfast I made do with an apple, some almonds I carry for emergencies and a bottle of decent reisling. Okay, so it wasn’t totally bad but I was still pretty sleep deprived and grumpy.

The Europecar desk in Toulouse had a long line up whereas all the other car rental places had no customers. We hoped this was a good sign but they didn’t have the sedan we had booked so our luggage would be concealed and we were given a hatchback instead. With the delays it was far too late to take one of the more interesting possible routes to Albi planned for us by Stu Dudley so we had to forfeit any idea of the Gorges de Aveyron. Plus it was too late to have lunch in Castelnau de Montmiral or anywhere else for that matter. Next time.

But Then The Sun Came Out

Our hatchback turned out to be very spacious and the luggage compartment was covered. There were even shelves and drawers under the front seats to conceal maps and guide books. It wasn’t pretty or peppy but it proved to be very stingy with gas. We had no trouble escaping from the airport by simply following the signs first towards central Toulouse then towards Albi. By the time we were on the main road, passing between rolling hills under a sunny sky, we were smiling.

Albi was an excellent first day destination, just over an hour’s drive on very good roads. We had to stop and ask for directions to find our hotel in the old town but my rusty high school français did the job. Our hotel, le Vieil Alby, a logis de France, was really just a restaurant with rooms but it was well equipped, quite comfortable, friendly and very reasonable. Our car was taken away and parked in a garage nearby by Sicard père. Sicard fils, the chef, showed us to our room. Our room looked quite pretty after we flung open the blue shutters. A quick wash and we were off to explore the town. Thanks to our numerous flight delays we had managed to avoid the dreaded lunch closings!

Staying in the old town gave us immediate access to the picturesque narrow streets and tiny stores. Toulouse Lautrec was born just a few doors away from ours. We walked slowly through the Cathedral Ste-Cecile and the Toulouse Lautrec Museum next door in the Palais de la Berbie. Even my totally inartistic husband enjoyed his paintings and prints. We relaxed for a while in the gardens between the palace and the river, admiring the view, and then headed back to the hotel to shower and change before dinner.

Dinner was more than good enough to make up for our lack of sleep and poor meals since we’d left home. For 35 euros we could choose four courses and two glasses of gaillac wine each, white or red. The restaurant filled quickly but no one was smoking and the tables were nicely spaced. My husband pointedly mentioned that he was the only one wearing a jacket, at my suggestion, oops! The food was all excellent but the highlights were my terrine of lotte and scallops and DH’s roast veal. Afterwards there was brebis, chevre du tarn and roquefort plus three desserts each including ice cream with almonds and some tiny, sweet strawberries garnished with candied orange peel and peppercorns!

In spite of the strange looking bolster replacing pillows, the bed must have been extremely comfortable because we both slept for ten solid hours, even with the windows and shutters wide open! At breakfast I really lucked out. While DH had the usual baguette and jam plus yogurt, I was served yogurt and four different cheeses including something soft and creamy in a pot. We both had lots of good coffee, mine with hot milk, and a special, pure apple juice called puycelsi. Then we rushed off to buy picque-nicque supplies in the nearby Saturday morning market before we had to load our retrieved car and check out.

One more thing: away from Toronto humidity and disciplined with the purple, ceramic coated, dual voltage, curling iron I had bought specially for the trip, my hair started behaving beautifully! Even my hair loved France!

Since there’s no way I can possibly describe the beauty of all the villages and the countryside we explored I’m including photos with each section to save us all thousands of inadequate words. I’ve drastically edited each of my albums but it still adds up to a lot of photos overall so just look at the ones that interest you. Or just look at the pictures and ignore the report!

Albi Photos: http://tinyurl.com/k583y

Next: the Lot Valley, Conques and the Cantal

moolyn...I am a fellow Canadian and a captive fan already. I was so worried about the way your trip started but since your hair love France (LOL)..I have the feeling that things go better from here.

I can't believe that hotel in Conques cancelled your reservation at the last minute like that. How horrible!!

Your photos are lovely...I can't wait to hear more.

Hi moolyn,

Great photographs! And no worries... your hair looks lovely
My hair always likes Europe better too. Alas, DH does not consider this one of my more valid reasons for wanting to move there

Moolyn thank you so much for sharing your photos! I love photos! Albi looks lovely - I've written down St. Cecile...what an amazing building

Oyi - how annoying about the reservation.

Did you drive through Chely-du-Tarn near Albi by any chance? I have a screensaver of it on my computer and I've always wanted to get there....

Keep the trip report coming.

Cheers,

Murphy

Hi M,

>Moulin de Cambelong where Ira so happily stayed, cancelled our long standing reservation completely and gave it to someone else ....<

Oh, my! That's awful.

>I decided to take a chance and accepted the offer of the very apologetic Inns of France booking service...<

Good for them.

Glad you enjoyed your visit after such a rocky start.

Jill, that was sweet of you to say my hair looks lovely but that wasn't my hair. No pictures of me in that first batch. I wouldn't mind looking like the woman I think you thought was me.

Murphy, we didn't explore the Tarn at all. From the first I knew this trip would just be a sampling to whet our appetite for next time and it sure did.

CRAZY4YRAVEL, nice to meet another Canadian! There's quite a few of us here. As you suspect, the rest of the trip went much better but it wasn't boring. There's still some excitement to come.

Ira and Crazy, I was quite distraught at the time by the cancellation. It was to be our splurge night, balanced by le Vieil Albi the night before. As it happened, le Vieil Alby was a pleasant surprise. And as for the last minute change, I decided to look upon it as an adventure rather than a disaster.

Inns of France didn't authorize the cancellation and were actually quite embarrased. Moulin de Concasty cancelled the reservation, they said, because they thought we wouldn't want a room if we couldn't have demi-pension. It was a bit bizarre anyway as the website clearly offers demi-pension. My guess is that hotels pay a fee to Inns of France for booking and don't want to pay a fee for meal arrangements as well. I contacted the hotel directly, using an email address kindly supplied by Inns of France, but they never responded.

Ira, how did you book?

The Lot Valley and Conques

It was 11:00 by the time we left Albi so we decided to forego Cordes (next time!) and head straight to the Lot, bypassing Rodez which looked lovely from afar. We pulled off the highway below Chateau Bertholene for our first of two picque-nique lunches, fresh chevre and brebis with strawberries for me and a ham and brebis sandwich for DH. Stu Dudley’s itinerary brought us to the Lot at St. Geniez-d’Olt then mostly along the Lot River through one lovely little village after another. St. Eulalie, our first Most Beautiful Village of France (MBVF) of this trip, enticed us for a quick walk around but we just drove slowly through St. Come and Espallion. Estang also lured us to stop and explore and take many photos.

We missed the Lot River route after Entraygues but enjoyed our diversion along the scenic road to Montsalvy then through some pretty villages and back down the mountain to rejoin the Lot River road just before the bridge for the highway to Conques. Conques was not the freestanding hill town I expected, visible for miles around. It’s tucked into the side of a mountain and is actually quite hidden even from the main road below, at least from the direction we came. But, in spite of the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere, it was thronged with cars and people.

Perhaps this would be the place to mention that the vast majority of tourists we saw were French. Or perhaps heard would be the better word. Brits formed the second largest group and many were residents or had second homes there. Germans and Dutch came next with North Americans last.

We drove through Conques first then looked for the Stu’s bench overlooking the village. We never found it but we did find a very nicely situated picque-nicque table, perfect for our second small lunch of the day. While we were there, a man with impressive camera equipment arrived and started taking pictures. I admit I enjoyed watching him as much as the view. See photo. He turned out to be a professional photographer taking photos for the next tourist brochure for the department. Like me, he found that the sun was not quite right to shoot pictures from that angle but, like me, he had to take them when he was able to be there! Before we left Conques we found the Moulin de Camberlong just to see the place where we weren’t spending the night as planned. Next time!

Lot photos: http://tinyurl.com/j5553
Conques photos: http://tinyurl.com/j8bfg

Auberge de Concasty

Our hotel was located about an hour north of Conques in the pastoral Cantal region. The Auberge de Concasty, a Relais du Silence, turned out to be much nicer than it looked on the website and we discovered that our room had been upgraded. It was very large with a sitting area and a balcony plus a bath room as well as a shower room (his and hers) and a separate toilet. We opened a bottle of rose to drink on our balcony and admired our surroundings until it was time to eat. We forgot all about the late, lamented Moulin de Camberlong.

There was no choice for dinner but fortunately for me it turned out to be mostly gluten free. It started with our very first fois gras experience. I liked it but DH, not so much. The roast veal was prepared differently than the night before so DH was quite happy to have it again. The cheese trolley was very impressive and our waiter informed us that they were the best cheeses in France. Since DH doesn’t much like cheese either I got to sample six and loved them all! In fact, I have yet to meet a French cheese I don’t like. The only thing I couldn’t have was the layered ice cream meringue concoction for dessert since the almonds were glazed in flour but I was content with strawberries and plain ice cream. I got up the courage to take photos of the fois gras and cheese courses but forgot to take the other ones. I got braver as the trip went along and I saw other people taking food photos too. It was quite cool eating on the terrace so DH went back to our room for his jacket, the last time I saw him wearing it on this trip.

During dinner we started talking to a family with two young daughters sitting at the next table. The wife is a flight attendant for Air France and flies to Canada quite often so we exchanged email addresses and even discussed exchanging homes. They live near Geneva. She loves Canada and is bringing her whole family to Toronto and Montreal later this summer.

Auberge de Concasty photos: http://tinyurl.com/zy7gr
Auberge de Concasty website: http://tinyurl.com/ofy6b

Driving in the Lot and Dordogne

French roads are well maintained, even the minor ones, and traffic isn’t heavy in June. We were never quite able to figure our why some roads are marked scenic on the Michelin maps while others, every bit as scenic, are not. M. Michelin seems to prefer windy roads with a view or roads through wooded areas. Our version of a Michelin map would for sure have many more green lines!

We learned almost immediately that it’s better to simply look for the name of your destination or the places en route than to try to follow highway numbers. That’s partly because the numbers aren’t very prominent but also because the numbers on the roadside are sometimes different than the number printed on the maps. And often the highway number changes from department to department.

Our experience with roundabouts in Britain came in handy. We treat them like clocks. As we enter, at six o’clock, I call out the corresponding time to leave. Twelve o’clock is straight through. Three o’clock is a quarter way around. You get the idea. This system usually works for us. And when it doesn’t we simply circle around again.

Next: we finally reach the Dordogne!

"And as for the last minute change, I decided to look upon it as an adventure rather than a disaster."

moolyn..that attitude will take you far.

I am really enjoying your report and lovely photos. There is so little information on this region as compared to Tuscany. We found our map was not that useful there either..like you say it is better to follow the signs to your next destination.

I like the idea about treating the roundabout like a clock...I was pointing to my husband and of course he was trying to watch the road and me. Many times we had to circle around again in order to make the right exit.

I can't wait to hear more

Hi M,

>Inns of France didn't authorize the cancellation and were actually quite embarrased. Moulin de Concasty cancelled the reservation, ...

Ira, how did you book? <

Did you mean Moulin de Cambelong?

We booked through their website. At the time they offered us only the demi-pensione, since we were staying just the one night.

I see that their website still says:
"Our service includes the dinner, the room and the breakfast for 2 people".

I'm glad that your visit wasn't ruined by the mistake.

Lovely pix.

Looking forward to more.

Thanks, Crazy! Looking back, my spirit was buoyed by Carlux’s immediate response to my pitiful “Can they do this?” email with an offer of a house in Sarlat for that night, available because of a cancellation. Tempting as that was I realized that seeing the Lot Valley and Upper Dordogne was more important than staying in a super nice place so why not take a chance.

Glad you liked our roundabout clock approach. I almost deleted that paragraph as too obvious but it took us a few years to figure it out so I left it in.

Ira, yes, I did mean the Moulin de Cambelong and I booked through the website too. It now feeds to Inns of France. Perhaps it was a direct connection when you used it. As you point out, the website clearly offers demi-pension so our experience is all the more baffling.

Hopefully this was a unique misunderstanding and others won’t have a similar problem because it looks like a wonderful hotel and the location is superb, on the river below Conques.

More excellent adventures soon!

Your giving me lots of great ideas for my next trip to France moolyn! I love your pictures of Estaing especially.

Nice to finally put a face to the name!


Can't wait to hear more,

Cheers,

Murphy

>>Perhaps this would be the place to mention that the vast majority of tourists we saw were French. Or perhaps heard would be the better word. Brits formed the second largest group and many were residents or had second homes there. Germans and Dutch came next with North Americans last.<<

When we were there for 2 weeks in early Sept, we only encountered 1 American couple.

>>We were never quite able to figure our why some roads are marked scenic on the Michelin maps while others, every bit as scenic, are not. M. Michelin seems to prefer windy roads with a view or roads through wooded areas. Our version of a Michelin map would for sure have many more green lines!<<

My wife & I joke about the green roads all the time. If we are driving down a road and it is solid forest on both sides of the road & all you can see is tree trunks, one of us will say "this must be a Michelin Green road". You are correct in your assessment - Michelin loves roads with expansive views (often too hazy to see anything in the summer), and also through forests - which naturally would not impress a Canadian. Beautiful open countryside (like in the Cantel) never gets a "green road" designation.

We use the "clock" system for the round-abouts also.

How did you like the twisted steeple at St Come???. BTW, you stopped at the two best villages on the Lot - Estaing & St Eulalie. Did you sit on the bench on the opposite side of the Lot from St Eulalie & admire the view from there? If anyone needs a place to stay in that area that won't break the bank, consider staying at Auberge St Fleuret in Estaing. We did not stay there (we were in a Gite close by for 2 weeks) but we dined there & it was our second best meal in the area - the best was in Rodez at Gouts et Couleurs.

Stu Dudley

>>looked for the Stu’s bench overlooking the village. We never found it <<

You found it!! It was the bench where you had the Pique-Nique. We have the same photos from the bench - I recognize the tree!!!

Loved the pics of Estaing. We passed by there probably 15 times & wanted to stop & take more photos each time. That village can gobble up a ot of photos. On one of the weekends we were there, they had a medieval festival & all the locals were dressed in costome - more photos.

Stu Dudley

Hi again moolyn,

I finally got a chance to catch up and see all your photographs - wonderful! I can tell you are an artist... just love the way you frame all your pictures. The cheese plate looks absolutely divine.

And I must say I'm now convinced... it will definitely be the Dordogne before Provence

Thanks, Murphy! I like it too when I can picture the person writing the report. Seriously, you have to go to the Dordogne. Just be prepared to be happy the whole time you’re there!

Jill, thanks! I’m glad you’re already convinced. Just wait until we actually get to the Dordogne! There’s so much there to see and do. We left a lot for next time.

Stu, welcome home from Burgandy! I look forward to reading your report.

I think the twisted steeple at St Come is in one of my photos. I emailed Auberge St Fleuret when Cabelong cancelled but..... desole, complet. Robjame stayed there, however, and liked it. He sent me photos of his meal and it looked great.

So glad we found your bench in Conques. It was a most memorable spot. We missed the first one because I reread your itinerary in a hurry that morning. You had written St. Come instead of St. Geniez. I would have realized what you meant if I’d taken more time.

And of course we hit the villages you like best because you were our guide! But we thoroughly agreed with your choices..

Upper Dordogne

After a pleasant buffet breakfast with lots of choices we set out for the Dordogne, later than we’d planned because breakfast wasn’t offered until 9:00. Our goal was Chateau Bretanou-Castelnau and we drove merrily past signs for Chateau Castelnau not realizing that it was the same place. By the time we figured this out and arrived at the gate it was 11:30 and it had just closed for lunch, one hour ahead so that the last tour would finish by 12:30. So we wandered around the castle village and the chapel and then drove off in search of more MBVFs. First Autoire (cute) then Loubressac (cuter) and finally Carennac, the cutest. In Loubressac we met up with an older British couple who had been locked out of Castelnau just like us; we’d actually related the bad news to them. They were returning after lunch for the 2:00 reopening but we had to press onward.

By this time it was almost 2:00 and we were more than ready for lunch. Right in the middle of Carennac, near the chateau, was a creperie/café that offered omelettes and salads as well as galettes and crepes. The outside tables were full so we ate inside along with a large group of tough-looking but friendly bikers. The chef showed us the two large, separate bags of flour, one with wheat and one with buckwheat, but they were in the same bin and he couldn’t be positive that the buckwheat flour hadn’t been contaminated. I decided against ordering a galette even though it was probably safe. I ended up buying a crepe pan instead later on to make my own. We highly recommend finding this place for a great lunch.

Lots of Upper Dordogne photos: http://tinyurl.com/s5shn

Carlux

After wandering around Carennac some more we followed the Dordogne through Martel and Soilllac to Rouffillac then north to Carlux, the village, to meet Carlux, the woman, who manages the Sarlat house we rented as well as being a Fodor’s regular. I originally contacted her when I was looking for a February gite and her website caught my attention. When she responded to a question I asked about gluten free crepes on Fodor’s, giving her real name as well as her screen nam, I realized that we’d “met” before. It turned out that Carlux is originally Canadian, from Toronto in fact, and that her sister is a celiac like me so it’s a small world. Carlux escorted us to Sarlat to show us our home for the next two weeks and we had a chance to visit before her husband picked her up.

That first time in Carlux I was so intent on finding Le Fournil where Carlux lives that I didn’t notice what a lovely village it is. It would be a great place to live as it’s only about 15 minutes away from Sarlat, right in the middle of the most interesting part of the Dordogne. We returned another day for a drink with Carlux and her husband, Harry, on their shady terrace. We envy and admire them for having the courage to relocate to the Dordogne twelve years ago after falling in love with the area, overcoming many obstacles in order to live out their dream.

Photos of Carlux: http://tinyurl.com/z4fjd

La Bouquerie

Our home for the next two weeks was a tastefully renovated, medieval house hidden away in the northeast corner of Sarlat, just outside the town walls near Place de La Bouquerie from which it takes its name. To get to La Bouquerie we walked up a narrow laneway beside the boulangerie where DH bought his daily baguette then around a corner. It was nicer and more spacious than it looked in the website photos, plenty of room for the two of us to spread out and do our own stuff. It was described as sleeping three but probably another friendly couple could fit on the sofa bed in the second bedroom. DH used that room for reading late at night. Because the owners occupy it for part of the year it was extremely comfortable and well-equipped. It was almost too nice; if there wasn’t so much to see and do in the area I would have been quite content to just lounge around and read my way through the many books lined up along the top of the staircase. Before long we came to regard La Bouquerie as our house.

We arrived at the beginning of a heat wave more typical of July and August than June and were a little concerned at first because there was no air conditioning. It was not a problem. We closed all the windows and shutters before we set out each and every morning and returned to an invitingly cool house in the late afternoon. The upstairs was warm until we opened the windows after dusk but then it was cool and comfortable for sleeping.

Very conveniently the owners had left their local tour books and maps and Carlux provided binders with information and recommendations as well as local walks. We love walking but it was just too hot while we were there. Next time.

Across the laneway was another lovely stone house, La Vigne, also managed by Carlux and also very pleasant. Carlux gave us a tour before it was occupied but I didn’t have my camera with me then, darn. I took some rooftop photos from the balcony later on after we got to know the American couple from Denver staying there. We bonded immediately because he grew up in Buffalo in the same era as we grew up just across the river in Canada. Back in those days Buffalo had the coolest clothes, the best radio stations and a lower drinking age so Canadian teenagers were always shuffling over there. Now it amuses us that the current has changed and people from the Buffalo area like to visit Toronto and Niagara. People from farther away probably aren’t aware of this long time Toronto/Buffalo connection but we even support each others sports teams.

Website for La Bouquerie: http://www.gite.com/la-bouquerie
Website for La Vigne: http://www.gite.com/la-vigne
Photos of La Bouquerie and La Vigne:

Next: Sarlat and the Bistro de l’Octroi

Moolyn,

I have rented Le Fournil for a month in the fall of 2007...mid Sept to mid Oct. I will also be seeing Carlux in Sept. when I am in the area for 6 days......

Joan

>>arrived at the gate it was 11:30 and it had just closed for lunch, one hour ahead so that the last tour would finish by 12:30.<<

This is why I often tell people that they can't pack as much into a day in Europe as they can in the US (or Canada) - you have to schedule everythihng around the lunch closings. Too bad you missed a lovely chateau.

Stu Dudley

Joan, you will love Carlux and Le Fournil. Have you been to the Dordogne before? Lucky you to be going this year and again next!

Stu, those lunch closings sure wreak havoc but you learn to work around them. Fortunately the scenery is always open.

Chateau Bretanou-Castelnau was the only thing we totally missed out on because of the lunch closing and it was our own fault because we knew we had to get there early. It was frustrating because we just missed by seconds. If only we had realized we should follow the Castelnau signs! If only DH hadn't stopped to use the facilities on the way uphill!

I'm really enjoying your report and photos. Having just returned from a European vacation which did not include any time in France, I am feeling the need for a French fix, and this is just what the doctor ordered.

Moolyn,

Yes, I have been in the area before. It has been awhile, though.

This fallI will first be east of Carcassonne and then down close to Spanish border in Llo and then up to the Dordogne and then on down to Sare (SE of Biarritz)) and Basque country. I'm checking out some areas to see if I would like to make arrangements for longer stays.

I already knew that I wanted a longer stay in the Dordogne, so I rented in Carlux for the month for 2008.

I'm beginning to gather info on Brittany for a month's stay. Probably have to split that up into more than one area to see and do all that I would want to do.

Enjoying your report.......
Joan

Moolyn, I am definately taking notes! You saw some amazing places. I really enjoy looking at your photographs - they stir the imagination.

Lovely shots of Carennac and the one of the Castelnau roof tops is a stunner.

Looking forward to more

Cheers,

Murphy

I was so excited to see the photos of your last installment. We are spending 3 nights in the Lot and specifically Carennac. It looks like a lovely town. I wish we had more time to linger but my vacation time is limited. We are staying in a gite outside of Domme in Cenac et Julien for a week so your report will be extremely helpful for us.

>>We are staying in a gite outside of Domme in Cenac et Julien for a week <<

Crazy - I may have already asked you this - but who is the proprietor of your Gite. We've stayed in a Gite in Cenac for 8 weeks. perhaps it's the same one.

Stu Dudley

A quick note from 'Carlux the person' to say that I dont think you miss much by not seeing the inside of Caselnau Bretenoux, which was one of the least interesting chateaux we've seen. Great from outside, not so much from inside. And a comment - the first time we came to the Dordogne we wandered around the Chateau at Castelnaud while I read the Green guide to my husband - only to discover that I had confused the two chateaux. "Forget all I just said, and I'll start again!'

Hi Stu,

If I was a better investigator, I would have figured out exactly where you stayed but I couldn't quite pin it down.

We are renting from Jean LaRoche but I'm fairly certain it's not the same one. It is called Gite Laurier and is actually a manor house made up of two separate properties. Gite Laurier is a 3 bedroom and Gite Glycine which is a 5 bedroom. They have their own gardens but share a common pool.

I looked on the Gites of France website and did not see any right in Cenac that looked like they had a nice outdoor sitting area. The one you rent from what information I could gather is a two bedroom closer to the river. Gite Laurier is located just outside of Cenac in La Burague. I had my choice of that or a 5 bedroom/5 bath manor in Le Capiol. The house in Capiol seemed so large. You were away at the time we were booking so I couldn't quite find anyone to consult about the location. Hopefully we made the right choice.

I thank you again for sending me your notes on the Dordogne. The information will be a valuable tool I'm sure. I know it was for Tuscany.

Regards...Kelly

Nikki, thanks! You are one of the people whose reports of the Dordogne inspired me so I’m pleased to return the favour. You probably don’t remember but you also advised me on how to share photos.

Joan, you think like me. We too wanted to spend some time in areas other than the Dordogne to see if we’d like to stay there longer next time. As you discovered, you can easily spend a month in the Dordogne. Brittany appeals to me too, especially since I can eat the galettes!

Murphy, I just love rooftops and chimney pots. I have woodblock prints of some Japanese rooftops hanging in my living room from a trip there. We have such boring roofs in Canada, don’t we?

Crazy, Carennac is truly lovely but it’s actually on the Dordogne and not the Lot. As for Cenac, that’s the very best place to rent a canoe to paddle down the Dordogne, one of the highlights of our trip. I’ll get to that section in a few days. When do you leave? I want to make sure I post it before you go.

Stu, Cenac would be a perfect spot to stay in the Dordogne. I can understand why you return year after year.

Carlux, the person, great to know you’re reading this report. I mention you and your mentoring often. Your advice was very helpful and greatly appreciated.

It was that Castelnau/Castelnaud similarity that made us drive by the signs. We knew that there was a Chateau Caslelnaud as well as Bretenoux Castelnau from reading our Michelin Green Guide at breakfast that morning and that Castelnaud wasn’t the one we wanted. Glad to know we aren’t the only ones who have been bamboozled by the similar names! We had a wonderful day in any case.

Crazy/Kelly, Stu et al, I was feeling badly yesterday that family responsibilities kept me from my hostessing duties but you guys are amazing. You entertained yourselves!

Next section in a few minutes I promise!

I don't like to wish my life away...but I don't leave until next May!! I had to book early because I'm using bonus points. Also, it was mentioned on this site that the gites get booked far in advance so I didn't want to take a chance at waiting too long.

Loving your report and photos. I have to say that this board was invaluable for my trip to Tuscany and the willingness for people to share is wonderful.

Bistro de l’Octroi

After settling in we crossed the main road to explore the beautiful, old town of Sarlat and find a place to eat that evening. Armed with a few recommendations we strolled around town, checking menus, all the way across to the Place de la Grande Regaudie where a fun festival of ancient games was being held. We lingered there for a while then walked northward along the Rue de la Republique, past the Hotel Madelaine for about a hundred yards to a fork in the road wherein nestles Bisto de l’Octroi. Octroi is the old name for a tollbooth, the function of the building in ancient times. Although we sat in the courtyard between two roads, as you can see in the photo, there was little noise from traffic.

L’Octroi is owned by the same people who own la Meynardie. The food is very good and very reasonable so we ate there on the terrace three more times, once with the couple staying in La Vigne. I would have been embarrassed to admit that we ate at the same place so often if Carlux hadn’t stated in a recent thread that it is currently recognized as the best restaurant in town. Wow, we were more astute than I realized. We don’t care whether food is traditional or innovative as long as it tastes good and I can eat safely; L’Octroi more than met our requirements. It’s very popular with locals who tend to come in groups. One evening we sat beside a French couple with a two-year-old daughter whose eyes lit up when she was served the bouquet de crevettes. Mom and dad had a hard time pealing the prawns fast enough to keep up to her demand! We left at that point so I didn’t find out whether this junior gourmand ate a full three-course meal.

The menu was set up in an interesting way. On the 17 euro page, for example, the starter was five euros, the main nine euros and the dessert only three but you could mix and match with other menus, selecting a more expensive dessert or main or whatever. From the 17 euro menu we especially enjoyed the bouquet de crevettes and the salad with chevre for entrees, the pork tenderloin main course and both the ils flottante and the brownie with ice cream for dessert. I’m quite a connoisseur of ils flottante and this version was the very best I’ve ever had anywhere. I even considered asking if I could order an extra one to take home, perhaps for breakfast. It’s mostly egg, after all. L’Octroi offers a Bergerac rose that we really liked and could never find in a wine store, Chateau Rez.

Bistro de lOctroi photos: http://tinyurl.com/h6sqo

Sarlat

Before deciding to rent La Bouquerie I considered many arguments here for and against staying right in Sarlat. The main criticisms were the traffic getting in and out of town and the difficulty of finding parking, especially on market days. Well, at the beginning of June traffic was not an issue. Since La Bouquerie came with a garage we had no parking concerns either and we were already in town for the market. As it turned out, we always found a spot in the free public parking lot nearby so we never even used the garage.

In its favour, Sarlat is in the centre of all of the main attractions of the Dordogne area and it’s an unbelievably charming town. It’s not just a tourist attraction either; it’s a real town with real people as Robjame told me. Although it doesn’t possess any of the most highly rated restaurants of the Dordogne, there are many very good restaurants and we were pleased to be able to wine and dine well then stroll indirectly home afterwards. Especially romantic in the evening, Sarlat is beautiful at any time of day. We got to experience them all.

We discovered that we’d arrived on a long weekend so the town was a little more crowded than usual for early June. My plan for our first full day was to get to know the lay of the land and to shop for basic provisions. Fortunately we found a grocery store that was open on the holiday and spent a couple of happy hours examining all the different foods and non-foods and choosing our staples. There was a whole rack of sudoko and I bought a book of samurai sudoko that aren’t readily available in North America. After lunch we wandered around town some more, happy simply to be there, and picked up information at the tourist office. We decided to eat at home that evening, just because we could. We ate outside in the small private courtyard between the house and a cliff. It amazed us that plants could grow out of solid rock.

Sarlat photos: http://tinyurl.com/j2sum

Traveling With a Dietary Restriction

1. Carry some safe food for emergencies like flight delays
2. Rent a house or apartment so you can prepare at least some of your meals.
3. Carry a card with your restrictions to show to waiter/chef when you eat out.
4. Research typical meals so you are aware of possible dangers.
5. Go to France where food is taken seriously and your restriction will be regarded as a challenge rather than a nuisance.

Renting a house rather than staying in a hotel gave me the opportunity to control many of my own meals. Breakfasts in France are bread based so it was very helpful to be able to make my own. Lunches and dinners aren’t such a problem but we often brought a picque-nicque along to be safe and to save time. Our house came with a cooler but we wished we had brought one of our collapsible cooler bags for the first and last days. We froze bottles of Evian to keep our lunch cool and provide ice water later in the day. I ate tons of cheese and checked off over half of the cheeses on Robjame’s list plus a couple more that weren’t listed. When we dined out I always showed a card explaining my gluten-free restriction and it was always taken seriously. Sometimes I read through the menu quickly and had an idea of what was possible. Other times, if the menu was more complicated, I left it up to the chef to tell me what I could eat.

We were originally looking at Sarlat as a base but changed our minds because of the negative comments about the traffic. It sounds like it would have likely been just fine in May. It looks like a lovely town.

The meal at Bistro de l'Octroi looks like it was fit for royalty. That must have been several meals from what I gather. I can't wait to experience the cuisine there for myself. I had heard that Sarlat was not renounded for their cuisine but I have seen several recommendation on the board which sound good.

Not that I am trying to correct you...Carennac, although located on the Dordogne River is considered to be part of the Lot Department. I think it's difficult to tell where one region starts or ends as the Dordogne River carries through both.

Moolyn: I have been enjoying tremendously your travel report and wonderful photos. They bring back fond memories of our two weeks in the Dordogne a couple of years ago. I'm sure that they will whet the interest of anyone who hasn't yet travelled in that part of France.

I am curious to know, however, (from looking at your latest photos) whether you or your husband caught a cold from the delicious looking "Baba Rhume".

Crazy

You and Moolyn are both correct about the location of Carennac. It is ON the Doredogne River(like Moolyn said), but IN the Department of the Lot (like you said).

The Dordogne traverses many departments. We just returned from 2 weeks in a Gite in the Puy du Dome Department - near Clermont-Ferrand. The Dordogne ran close to our Gite - but it's just a small stream there.

Regarding the traffic. We stay south of Sarlat. It you go north to south through Sarlat around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, there is a school that you pass that lets out about then. Traffic is a crawl at that time.

We dined at Le Presidial in Sarlat twice while staying in the Dordogne for 4 weeks last year. The food was excellent, and both the outside and interior settings were lovely.

Stu Dudley

Moolyn,

L'Octroi has been on my list for Sept..Carlux had told me about it. I have some French friends who will be meeting me and spending a few days while I am there in Sept. L'Octroi, Maynardie, Vieux Logis and many others are on my list.

I know I will enjoy staying in Carlux, from "Carlux" in their Le Fournil for a month in the fall of 2007. I don't really do any cooking, but like the space.

I am gathering a great deal of info on Brittany. Looks good!!!

Enjoying your report....
a bientot....
Joan

Hi Stu...I've added the La Presidial to my list as well. Perhaps we can try one for lunch and the other for dinner as we plan to visit Sarlat twice at least. Once for market day (Wednesday) and another evening, as I understand it is lovely after dark as well.

Crazy, Sarlat would have been fine in May but, you know what, there are no right and wrong answers. You’ll be very happy in Cenac too. After all, Stu returns there again and again.

The photos from Bisto de l’Octroi were actually taken from ten meals, our four visits plus that of our neighbours. Sarlat may not have the most highly regarded restaurants but it does have some very good ones. Besides l’Octroi, you definitely should go to le Presidial. Schedule le Presidial for an evening because the ambience then is amazing and it's right in town. Photos to come.

My mental map of our trip was based on rivers so I didn’t pay much attention to departments. Thanks for pointing this out; departments are important to the French if not so much to me.

Lavendrye, it was our new American friend, the one who grew up in Buffalo, who had the Baba Rhume at the recommendation of the server with whom he flirted all evening. He said it was wonderful. I’m intrigued, why did you think the person who ate it may have caught a cold? Was it because there was a bite taken? He dug in before I handed him the camera.

If you follow my food shots you'll notice that there's often a missing bite or two. That because I would get so excited when I saw the food that I often forgot to photograph it before I started eating!

Stu, you are such a diplomat!

Staying right in Sarlat we never had occasion to go north to south in the afternoon so never encountered that traffic crawl. To go north or south out of town in the morning was a cinch, especially north as we were on the northern edge.

Joan, I will be sharing photos and impressions of our meals at Meynardie and le Vieux Logis, both of which Carlux recommended and both of which I think should be on everyone’s list if they visit the Dordogne.

Moolyn:

Rhume--a cold; Rhum--rum.

I certainly didn't mean to be pedantic, but it jut struck my sense of humour at the time. Of course, many will say say rhum is good for a rhume.

Thank you very much for the trip report and photos. While I have traveled extensively in France, the Dordogne s just one region I have not been to. Most of my travels these days tend to be through home exchanges. If anyone wants to swap a house in the Dordogne for one just outside Washington, DC, let me know!

Oyi Moolyn you are making me sooo hungry! That food looks fantastic.

What is a Flottant? - mostly egg and..

Sarlat looks simply fairy tale - lovely. You are really making me consider a week in France during my next trip - did you find the car rental pretty resonable and easy to deal with? I had dismissed the Dordogne becaue of poor public transportation initially.

I'm going to go root through my fridge...

Cheers,

Murphy

oh yes, and that is an excellent tip - if you have dietary concerns to have them written out in the local language before hand

Hi again moolyn,

Wonderful installments! Reading your trip report is so delightful and all your lovely pictures make it even better. Sarlat looks like a place of fairytales... in which I have a completely different life and meander around charming village all day and eat amazing cuisine.

I hadn't realized the geography of the Lot Valley vs. Dordogne before your trip report. Found an excellent map on google and am enjoying your journey through France

Moolyn,

Carlux is a great source for restaurants and probably everything else. I think we have the same tastes!!

The Dordogne part of my trip this fall will only be for 6 days..a month next year!!
Not sure if I will do Oradour sur Glane this trip or wait til next year..will see.

Rhume--a cold; Rhum--rum. Lavendrye, that’s so funny! I like your sense of humour. I knew that at one time, of course. I can’t spell any better in French than I can in English, obviously. I always joke that I was only allowed to teach kindergarten because that was the limit of my spelling ability.

FauxSteMarie, our family made several exchanges when our children were young with excellent results. We stopped when they wanted to have summer job because we didn’t figure anyone would want a house with two teenagers. Plus we had made friends with our exchange partners in the places we liked to go by then so simply visited back and forth, still do. If you’d like to exchange with us in Toronto some time, let me know. The French family we met at Auberge de Concasty is interested in the idea of exchanging too. They live in France near Geneva.

Murphy, Ils Flottante (Floating Islands) is also known as Oeufs à la Neige. It’s soft meringue on top of soft custard, sometimes with a carmel sauce, very nutritious and, of course, gluten-free. It’s not hard to make either. Google them all for recipes.

We rented through Europcar/ AutoEurope as recommended by Ira and others on this forum. We thought it was very reasonable. Others must agree because there was a long line at their desk at the Toulouse airport whereas other counters were deserted. Besides, if you team up with laartista as I’ve suggested, you could split the cost of the car and the cost of accommodation!

The Dordogne is fairly compact so you can see a great deal from one place. Google Gites de France for an idea of cost. This is how the French do it. As Crazy/Kelly wrote above, the best ones go quickly so you need to book well ahead. Stu Dudley can advise you on this as he’s our gite expert. There also gite.com like the house we rented. These are usually more expensive but tend to be more hotel quality than vacation homes, in my opinion. Carlux can help with these.

Murphy and Jill, you both commented on the fairytale quality of Sarlat. Before we went we watched some movies filmed in the area that really point this up. “Ever After” with Drew Barrymore is an update of Cinderella and “the Duelists” with Harvey Keital and Keith Carradine is darker, as you’d expect, but parts were filmed right in Sarlat. At least one version of Cyrano Bergerac was filmed in the Dordogne too but I’m not sure which.

Jill, I figured that I could sneak more photos in by attaching them to each section. If I presented them in one batch nobody would ever go through them all or realize the significance of each.

Maps are great to have when you read travel reports. I need a map to use when I read your report on Greece!

Joan, I totally agree that Carlux is a great resource. She recommended all of the best places we ate plus many of the Dordogne movies we watched, including "le Boucher" whose setting I’ll track down later in my report.

Technical Stuff

We brought along my husband’s laptop computer with my Dordogne files as La Bouquerie has dial-up internet access. Unfortunately this doesn’t work unless your home server offers service in France and ours doesn’t. I really missed being able to check my email early and late when internet places weren’t open; they were mostly just open during the day when we were off exploring. At least with the laptop I only suffered internet withdrawal and not computer withdrawal as well. Carlux is trying to convince the owners to provide broadband. I hope she succeeds before our next trip.

Sunday evening after dinner we passed an internet place that was open late on weekends so we were able to get online. It was expensive, four euros for 20 minutes, and the French keyboard has letters in different places than we are used to so it wasn’t easy to use. I decided that it would be better to compose a group email to our friends and family and bring our laptop next time. Another internet place at the south end of town was much more reasonable, just two euros per hour, and we could plug in our laptop, use our English keyboard and attach our prewritten letters. But it was near the local high school, wasn’t air conditioned and was full of noisy, smelly teenage boys. The very best internet place we found was in the tourist office in le Bugue. Charging only four euros an hour, it was peaceful and pleasant and there was even a printer.

My camera, a Nikon Coolpix 4300, belongs to an earlier generation, like me, but still performs well. I was very pleased to have an eye viewer because it’s almost impossible to see the screen on very sunny days and it was sunny day after day. The sun was often a problem because it was in front of me rather than behind when I wanted to shoot but I couldn’t do much about that so took photos anyway rather than miss out. My main photo-taking problem was that DH would stride on whenever I stopped to shoot, right into the picture! If I noticed at the time I reshot but often I only realized later. Sometimes I took photos of him on purpose and occasionally he grabbed my camera and took a picture of me. The division of labour was that he drove and I took photos. He got very good at deciphering my ohs and ahs when we were driving and pulling over so I could take a picture. Unfortunately it was often impossible to pull over at the most scenic spots.

I soon filled both my 512mb memory cards and tried to find a place to transfer the pictures on to CDs so I could reuse them. The smelly internet place wanted 20 euros. A photo shop in the middle of Sarlat wanted 15 euros but said I needed two CDS; I knew it would all fit on one disc but they were adamant. I just couldn’t bring myself to pay more than I paid for each card in the first place so I downloaded the two cards from my camera on to my husband’s laptop, dividing into files as I went in order to keep track of the places. Back home, since DH doesn’t have a CD burner yet, I uploaded many to Kodak Easyshare Gallery and was then able to start organizing them on my own computer for sharing.

DH bought me an extra rechargeable battery last Christmas and I tucked it away in a safe spot. When it came time to recharge my extra one on this trip I found that it didn’t quite fit into my recharger even though it fit into my camera. It would have been so great to have had a backup battery but I leaned to download my photos every night, run down the battery and recharge. Only when I walked to Henry’s Cameras to complain, bill for the rechargeable battery in hand, did I discover that I hadn’t brought the rechargeable one at all but the regular one that I had carried as backup on a previous trip. This is not a bad way to manage if you don’t have an extra rechargeable, by the way. Anyway, how embarrassing! Hopefully I can remember where that safe spot is before our next trip!

Without radio or television we didn’t know what was going on in the world but weren’t even interested. We would have bought an English language newspaper if they weren’t always sold out by the time we returned to our neighbourhood and passed the tabac. We were quite amazed when our American neighbours asked about the homegrown terrorist group who had been caught plotting to bomb the Toronto stock exchange, just three short blocks from our downtown condo!

After writing that last section I went to my sewing box and guess what I found, tucked away all safe and sound….. my rechargeable battery!


Next: Font de Gaume, St Cirq la Bugue and La Métairie

I have to figure out how to download my photos for sharing. I have to admit that I am not very computer savvy but I'm should give it a try. It really helps to bring a trip report to life.

looking forward to your next installment.

GraceJoan:

<<<Not sure if I will do Oradour sur Glane>>>

Odd that you should mention the ill-fated Oradour sur Glane, the "massacre" town near Limoges. DW and I are both reading the book "High and Hidden Place" by Michele Clair Lucas, a novel concerning this horrendous event..a great read, so beautifully written.

Stu T.

Stu T...

Oradour...I will go, either this fall or next fall. They say it is quite a moving experience...but could not be any more moving than Normandy cemeteries!

Joan

Kelly, it's not hard downloading and sharing but there's a few tricky things to master. It's worth the effort.

Joan, I was affected by all those Normandy cemetaries too. Add Anne Frank's House and Hiroshima to your list of really moving places. Oradour sur Glane is on my list of places to visit in the Dordogne next time.

Stu T., nice to "meet" you. By coincidence I stopped at the library to get "The Wayfarers" on my way home today but they didn't have a copy. I've been following Travelgirl's thread where your not-so-hidden identity was revealed.

Moolyn, I'm loving your report and photos; read every word and looked at every one. Now the Dordogne is on short list of places I must get to. Thanks for the great reading and viewing; looking forward to even more.

"four euros for 20 minutes"

Ack! That is the worst internet fee I've ever hear of - terrible. Good thing you were prepared.

I am loving your report - I've looked at your Sarlat pictures 3 times Mmmm, dreaming of France.

Cheers,

Murphy

Font-de-Gaume and St. Cirq la Bugue

Because of StCirq’s warning about the need to book ahead for an English tour at Font-de-Gaume I asked Carlux if she would make a reservation for us and she was able to do so by phone. This is just one example of the helpful information available on Fodor’s and the kindness of the regular contributors!

We arrived early to pick up our tickets (6.50 euros each) and had an hour to kill before our tour. Rather than waste time sitting around we decided to drive to nearby les Eyzies. At the far side of the town I spotted a sign to St. Cirq and asked my husband to drive there; we were pleased that we did because it’s such a lovely little village, a hamlet actually, and I understand why StCirq has a house there. There are no stores, just houses and the grotte, but it’s only 4k from les Eyzies and about the same from le Bugue. We drove to the top of the village, to the grotte, and I looked for a house with a swimming pool that backed against the cliff with a roof that German tourists could picnic on, thinking that there would be only one possibility. But it’s very popular to build houses backing against cliffs in St. Cirq so, although I actually saw StCirq’s house, I didn’t realize it at the time.

Back at la Font-de-Gaume we climbed to the grotte entrance and awaited our tour. An assistant unlocked a gate to an adjoining chamber where we were expected to store our bags and cameras while we were in the cave. Although I’m a bit claustrophobic and the cave was a series of tunnels rather than chambers as I’d expected, I was fine, completely seduced by the experience. We wore jackets but it wasn’t actually that cold; sweaters would have been sufficient.

The first time we stopped for a painting, we could barely make it out until our guide used her flashlight and laser pointer. Then it sprang into focus. A large red bison, incredible! The guide helped us see the second large bison facing it, this time a black one. The paintings in this grotte were mostly bisons, auroks and antelopes. Sadly, early visitors had scratched their names in the soft limestone right over some of the paintings. Our guide revealed that there may originally have been more paintings in this first section that were worn away by earlier visitors.

I had read that the artists worked directly on rough surfaces but what I didn’t expect was how skillfully they used the contours of the cave walls to reflect the contours of the animals; the paintings were quite sculptural. Appealingly, the artists had portrayed the animals with feelings. As a perpetual art student I was duly impressed with the sophistication of the techniques and the use of some of the same mineral pigments artists use today, manganese (black) and iron oxide (red) for example. I was engulfed by an overwhelming sense of time. Not just because the art was created 15,000 to 18,000 years ago but because of the millions of years of erosion it took to create the actual caves. Literally awesome!

On our walk down from the cave we happened upon an English couple intently regarding a plant. There’s an oxymoron for you. We paused, drawn in by their excitement. “It’s a lizard orchid”, said the woman. “They’re very rare in England. There would be a fence around it there for preservation. But maybe they’re more common here.” And just to prove this point she spotted another one nearby. Then she noticed a bee orchid. Wow! I was excited too. I had read a novel set in the Dordogne just before my trip in which wild orchids figure prominently. I started taking photos but, in my excitement, couldn’t remember exactly how to take close-ups and, without my reading glasses, couldn’t see the little flower that would have reminded me. Accordingly, my wild orchid photos are unfocused. Later I emailed them anyway to the camera less couple and learned that they saw many more lizard orchids during their stay but never another bee orchid. So, if you go to Font de Gaume in May or June, watch out for wild orchids!

The book I mentioned is called “Deadly Slipper” and there is now a sequel, “The Orchid Shroud”. Both mysteries are set in the Dordogne and both revolve around wild orchids. The Canadian author, Michelle Wan, visits the Dordogne every year with her husband who is a tropical horticulturalist. Fodor’s actually interviewed her a while back: http://www.fodors.com/wire/archives/001162.cfm


La Métairie

From Font de Gaume we drove back towards Sarlat to La Métairie, at the foot of Beyssec Castle. The parking lot was quite full so we reversed to a spot near the front and politely waited for another car to drive past. Instead they whipped into our spot! The terrace in front of the restaurant was very pleasant but the noise of trucks whizzing by on the highway echoed in the courtyard so we opted to eat inside. It wasn’t much quieter because the main dining room was crowded with a large, boisterous group. Fortunately we were seated in the smaller, adjoining dining room with just one other couple. We quickly decided on the 15 euro lunch menu with Peregrino rather than wine as we planned to do a bit more driving that day. Our starter was very good, salad with warm chevre, smoked duck and walnut vinaigrette. Since the warm chevre was served on toast I was given regular chevre instead. My husband immediately sensed my disappointment and gave me one of his melted ones. Delicious! DH also had soup and little toast thingies before this so I actually didn’t end up eating more than him! I hadn’t ordered duck before in case it might be my only option sometime and today was the day. It was a lovely, crisped confit served with excellent sautéed potatoes. My husband had the chicken fricassee. For dessert we both had ils flottante, very good but not as good as at Bistro d’Octroi.

In the restaurant we admired a poster of a rooster watercolour by a local artist, Guy Weir. Driving back to Sarlat via a circular route past Font-de-Gaume to St. Ciprien we passed signs for his atelier and decided to investigate. It turned out to be located in the pretty hamlet of Pechboutier but, when we followed the well-signed route to his studio, it was closed. Googling him later I learned that he is an Irishman and his studio “is in the loft of a small rustic barn next to his house. In stalls where cows once fed, Guy displays his watercolors with colorful scenes from his travels in Africa and Latin America.” Well, we saw the barn. Next time.

We were quite happy to eat at home that evening and go to bed early. We both slept very well during our stay at La Bouquerie and DH managed to read three books while we were there. I don’t think he’s finished one book in the last three years. His first was about the Rymans, an unordinary English family who moved to the Dordogne to grow grapes and make wine. DH decided that we would have to visit Château de la Jaubertie in the Bergerac area and try some of the Ryman family’s acclaimed wines.

Photos of Font de Gaume, St. Cirq le Bugue and la Métairie are all on one link so be sure to click on “browse all albums” at the bottom to see all the photos: http://tinyurl.com/nzl34

Next: Perigueau, Limeuil and Trémolat

Hi M,

I think that your latest link is not working.

Thanks Ira! I made another. Hope it works because I'll be away from my computer all day.

Photos of Font de Gaume, St. Cirq le Bugue and la Métairie are all on one link so be sure to click on “browse all albums” at the bottom to see all the photos: http://tinyurl.com/jpgpw

Very nice pix, moo

I'm hungry...unfortunately my lunch does not look like that!!

I'm going to spend some time this weekend to try and figure out photo sharing.

Moolyn...enjoying your compehensive, crisply written trip report. We last visited in 2002, and have some very fond memories of the region. In May we visited the Alsace, our last remaining unseen region of France..very interesting and colorfully picturesque.

Sorry your library doesn't have the book...many of the bigger city libraries do, I'm told.

Keep the report coming...nostalgia is
manna for the soul!
Stu T.

moolyn, I am so loving your report! The Dordogne is high on my list of places I want to visit. I first heard about the area here on fodors, and then I saw Rudy Maxa's Dordogne episode and it sealed the deal for me. I fell in love with all the picturesque villages and beautiful countryside, and I have been anxious to visit ever since. I can't wait to read the rest!

Tracy

>>>In May we visited the Alsace, our last remaining unseen region of France..very interesting and colorfully picturesque.<<

Stu T.
Have you seen the Auvergne near Clermont-Ferrand, Ardeche near Lemastre, Pays Basque near St Paul Pied du Port, Beaujolais, Lot near Estaing (where moolyn "hit"), Roussillon at the foot of the Pyrenees near Ceret, St Antonin Noble Val region in Quercy, Alps near Briancon, the Vercors region of the Alps, Chambery in the Alps, the famous Tour de France climbs in the Pyrenees (Tourmalet, Aspin, etc)???

All extremly interesting & picturesque areas.

Stu Dudley

Stu D...been traveling France since 1960..have seen all those you mentioned..but we'd never been to the Alsace until last May. Is there a specific question you have in mind?
My refernce to colrful and pictuesque only applied to Alsace in my post.
Stu T.

P.S. Stu D:

Since you mention the recently completed T de F..we gave driven (by auto, not by bike!!) every heart-throbbing pass in the Pyrenes that the T de F. has featured. Would recommend this to every one who plans to be in that region.
Stu T.

Your report and pictures are bringing back wonderful memories, thank you.

Your wright ups are great and the pictures add so much more. The talk of the food makes me hungary and then the pictures drive me to the fridge. Unfortunately, not the same food.

moolyn...it took me all night but I finally did it!! My photos are at last organized and published on the kodak site. I know are busy writing your trip report but if you want to take a peek sometime, here is the site.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/crazy4travel/main?view=1

Enjoying your report, as I am planning a trip to the Dordogne in October. I don't know if this will be of use, but this is a list I found of free internet providers in France. Has anyone used one of these?

http://www.emailaddresses.com/email_internetfrance.htm

I just realized my last post might seem a bit random. It was in response to Moolyn saying she couldn't connect to the internet because her home provider didn't offer service in France...

Leslie

Tuscanlitfeedit, thanks for the encouragement!

Murphy, thanks again! And you’ve got me thinking of Greece.

Ira, thanks! I’m so glad you noticed the broken link so I could fix it right away! For your reward I have photos of Beynac and Hotel Bonnet coming up in a couple of days.

Stu T., I’m sure I’ll find your book easily once I return to the city and I’m looking forward to reading it. Thanks so much for your kind words about my writing. I find I need to work ahead a couple of sections so I that I can remember all the details, try to correct all my spelling errors and have time to do a lot of editing to tighten it up. I envy writers like murphy and texasaggie and laartista whose words and thoughts seem to flow so effortlessly.

Tracy, you’re so sweet. Lots more to come. I spread out the exciting stuff so we have fun until the end. I’m not familiar with Rudy Maxa but recommend that you seek out some of the movies filmed in the Dordogne and some of the novels.

Stu D., glad you’re still following. Can we expect a trip report from you soon?

Nikki, right back at you!

Kelly and majam, I hope my food photos (foodos?) don’t make you too hungry because there are more food stories and photos to come.

Kelly, I’m at a disadvantage being away from my home computer with only dial up internet access at present so I was only able to muster up thumbnails of your photos. Even in miniature, I was impressed and wanted to read all about this beautiful countryside. I clicked on your name and discovered, as I hoped, that you have already written a report! I've downloaded it so I can read it offline today. I know I'm in for a treat from the bits I read. Thanks!

Leslie, that’s very useful information. I checked out the website and really appreciate your adding it to my report. It wasn’t at all random to me. I’m sure many other travelers to France will be able to make use of this too. Thanks!

Everyone, I appreciate your patience with this report. I’m about halfway through now, many more excellent adventures to come!

Perigueau

Perigueau is about an hour north of Sarlat. After an unintended diversion into an industrial area we managed to drive right to centre ville and find a parking space in the very conveniently located Frenchville underground lot with direct access to the Monoprix. Parking was quite reasonable. The first half hour is free and you can get a further reduction if you present your ticket at Monoprix when you buy something there and you’re sure to need something. For me it was sunscreen. I’d just run out of L’Oreal Ombrelle before leaving and thought I’d pick some up in France. Strangely, it was nowhere to be found so I had to choose a substitute.

After picking up a map and getting directions at the tourist office across the street from Frenchville we went to market. The Wednesday textile market was quite disappointing but the food market was very good and we selected lunch fixings while we wandered. I bought two fresh Vietnamese “rouleux de printemps” and some strawberries and was debating about cheese when DH pulled me over to a stand handing out samples of cheese from Savoie. The gruyere was especially nice so I asked for a small piece, not noticing that it was over 30 euros a pound. My small wedge cost 12 euros! No wonder the vendors could be so generous with their samples. However, what I didn’t eat for lunch was later delicious in omelets.

We settled ourselves to eat on a bench beside the cathedral then followed most of the walking tour on the tourist map but in reverse. One patisserie we passed displayed cepes du Perigord, mushroom shaped meringues glued together with chocolate. How could I resist? I was soon forced to sit down on a wall in one of the many lovely little squares to eat it when the chocolate started to melt in my hot little hands.

We liked Perigueau, or at least the old town, and thought it would be a good place to buy a house if only it wasn’t so far from the most interesting part of the Dordogne. First of all, houses are much less expensive in this area. Secondly, there are wonderful buildings in the old town and the whole core is being gently restored. Thirdly, Perigueau isn’t a touristy place. Local workers and shoppers fill the many restaurant terraces rather than tourists. Being the prefecture of the Perigord Department it also has lots of facilities. But for visitors, there are many nicer and more convenient places to stay in the Dordogne.

Lots of Perigueau photos: http://tinyurl.com/gadlp

Limeuil and Trémolat

Returning from Perigueau we forked towards le Bugue rather than Sarlat in order to visit Trémolat. Le Bugue was appealing but we planned to return for the market next Tuesday and didn’t stop to explore, just to get directions at the friendly tourist office. Just before Limeuil there was a MBVF sign and a sign to Limeuil Haut so we quickly decided on a diversion and drove uphill. Although I later found Limeuil described on Stu’s itinerary meaning I’d read about it before, at the time it felt like we’d discovered an unknown gem ourselves. Even more so because it was so deserted, unlike all the MBVFs we’d visited along the Lot and Upper Dordogne. But then this was a weekday. I’ve heard consequently that it is very crowded in Limeuil in the summer.

Taking the high road was a good move. Isn’t it always? We were able to park right beside the Panorama Park that overlooks the confluence of the Vezere and the Dordogne, unfortunately blocking the view unless you pay admission to the park. We took a peak inside, bought a large bottle of Evian and chatted with the multilingual Czech girl who was warping a very simple loom for a class. Then we simply wandered around the village, basking in the emptiness of the streets and the sheer beauty of the houses. Where are all the people, we wondered. We discovered the answer when we drove back downhill and through the lower area. They were all parked below, enjoying the water. I was able to get a shot of the unusually positioned right-angled bridges at the confluence, one over each river. When we returned we drove over them both on our way back to Sarlat.

Photos of Limeuil: http://tinyurl.com/l4wdf

Trémolat was another pleasant surprise. Our reason for going there was to see the location of the Claude Chabrol film “le Boucher” which we’d watched before our trip. The schoolhouse/mairie plays an important part and is still recognizable even though there is now a parking lot in front. The school is still in use. I would have loved to see inside. There is also a 12th century romanesque church and I took some interior photos because there was no one there to disturb. Is that allowed? I also photographed an especially attractive hotel, le Vieux Logis, not realizing that we would return there in a few days for an unforgettable meal.

It seemed fitting to pair Perigueau and Trémolat because the butcher spends a day in Perigueau during the film and there is also a sequence where the teacher rushes the butcher to hospital in Perigueau through interminable woods.

Our second time in Trémolat we drove northwest out of town and uphill to catch the breathtaking view of the Cingle of Trémolat where the meandering Dordogne makes a wide loop. We took a photo out of the car window part way up then discovered that there was parking at the top and a viewing spot that would be wonderful for a picque-nicque. We didn’t see any signs forbidding it. Be sure to make this little detour if you go to Trémolat. Don’t bother continuing along the Michelin Green Guide drive through Mauzac to le Bugue unless you really like trees or you’ll feel like you’re in a that interminable woods sequence from le Boucher. The route via Limeuil is much more scenic.

Photos of Trémolat: http://tinyurl.com/gzkfg

Next: Canoeing Down the Dordogne

A week will not be nearly enough time to see all these beautiful villages. It is going to be difficult to pick and choose. I guess I'll just have to remind myself that this trip will be an introduction to what may be a long and wonderful relationship with the Dordogne. Your report will sure help to narrow it down.

Dear Moolyn :

As I was was born there, spell it Périgueux!

There are many nice places in the Périgord outside the heavily touristed Sarlat region : Montbazillac, Bourdeilles, Brantôme...

We are returning the the region for about a week this September. I think we may stay several nights in Lemieul as it is a different area of the Dordogne (we stayed at Hotel Bonnet in Beynac on our first visit in 2003) than we have visited before. We are then making our way south through the Lot, eventually reaching Spain. But we have a bit over a month and will enjoy rambling around, hopefully able to extend stays when/where we want.

Kelly, I agree that a week will not be nearly enough time to see everything but you will enjoy everything you see so what more can you ask? Just do as we did, prioritize and start making a list for the next time. When do you leave?

Trudaine, I sincerely apologize. First of all for spelling the name of your hometown of Périgueux incorrectly. I wish I could go back and correct it for everyone. We really did enjoy our few hours there. I also apologize for writing off places I didn’t visit as less interesting. I have read many nice things about Brantôme but it was too far from our home base. Next time. We did manage to visit Montbazillac and enjoyed it immensely. I’ll get to it soon.

LadyOLeisure, I think Limeuil would be a lovely spot to stay. Be sure to have lunch one day at le Vieux Logis in nearby Trémolat. I’ll write about our wonderful meal there soon. I envy your having over a month. There were so many places we would like to have stayed longer.

Canoeing Down the Dordogne

My plan was to be at the canoe place by 9:00 when it opened but DH had other ideas so it was closer to 10:00 by the time we were life-jacketed and ready to push off. We had picked up several canoe brochures but followed Carlux’s recommendation to use a place in Cénac just below Domme. It wasn’t until we returned that we realized we’d gone to a different place by mistake. It turned out to be a happy accident. First of all, Le Sioux was more reasonable than other places, just 10 euros each for a three hour 13k trip from Cénac to just past Beynac. Plus one more euro for a waterproof box that turned out to be a plastic barrel big enough to hold several purses or bags. Secondly, our green plastic canoe/kayak hybrid was different from everyone else’s red plastic canoes so we felt unique. Thirdly, Le Sioux provided one regular paddle pour moi and a double bladed paddle for DH. I really liked this because, after I energetically paddled for the first few hundred crooked yards, DH, who had done his homework, said that there really wasn’t any need as the current would carry us along at the rate of 5k per hour and he could easily steer from the rear with his clever paddle.

Having very fair skin I came prepared for the hot sun. I slathered on 50 proof sun block and wore long pants and a long sleeved shirt in light cotton as well as a large sunhat. Since we started early the sun was at our backs, another happy accident. This proved beneficial for photo-taking too. I carefully wound my camera strap around my wrist a couple of times for security and took photo after photo of cliffs and chateaux and other boats. I was nervous at first about capsizing but this uneasiness soon faded as I realized how shallow the river was. We could see the bottom and watch the fish swimming between the rocks and water plants. Iridescent dragonflies skimmed over the calm water; at least I think they were dragonflies. My back felt sore after a while but I realized that I could lean back and rest it against the barrel from time to time. Absolutely idyllic!

In the summer I’ve read that the Dordogne is awash in canoes but, in early June, there were times with just one or two canoes in the distance. At the beginning we caught up to a group of canoes with teenagers and a couple of instructors lined up across the river. I’m not sure how they did that, perhaps by holding on to the adjacent boats. One instructor proceeded to run across the flotilla then back and forth until he fell into the water. Then the kids took turns trying his trick but none made it as far as the instructor had. They were wearing bathing suits so didn’t mind getting drenched. Several times we passed people swimming or picque-nicqueing along the shore.

Larger tour boats ply up and down the river between Castelnaud and Beyrac, creating waves that rock the canoes if you aren’t facing properly. There were squeals from the young canoers the first time they got caught unprepared for the wake. We heard tour guides loudspeaking in français on the tour boats. Little children waved at us and were excited when we responded. Because of all the jumping fish we weren’t surprised to observe a couple of fishermen along the banks. We even clearly spotted Hotel Bonnet in Beynac where Ira stayed.

My only regret was that I hadn’t thought to pack a lunch but we’d only expected to paddle for an hour or so then return home to eat. After one bridge we saw a sign for frites and pulled ashore, quickly followed by an English couple who had decided this was a good idea too. I gingerly inched my way forward onto the bow to pull the boat ashore. The frites were disappointing, not nearly as good as the fries at my downtown neighbourhood chip truck in Toronto. But they held us until our real lunch and there were toilets there too so it was okay. The English couple revealed that they had a second home in the Dordogne as do many Brits. While we were chatting and munching our frites, the group of young canoers pulled up as well and we realized we were right beside their home base.

Immediately after the fourth bridge we saw a sign indicating the end of our trip and pulled over to the left bank. This time I didn’t have to carefully make my way forward as DH pulled in at a right angle to the shore. There was a lovely view of Beynac looking back under an arch of the bridge plus a deserted snack bar. DH was shoed away from sitting at one of the tables, even though they were totally unoccupied, while I found a good spot for taking photos. Soon a bus came along and we climbed aboard, leaving our canoe and life jackets behind. Probably a truck comes along and scoops them all up at the end of the day.

We were surprised at having an entire large bus to ourselves but it pulled over at another bridge and 16 more people climbed on. The last to arrive was a family of four who almost overshot the landing area. The father had to jump in the water, fully clothed, to pull the boat ashore. We were relieved to see the driver count heads before pulling away. Passengers were dropped off at different canoe rental places in Cénac. After all my paddling (ha!) I took a nap after lunch.

Canoeing down the Dordogne was one of the highlights of our trip. The best part was viewing chateaux from the water rather than the road. I can’t think of enough superlatives to describe the sensation of floating past one beautiful chateau after another. Hopefully my photos will make up for my lack of words. I just kept thinking: we’re here, this is happening right now, I’m so happy! I was ready to canoe again the very next day but there were so many other places to go and things to do that we didn’t. We’ll definitely repeat this excursion next time!

Lots of Photos of Dordogne Canoe Trip: http://tinyurl.com/ku7l7

Next: Moulin de la Tour, Salignac, St. Amand-de-Coly and La Meynardie

Hi Moo,

Lovely report, lovely pix.

"Hotel Bonnet in Beynac: Ira slept here!"

Not only that, our room was the upstairs one on the end of the wing.

Great pictures from the canoe. If I remember my nature walks with the kids at the Audubon sanctuary correctly, that's a damselfly on the canoe. They rest with their wings up; the dragonflies have their wings spread out horizontally.

Hi moolyn,
We're leaving May 15, 2007 for 11 nights. We will be in Cenac for a week.

This info is perfect as are the photos. You have given me so many good pointers. I am also fair so I'll have to follow your lead on the hat and clothing. Thanks!!

Moolyn: a terrific report. brought back memories of a trip we took to the dordogne 7 or 8 years ago. your photos are great. But I couldn't get one set, the ones at La Bouquerie, your rental gite, that you yourself took. Can you post that particular site? Many thanks for all the hard work.

Moolyn: I enjoyed your photos of the canoe trip on the Dordogne, particularly those of La Roque-Gageac and its Chateau Malartrie, where we stayed for a couple of weeks.

We had intended to rent canoes, but never got around to it, as there were so many other competing things to see and do. However, we often did watch from the terrace, glass in hand, and wave to the canoeists and gabares gliding by below. (Sort of a seigneurial wave, such as Queen Elizabeth is wont to use!)

A canoe trip! What a fantastic idea and a good price too - the area by Beynac looks just lovely.

It so great to read your report and have pictures of each local - really gives the reader a sense of your trip and the region.

Continuing to enjoy your photo's and report!

Cheers,

Murphy

moolyn...outstanding photos of the area...makes me want to return soon..
one of the standouts is the reflection of the fourth bridge..classic!!
Happy travels!

Stu T.

So, catching up on the trip reports, and just finished yours. Here's the problem-another awesome trip report, why a problem? because now the Dorgogne is on the short list for January along with Paris, Lisbon and Croatia. After that report and pictures(which are wonderful!) I must go-don't exactly know where in France the region is but I must go. Thanks for the great report.

Ira and Nikki, thanks again! I appreciate your encouragement, especially since both your Dordogne reports inspired me. I added your comments to the applicable photo captions since I can’t change my report.

Kelly, next May, hurray! I’ve got it straight now. You have lots of time to plan. I was so glad I brought that sunhat to cover my hair because I used it every day for sun protection!

Betsy, thanks for your comments! I’m happy to bring back good memories. Here’s another link for my photos of La Bouquerie: http://tinyurl.com/hvg7u

Laverendrye, I loved our canoe trip and still smile whenever I think of that day. Don’t miss doing it next time. And thanks!

Murphy, thanks as always for your comments! Canoe tripping is a real bargain. I hope my idea of attaching photos to each section will start a trend because I always want to see some immediately when I read about a new place in a report. Your idea of posting photos separately is good too though because some people just like to look at pictures.

Stu T., thanks once again! The library in the small town where I’m staying at the moment has the book you recommended, A High and Hidden Place, even if it doesn’t have yours. I also discovered that it has high speed wireless so I was able to upload some more photos for sharing. It just isn’t feasible to do this by dial-up. I’ll post more photos and another report section tomorrow.

laartista, thanks for your kind words. I know just what you mean as I have so many new possibilities too from reading recent reports on Greece and Italy and Croatia. Our kids have been to all these places, at our expense, but not us, as of yet. I didn’t know I wanted to go to the Dordogne either before reading about it here. The Dordogne is in the southwest part of France, about midway between Toulouse and Bordeaux, a few hours south of the Loire.

Moulin de la Tour

Friday morning we drove northward out of Sarlat towards Ste. Nathalene to find the Moulin de la Tour where nut oil is produced in the traditional manner using 150-year-old machinery powered by water from the l’Enea River. The large waterwheel turns interconnected gears and stones to grind nuts, bought shelled from local growers. The first and largest grinder is a vertically suspended stone from Domme. Thirty kilos of walnuts are dumped here at a time and lightly ground for about 40 minutes. The resulting paste is scooped into a basket and transferred to a cauldron where it is gently heated for 40 minutes over a wood fire, all the while being stirred by a large paddle also operated by the water wheel. It’s very well engineered. Heating enables more oil to be extracted when the paste is transferred again, this time to a press lined with double layers of jute to act as a sieve. The jute is folded over the paste, several wooden blocks are placed on top and the press is screwed down mechanically. Fifteen litres of oil is then collected below, ten litres if the nuts are almonds or hazelnuts. The leftover “torteau” or nutcake is reground and sold as animal or fish food or bait.

Afterwards we sampled different oils. Since I prefer almonds and hazelnuts to walnuts I was surprised that I liked walnut oil best. Happily surprised because it’s also the least expensive, taking less nuts to produce. Nut oils are recommended for salads or to drizzle on cooked dishes, not for cooking. Tours are 4.20 euros for less than 30 minutes but the nut oil and other nut product are cheaper to buy right at the mill than in more touristy spots so it balances out.

Photos of Moulin de la Tour: http://tinyurl.com/zwoya

La Meynardie

Since the tour was over so quickly we decided to leisurely drive via back roads to St. Amand-de-Coly to fill the time until lunch. Sometimes it felt as though we were driving through farmers fields and sometimes it felt like we were lost but it was scenic and fun. St. Amand is yet another lovely village but with an abbey this time rather than a mere church. It was deliciously cool inside the abbey. I would loved to have poked my head inside the school next door but satisfied myself with admiring the houses and flowers and pollarded trees. Pollarded is the way branches of old trees are amputated to encourage new branch growth, very common in France, especially with the plane trees seen along roadsides both in town and out. We arrived in Salignac only to discover that La Meynardie was back towards St Amand so we could have taken a shorter route.

To get to La Meynardie you drive through a wooded area to what feels like the middle of nowhere in the countryside north of Salignac. We didn’t hesitate to eat on the terrace under the canopy as there was a delightful breeze and no traffic for miles around. We decided on the 20 euro lunch menu, both choosing completely different meals for a change. The rosé we selected was the nicest Bergerac rosé we’d had yet, Chateau Laulerie. Just like at sister restaurant Bistro de l‘Octroi we detected a subtle Japanese influence.

First came tiny toast rounds for DH with salsa and blood sausage then lentil soup for us both. My entrée was cold, green and white asparagus with walnuts and walnut vinaigrette. We’ll have to try making this at home with our newly acquired walnut oil! DH had ordered the quinoa and salmon sushi a bit warily because, in spite of his Japanese genes, he won’t eat raw fish and suspected that it was sashimi rather than sushi. It was but he liked it anyway, a breakthrough! My main dish was pigs feet, a bit fatty but delicious nevertheless, and very good confit de canard served with a dollop of pea puree and a ring of perfectly sliced roast potatoes. DH’s excellent fillet of St. Pierre came with red wine sauce and polenta. My permitted dessert was four scoops of sorbet: vanilla, grapefruit, coconut and strawberry, good but not as good as the trio of tiny crème brulées brought to DH: vanilla, walnut and pistachio. Why can’t I have that, I wondered. It turned out that the server thought sugar cane might be a problem for me but non. DH very kindly switched desserts after merely tasting. I have to rank this triple crème brulée right up there with l’Octroi ils flottant.

Photos of Salignac, St. Amand-de-Coly: http://tinyurl.com/mn5sv
Photos of la Meynardie: http://tinyurl.com/jd7pd

Next: Market Day in Sarlat, Chateau Milandes and Domme

You're killing me with the food photos. My fault...I should have waited until after lunch to have a peek. 20 Euros is a very good bargain for that beautiful spread. I have to say that the French have the right idea with many courses but small portions. I find the Italian portions very large in comparison and I can rarely do more than two without feeling too full.

Enjoying every minute of your report.

That trio of creme brulee looks awesome-my favorite. If that isn't the cutest restaurant ever. Moolyn, looks like you had that abbey town to yourself, were there not alot of people? The pictures once again are beautiful.

Lovely report, moolyn.

What a delightful trip report, moolyn! It is such fun to read of your experiences, and then click the corresponding photo links to have the picture references. Thank you very much for sharing the beautiful pictures, and the report...it makes this part of France sound absolutely irresistible.

Belinda

Kelly, you can eat very well for very little in the Dordogne. As you observed, the portions aren’t huge so you don’t feel stuffed afterwards. Sorry to tell you this but there are even more photos of spectacular food to come, especially when we visit le Vieux Logis and le Presidial.

laartista, St. Armand-de-coly really was quite deserted that day now that you mention it. Partly because it was a weekday early in June and partly because it was lunchtime! Our reservation wasn’t until 1:00 so we were still wandering around after everyone was busy eating. Lunch closings can work against you in France, as at Chateau Bretenoux-Castelnau, but they also often worked in our favour as you noticed here.

Thanks again for the encouragement, ira!

Belinda, thanks for your comments! The Dordogne is irresistible and that makes it easy to write about. Glad you enjoyed the pictures too. I wish we were back there now.

Lovely report and photos. Thanks; I'm taking notes!

Sarlat Saturday Market

Although I had read advice to arrive at the Sarlat Saturday market at the crack of dawn there was no need. The official hours are 8:30 until 6:00 and many stalls were still being set up when we arrived at 8:15. Stalls stretched right from our northeast corner of town to the Rue de la Republique. I noted one stand with a lineup for strawberries right away and decided to return there on our way back but two hours later the vendor had sold out and gone home. For everything else we were fine with examining all the wares and returning later to purchase at the places where things looked best although we almost missed out on the nicest white asparagus! In the main square we observed one vendor sitting down for a breakfast of bread, cheese and vin rouge! Very civilized, I thought. Carlux told us that he had probably been up for many hours by then.

By this time I had discovered that I really like the tiny, fresh, farm goat and sheep cheese so I was pleased to find a cart selling brebicou(?) and cabecou from a farm in the Cantal. They offered samples and it was hard to choose between young and creamy or firmer and more mature so I bought some of each. How often do you find “firmer and more mature” linked together? They also sold lamb but alas in quantities much too vast for us to consume in our one remaining week. On Rue de la Republique we admired spices on display and bought a mixture of five peppercorns: black, white, green, red and Jamaican.

We spotted Chateau de la Jaubertie wine at one stand and bought a bottle of blanc to try that evening. At another stall, a vendor was offering samples of a Cahors rosé but it was so horrible I wondered why he was willing to let people find this out. Tout a ça goute, or something like that, I guess. We aren’t wine connoisseurs by any means but this was the only rosé we tried in France that we didn’t at all enjoy. We assumed that it was this particular brand we didn’t like but we wondered whether Cahors is not as good at producing rosés as reds.

Overall we were very impressed with the quality of inexpensive wine in France. We probably would have been even more impressed with expensive wines but we didn’t go there. We live part time in the winegrowing region of Niagara, slightly south of Bordeaux although people don’t realize Canada comes that far south in comparison to Europe. Niagara wines can be very good but we pay twice as much here for similar quality of local wines as in France. Even most of the supermarket wines we tried in France were very drinkable. In Ontario we can’t buy wines in supermarkets.

The store selling Mephistos that is closed when we stroll by of an evening was open this morning so I tried some on, hoping to replace my well-worn pair bought in Canada for double the price. Unfortunately, none were nearly as comfortable as my own even though I liked their looks. A larger town would probably have more choice. We walked through the covered market that is open every day then into the adjacent main square to start buying in earnest: the second last bunch of white asparagus, mushrooms, shallots, brown eggs, potatoes and tomatoes plus a demi baguette, some croissants and a wedge of walnut cake for DH. At another stand we decided on some strips of duck and turkey to barbeque that evening and were amazed at how inexpensive they were.

Photos of Sarlat Saturday Market: http://tinyurl.com/j9n5l

Chateau les Milandes

There are said to be 1,001 chateaux in the Dordogne; we decided to visit les Milandes first. We took the road south from Sarlat to Beynac where you can see four or even five chateaux at once, depending on whether you have eyes in the back of your head. Very impressive. An often recommended restaurant, Cinq Chateaux, is located at this point to take advantage of the view.

At les Milandes you can drive right up to chateau level and park in a spacious lot unlike some other chateaux where you park and climb. We liked this very much. Most chateaux seem to offer something besides the chateau itself to attract visitors; it’s a competitive business. At les Milandes it’s Josephine Baker and a falconry show. I’m not sure how these two relate to each other and blood sport doesn’t appeal to us but we arrived just before the 3:00 show and decided to watch. It turned out to be quite charming, no blood at all, just a variety of cute, well trained birds. I even volunteered to put on the trainer’s leather glove and hold one of the falcons on my outstretched wrist.

Les Milandes is not only a furnished chateau but also a museum of Josephine Baker’s life and enjoyable for both reasons. There are many beautiful photos of Josephine in costume or not. We knew that she was an American born dancer and entertainer, much beloved by the French, but we didn’t know of her role in the French Resistance during WW2 or of her campaign to combat racism, partly by adopting 12 children of different races and religions, her rainbow family. She made les Milandes into a renowned entertainment center but it was eventually taken away from her because she wasn’t good at managing her money. Once the highest paid entertainer in Europe and still looking good until her death at age 69, she returned to the stage in her 50s out of financial need. He famous banana skirt and other costumes are on display. Photos can’t be taken inside the chateau.

Photos of les Milandes: http://tinyurl.com/h8mzc

Domme

After les Milandes we drove through lovely Roque Gageac to Domme. Here again we were pleased to be able to drive to the top and park then stroll through the village to the panorama point. A wedding was being held at the church and we admired the guests, over-dressed for the heat, as well as the view. Probably everyone who visits the Dordogne takes photos of the river winding through the countryside below Domme; it’s mandatory, I believe. At the tourist office I was very happy to finally find the book of the most beautiful villages in France. I’d been searching for a copy ever since visiting our first MBVF along the Lot River.

Photos of Domme: http://tinyurl.com/zaqxn

Next: Molignac, le Thot, Lascaux II and Quatre Saisons

I am really enjoying your report. I only hope you are able to finish before my wife and I go to the area at the end of september!!

Moolyn, I wanted to drop you a line and let you know I caught up on your report today - still loving it!

I particularly enjoyed your picture of the Milandes chapel - that would be a great one to blow up and frame - in black and white maybe?.....lovely.

Also, I loved your shot of the owl and the bald eagle - how special.

Cheers,

Murphy

Murphy, your comments are always so appreciated. Thanks once again! You noticed I like to take photos as it they were paintings. That’s probably because you do the same thing. I was able to see some of your photos of Greece at my library they were amazing. When things settle down and I’m back home I’ll go through the rest.

Stokebailey and Stephen, thanks! I hope my experiences help you plan your trips. You can find all of the information I used by searching here for other reports on the Dordogne and asking Stu Dudley for his itineraries.

Everyone, circumstances have forced me to take a break from writing this report. The next section will be the last for a while. I promise to share the second week of my excellent adventures and lots more photos as soon as possible.

Molignac and Le Thot

We arrived at the ticket office in Molignac at 9:40 and discovered that the English tour at Lascaux II was not until noon. The ticket agent suggested that, instead of buying tickets for Lascaux for 8 euros each, we buy combined tickets for le Thot and Lascaux for 10 euros and visit le Thot in the interval. It sounded like a good plan so we agreed. We took our time walking back to our car, searching for the brass copies of prehistoric drawings imbedded in the sidewalk on the main street. This would be a fun activity for kids: perhaps they could even make rubbings. We admired the view across the river before driving the few kilometres to le Thot.

Le Thot has two sections. Within the building the museum displays an exhibit of cro-magnum life as well as the 10% of the paintings reproduced from the original Lascaux not at Lascaux II. Outdoors is a picque-nicque area and an animal park. What first seemed to be ordinary farm animals soon turned out to be a variety of rare species, including some genetically engineered auroch, an otherwise extinct breed. The model mammoth, complete with special effects, was quite realistic. Le Thot is a good supplement to Lascaux II, especially for children.

Lascaux II

Ticketholders are requested to assemble at the meeting area 15 minutes before their tour. Our group of 24 to 30 people, twice as large as at Font-de-Gaume, had more non-French than we’d seen since the airport: Americans and Aussies as well as Brits. I didn’t actually take a census, though, just noted the accents. Our tour was delayed a further 15 minutes by the arrival of a large French bus tour group that swooped in right at 12:00 but it was well worth the wait.

Our guide spoke excellent English in a clear voice and provided a great deal of interesting background information about the discovery of the cave by a boy and his dog and the reason for closing the original one and creating the reproduction. The important difference between Lascaux and Font-de-Gaume is that the entrance to Lascaux was blocked by fallen rock in prehistoric times so that it remained undisturbed over the centuries and hence better preserved until it was rediscovered in our modern era. Of course, exposed to such modern inventions as cigarettes, it quickly fell victim to smoke, algi and calcium and had to be closed to the public in 1963. Twenty years later this carefully designed re-creation was opened.

The tunnels are wider than at Font-de-Gume but Lascaux II isn’t a large cave. The paintings are much brighter, quite spectacular in fact. I thought this was because they were painted much more recently but they are actually accurate reproductions of the very well-preserved originals. Just as at Font-de-Gaume the artists employed the contours of the cave for a sculptural effect, used scaffolds for the higher paintings and ground minerals such as manganese and iron oxide to use as pigments in combination with such mediums as animal fat. A similar variety of painting techniques were evident: daubing, blowing, brushing…..

The picque-nicque area at Lascaux II was restricted to snack bar customers so we drove on up the Vezere, hoping to find a pretty spot further along the river. Condat was a nice little village with a pretty cascade but Terrason was quite grey and uninviting, possibly because we were hungry and grumpy. Besides I had forgotten Stu’s itinerary for this drive and couldn’t remember the rest. Probably the next place would have been perfect for a picque-nicque but we decided to head home and eat our lunch there. Sometimes you need a break from touring. I’d love to pick up this drive again right now but on that day we were saturated.

Photos of Montignac, le Thot and Lascaux II: http://tinyurl.com/f2wo4
Lascaux website: http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/

Carlux stopped by just after we finished lunch and answered most of our pent up questions. She’s very careful about the places she recommends. We asked about le Vieux Logis in Tremolat, praised by a fellow diner at la Meynardie. It turned out to be one of her favourite places for lunch. She also helped us with the pronunciation of place names that we’d only seen written, never heard spoken.

Le Quatre Saisons

That evening, armed with a copy of the ABCs of French Food left by Carlux, we set out to check menus at some recommended restaurants in Sarlat that had baffled us previously. The menu at Quatre Saisons was the most appealing so we climbed the stairs and asked for a table on the terrace. Except for the chain-smoking couple sitting at the table beside us it was a good choice. We decided on just two courses for 23 euros having had a late lunch. The best course was the St. Jacques appetizer, perfectly grilled scallops garnished with crispy cantal cheese and tiny slices of purple potato. It was proceeded by chilled cream of asparagus soup and followed by a very good fish fillet for DH and lamb chops for me. My green vegetables were attractively presented in a small canning jar and I thought of trying this at home. A bottle of Chateau Rez rosé was the perfect accompaniment to mark the halfway point of our two weeks in Sarlat.

Photos of Quatre Saisons: http://tinyurl.com/mzmhu

Still to come after my hiatus are visits to Bergerac, Montbazillac, Chateau de la Jaubertie, la Bugue market, le Vieux Logis, Peche Merle, St. Cirq la Popie, Figeac, Jardins du Manoir d’Eyrignac, le Rocamadour, Lacave, and last but not least, Bleu de Lectoure. Then there’s our exciting trip home!

Moolyn...OK, OK, we accept your hiatus...but you're not off the hook...we will all be waiting for the next installments...Hope nothing serious caused this delay!!
Stu T.

Yes Moolyn, thank you for this latest installment - I hope all is well with you and yours

Hi M,

Will be waiting for your return.

Hi Moolyn

nothing like a trip to a French market on a thursday afternoon. great installments. was that rabbit real?

Chateau Montbazillac

The drive from Sarlat to Bergerac was about an hour and a quarter, most of it along the Dordogne River. Subtract 15 minutes from that if you manage to stick to the main highway in Lalinde rather than crossing another bridge and heading north rather than west until you realize your mistake. If you look at a map of the Dordogne River you will notice what appears to be a long island in the middle of the river extending perhaps ten kilometers each side of Lalinde. We wouldn’t have noticed this without our accidental diversion but the Dordogne has a canal running alongside it in this section. It must have been built many years ago because the towns have grown up around the two parallel streams.

The road to Chateau Monbazillac was signposted just after the airport turnoff on the Bergerac bypass. There is a large, shady parking lot behind the chateaux, now owned by the wine cooperative of Montbazzilac. Visitors pass the wine coop building and buy their tickets there before entering the chateau grounds. The admission fee of 5.95 euros each includes complementary wine tasting. Rows of vines with rose bushes planted at the ends surround the chateau but there are also extensive lawns and a number of outbuildings as you approach.

Our Cadogan guide described Chateau Montbazzilac as never damaged and never improved, the main reason I wanted to see it next rather than any of the other thousand possible chateaux. The other reason was that DH wanted to visit the Bergerac wine area having happily consumed so many bottles of Bergerac wine. He’d also read a book by Jeremy Josephs set in this area during some of our quiet evenings at la Bouquerie: “A Vineyard in the Dordogne: How an English Family Made Their Dream of Wine and Sunshine Come True”.

After admiring the imposing exterior, we entered the chateau and exchanged our tickets for self-guided tour brochures. Unlike les Milandes, there were no signs here forbidding photography. The only structural change that we noted was the covering of the original, worn, stone stairs with elm-wood treads at some point. Some floors were tiled while others were overlaid with various hardwoods. The floor in the Grand Salon was especially pleasing: oak, pine and cherry laid in a herringbone pattern. The furniture, mostly cherry and walnut, was substantial but not ornate. Many of the chests and armoires were carved with symbolic Hugenot crosses. One room displayed tools employed by craftsmen in earlier times. The first room we entered had once served as a Hall of Protestantism for religious meetings. Another Hugenot symbol, a dove, hung from the chandelier.

Descending to the lower level we found a wine room, wine museum and kitchen. On the upper floor, one suite was still furnished as a boudoir for the viscountess. Beside it was an informal dining room with carved teak furniture and an array of customized Limoges china in the adjoining tower room. One room displayed cartoons by Sem while another featured black and white photos of chateaux by Rodolphe Germaine plus several scale models of local chateaux.

After touring the chateau and gazing over the countryside we sampled wine in the Montbazzilac Wine Co-operative building. We bought three bottles of a dry white and a half bottle of the sweeter aperitif that the area is noted for, produced by the grapes being infected by a fungus, the famous “noble rot”. It’s much like ice wine but less intense. It was very hot so afterwards we returned to the shady parking lot to picque-nicque rather than sit at a table in the sun somewhere else.

Since we were close to the Chateau de la Jaubertie we drove there next. It was lunch time so it looked quite deserted and a sign on the shop read fermé. As I was taking photos, the door of the shop opened and we were beckoned inside to taste the wines. We liked the Jaubertie rosé better than the white we’d bought previously so added some to our collection. FYI, at 6.30 euros it was one euro less per bottle than at the Sarlat market. Later, when we ordered this very same wine at le Presidial, it was 22 euros, a substantial markup.

We drove into the adjacent village of Colombier to take a photo of the church, the restoration of which was a project of Anne Ryman, the former chatelaine of the chateau. Colombier is definitely not one of the plus beau villages. It’s rundown and overgrown and there are many unattractive, newer houses. The chateau itself seems to be more of a mansion than a chateau, as much of it as you can glimpse through the surrounding trees. It’s probably lovely inside but we did wonder why the Ryman family had spent so much money and effort buying this particular chateau and vineyard. As we drove towards Bergerac we noticed that both Colombier and neighbouring Laberdie are twinned with towns in Quebec.

In Bergerac we parked alongside the river, the ancient port, where tour boats now pick up and disgorge tourists. A tiny old building in the parking lot was called l’Octroi and we knew from the Sarlat restaurant of the same name that this must once have been the tollhouse collecting fees from the boats on the river. It’s no longer in service for river boats or for cars as the parking is free. We set out in quest of the wine centre having decided to sample wines there rather than at any of the other caves we had passed. One sign had arrows pointing in both directions so we thought it was probably on the other side of the block. On our way there we stepped inside the Couvent des Récollets, the former convent of the Sisters of Faith. The welcoming inner courtyard is the home of galleries and obviously, from the stage along one wall, a place for summer entertainment. We didn’t notice then that the wine centre was located downstairs. Right next door is a Protestant temple that now houses exhibits on local protestantism.

Still on our quest we wandered through the old town with its many half-timbered buildings and a statue in honour of Cyreno de Bergerac who never actually set foot or nose in the town. These ancient buildings haven’t been restored as in Sarlat and Perigueau so have their own particular charm. Some in especially bad condition were torn down to create the square beside Eglise St-Jacques. Bergerac is said to have some decent restaurants but we didn’t investigate as we’d already eaten lunch.

Passing the convent again we noticed the sign for the wine centre this time. How had we missed it before? But it was still closed for lunch at 3:30, long after the time it should have reopened and there were many people waiting. It was too hot to hang around in hopes that it would ever reopen that day so we left. The thermometer in our car read 36 degrees when we first got in. Fortunately the car was air-conditioned and we had bottles of ice cold Evian in our cooler!

We stopped at E. LeClerc for some supplies on our way home and I investigated the dry goods section. I found a small cooler bag that would be perfect for our return trip as well as a great crepe pan: larger, heavier and with a better non-stick coating than my old one. I’ll buy buckwheat flour at home to make galettes, using a carefully copied recipe from one of the many cook books at la Bouquerie.
Dozing off over a book after we returned home, DH woke me up by presenting me with a glass of wine and an omelette made with cantal cheese and some of the tasty mushrooms we had purchased at the Sarlat market. Another great day!

Chateau Monbazillac: http://tinyurl.com/ltgoj
Chateau de la Jaubertie: http://tinyurl.com/m7of9
Photos of Bergerac: http://tinyurl.com/p9ybv

Next: Le Bugue Market and Lunch at le Vieux Logis

Sad circumstances have conspired to make my hiatus from writing this report longer than I ever expected. Hopefully now I can add a segment or two a week.

I'll be looking for the section on Gardens de E.......sorry I don't want to spell it wrong. It always seems a bit out of the way, but I'll be curious if it's worth seeing.

Moolyn:

>>>Sad circumstances have conspired to make my hiatus from writing this report longer than I ever expected. <<<

So sorry about this...hope everything is Ok with you now...nothing but sunshine from here on.

Stu T.

hopingtotravel, I should have the segment on Jardins du Manoir d’Eyrignac ready next week, with lots of pictures, so you can decide.

Stu T., thanks so much for your concern.

Warning: Don't read the next segment on an empty stomach!

Le Bugue Market

Tuesday morning we set out later than usual and drove to le Bugue via St. Ciprien, not the shortest route, especially since there was a traffic holdup in Beynac. The cliff and the river are very close together in one stretch in Beynac so there is very little room for a road. Consequently, the main highway through the village narrows to the point that large vehicles cannot pass each other in opposite directions, creating a real bottleneck. One of the opposing pair of vehicles must back up and let the other go through first and it can be difficult to reverse with a line of vehicles behind. This happened almost every time we passed through Beynac but it was such a pleasant drive along the Dordogne River that we kept choosing that route anyway and taking our chances.

Le Bugue was very crowded by the time we arrived for the market and we thought we’d never find a parking spot but one opened up as we were almost through town. It turned out to be ideal as it was at the far end of the market, the dry goods section. Although it’s a smaller market than at Perigueux, Albi or Sarlat, we liked this market very much. There were some of the same merchants we’d noticed at the other markets but quite a few different ones as well. I found a colourful butter dish right away to brighten up my everyday white dishes but then waited until the end to purchase it so it didn’t get broken. We also bought a kilo of herbs de Provence to take home and share although I momentarily wondered what customs would think of my “stash”. DH bought a small order of potatoes sarladaise to have later for supper. I didn’t think this was a good idea but they actually reheated beautifully. My favourite stand was devoted to prunes d’Agen. Customers were welcome to sample various prunes and prune liqueurs. Prunes d’Agen are much larger and moister than the usual dry, wrinkly ones we have in North America and for me it was love at first bite. I bough two euros worth, about a pound, and restrained myself from eating any more before lunch.

Le Vieux Logis

Le Vieux Logis in Trémolat turned out to be the lovely hotel complex beside the schoolhouse/mairie that I’d admired on our previous visit. I’d actually taken photos of it just because it was so pretty. We parked in the main square where two merchants were still packing up their stalls. Trémolat must have a Tuesday morning market as well, surprisingly, since it’s so close to le Bugue. There is parking beside le Vieux Logis if you drive further down that street but we walked the short distance and were able to see the playground and the back of the school which had also appeared in the film “le Boucher”. Having taught kindergarten for a few years, schools in different countries always interest me.

When I called to reserve the day before, I had inquired whether my gluten free restriction would be a problem as lunch at le Vieux Logis is a set meal for 32 euros per person. The young English-speaking woman I talked with had assured me that the chef could cope and the same young woman greeted us in the lobby and escorted us to the dining patio behind the main building. The terrace was quite beautiful. The branches of well-spaced trees provided a canopy overhead so there was no need of awnings or umbrellas. The chairs as well as the tables were covered with white linen. Our table was located in an alcove of the low wall that separated the terrace from the garden and we were seated facing the large, attractive garden rather than the other diners, a nice touch.

Being a set meal, there was no need to scrutinize the menu except for wine. We decided to drink wine by the glass rather than a bottle and deferred to the advice of the waiter, a wise decision. For me, Chateau de Pennautées carbades rosé 2005 and for DH, Chateau la Colline coté ouest Bergerac blanc 2003, both at 6.20 euros per glass.

I was self-conscious at first about taking notes but the servers were all very helpful about naming each dish in both English and French and the wine waiter left the bottles of wine on the table so that I could copy their names. Nearby, a group of four couples of mixed nationalities were constantly taking pictures of each other and their meal so I soon felt comfortable taking photos as well. It’s a debate whether to simply enjoy the experience or to try to keep a record. For me, it took just a little extra effort at the time but now I can relive the experience anytime I want as well as share it with others.

The first course was small portions of black pudding, parmesan bread sticks and a savoury walnut muffin, none of which I could eat. My more than acceptable substitution was smoked salmon with roe, cauliflower puree and avocado mouse. The second course was served to us both: green asparagus with crème fraiche and scrambled eggs with asparagus served in an eggshell. Following this came chilled vichyssoise with chunky potatoes and shaved ham. Then a simple portion of uncooked, fois gras de canard for me but two different presentations of fois gras for DH, one in a tiny cone and one on a skewer, very impressive.

The fish course was delectable sea bass in some kind of foam with spring vegetables and the meat course was roast veal with gravy, onion puree and an assortment of vegetables, all wonderful. Following the main courses came a local, creamy cow cheese with chives pour moi and skewers of cheese with walnuts for DH, probably melted around some sort of pastry. He wasn’t sure.

Next we were each presented with a glass of small strawberries layered over cream and topped with strawberry or raspberry sorbet. The second dessert was a duo of ice cream and a charlotte on a praline. As the server presented mine he asked whether I could have praline. Since it depended on how it was made, he removed it immediately to check. After a while he reappeared with a bowl of ice cream and a tumbler of plump, succulent cherries. He flamboyantly dumped the cherries on the ice cream, proclaiming, “cherises avec bière”. Oh no, beer is not gluten free! So my dessert was whisked away again, this time to DH’s dismay as well. He would have been happy to eat them. I availed myself of the opportunity to take photos of the garden. When my dessert reappeared, plain cherries on ice cream this time, it was lovely. The cherries were warm and every bit as good as they looked. Finally came some tiny meringues with very tiny strawberries for me and tiny, scallop-shaped vanilla cakes for DH.

The meal and the service were both excellent although we could have used a little more time between courses at the beginning and a little less of a wait at the end. Not a problem, however, as we were thoroughly enjoying our surroundings. In spite of there being so many courses, each was small so we didn’t feel at all stuffed, just satisfied. The presentation added an extra dimension as you will see in the photos. Sometimes the dishes were plain white, other times a slate slab might be used. Glasses or tumblers, spoons and even egg shells were imaginatively employed and there was always a variety of carefully chosen fresh cutlery for each course. We would definitely return.

Just as at l’Octroi and la Meynardie, I felt a subtle Japanese influence in the food and the presentation. Years ago, when my daughter and I visited Giverny, we were pleased and surprised to discover Monet’s extensive collection of Japanese prints. Later, in an art history course project, I studied Japonisme, particularly the influence that Japanese printmakers had on French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Over a century later the Japanese still inspire the French.

Le Bugue: http://tinyurl.com/oyud9
Le Vieux Logis: http://tinyurl.com/rf2fz

Next: Peche Merle and Figeac

Grotte du Peche-Merle

When I called a couple of days earlier to book an 11:30 tour at Peche Merle on Wednesday I was told that it was a full two hour drive from Sarlat but that we could change to an earlier tour if we arrived sooner. Indeed this was true although we undoubtedly saved a few minutes by taking the northeast exit out of Sarlat and driving through Carlux. We left Sarlat at 8:20 and arrived at the ticket booth at 10:06 and were given tickets for the 10:20 tour, just a few minutes away. In retrospect, we could have reduced our driving time by taking the much faster autoroute for part of the way, from Souillac to exit 57. Next time. But we sure wouldn’t omit any of the places we saw that day.

Tours are only offered in français so we requested a printed English guide before being ushered into a room with 24 chairs, one for each member of our group. After announcing that he spoke English as well as French, and asking, in English, for a show of hands of how many people understood French and receiving a very scattered response, our tour guide proceeded to speak for ten minutes totally in français without any anglaise at all. At the end, one woman spoke up and asked why she had had to sit through all this. Another woman, also with a European accent, commented that it wasn’t nice for him to talk only French when so many people couldn’t follow. The guide’s response basically was that it was France so he was going to speak French.

Since there is obviously a desire for English tours at Peche Merle and there is at least one staff member who can speak English, it seemed strange that they aren’t offered. On the other hand, it is great to have the flexibility of changing to an earlier or later tour time if you are coming from a distance and aren’t sure when you will arrive. The brochure provides all the basic information anyway. We decided that we would have been happier if the guide had made occasional English comments before and during the tour as it was obvious that he was relating much more information than was contained in the brief English guide. But, quite honestly, non-Francophones could do some homework beforehand then simply enjoy the experience while they are there.

Once we actually entered the cave, this brief awkwardness was soon overtaken by awe. Peche Merle was everything we expected a cave to be with its several large chambers and magnitude of interesting rock formations. With soaring arches overhead, it almost felt like we were in a cathedral. The art itself wasn’t quite as impressive as at Lascaux II or Font de Gaume, it was more along the line of outline drawings than paintings, but it was still wonderful and the overall effect of prehistoric art and concretions, the French term for rock formations, was simply outstanding. We were quite amazed to learn that one large mural was thought to be the work of a single artist. Because of the spaciousness it was much less claustrophobic and different tour groups could spread out so that we weren’t distracted by other tour guides. Also, with the circular route, we didn’t have to wait for other groups to leave before we could move on.

The most impressive man-made art for me was the black frieze with the spotted horses but even this, I felt, was almost overshadowed by the natural formations created over many millions of years. My favourite concretions were the discs, columns, stalagmites, stalactites and the cave pearls. I recalled the old phrase, “the mites go up and the tites go down!” In one area there were footprints, left by a woman and her twelve year old son, according to the Cadogan guide. The last cave, with the dangling oak root, had obviously been used by bears.

The English only speakers ignored the guide’s outstretched palm as we left the cave and headed en masse to the museum to see prehistoric tools, implements and art as well as a subtitled film that explained much of what the guide hadn’t, in English at least. The film also mentioned the Grottes de Cognac near Gordon, seen in the movie “Le Boucher”, because the rock found there is quite similar so the concretions are as well. Returning outside we spotted the ancient oak tree, marked with a white “?”, thought to be the tree whose roots descend through the final cave we had visited. There was a playground and tables in a shady area and it was time to eat by now but we had plans to see some of the Celé Valley.

From Peche Merle we drove eastward along the tiny Celé River to find the picque-nicque spot beside the river mentioned in the Cadogan guide. It’s near the village of Sauliac-sur-Celé and not far from the Quercy open air museum in Cuzals which we didn’t take time to visit. Next time. A French couple was just leaving as it was now past the traditional lunch time so we had the round, cement table and benches to ourselves. There was a pretty, little cascade beside us in the shallow river and a ruined chateau stood on the hill above. To find this spot, turn right just after the sign pointing left for Sauliac-sur-Celé.

Photos of Peche Merle: http://tinyurl.com/lufkp

Website Photos: http://www.quercy.net/pechmerle/visite_fr.html

Next: St. Cirq Lapopie and Figeac

You were so right about not reading that segment on an empty stomach!

It is good that you are able to take some time from the sad circumstances to which you allude, and I hope you are doing well.

Nikki,

Thanks for your concern; I'm doing well and am finally able to return to my own committments. Hopefully, after my long hiatus, people will be able to find this lengthy report. Not too many segments remain now.

St. Cirq-Lapopie

Backtracking from our lunch spot along the Celé, we enjoyed the drive in reverse every bit as much as we had the drive eastward. At a sculpture studio along the road we stopped to admire work composed of found objects. Almost as soon as we crossed the Celé and headed back east we glimpsed the cathedral of St. Cirq Lapopie dramatically perched on the cliffs high above.

As we drove uphill to the village, almost every turn brought another viewpoint. DH kindly stopped wherever he could so that I could take more pictures. We continued uphill to view the village from the far side and were rewarded with a scenic overview of the Lot Valley below. We could have parked there but chose to park closer to the village. Parking rates increase the closer you park but compared to city parking were not at all unreasonable. It seems only fair to pay somehow for the maintenance of these beautiful villages.

St. Cirq Lapopie is yet another Most Beautiful Village of France. Like most MBVFs we encountered it was very touristy but enjoyable nevertheless. We wandered downhill through the narrow streets and stopped at a wine store for DH to sample and buy some Cahors wine. Then we wandered uphill to the tourist office for more scenic views of the cathedral, battlements and the village itself with its rigorously preserved medieval buildings.

Figeac

Again it was very hot, too hot to be walking up and down hills, so we decided to return to our air-conditioned car and enjoy the drive along the river. Although it looked the same on our Michelin map, the Lot is much wider than the Celé. As we reached the main road it was a toss-up whether to head towards Cahors, which was closer, or Figeac as originally planned. We stuck with our plan.

In Figeac, we sought out the smaller parking lot beside the tourist office instead of the much larger lot beside the Celé River, inexplicably much wider at this point although it is upriver. Armed with a walking tour map, we set out to explore the town, following the map closely at first then improvising, enjoying the many medieval buildings, interesting shops and the overall ambience. Beside the covered market was a fromagerie / wine store where I selected a Rocamadour cabochon for a snack while DH chose some rosé for later. We decided that Figeac would be an excellent place for an overnight stop. Perhaps next time.

The drive from Figeac back to Sarlat was only an hour and a half along a wide, new highway so Figeac would be feasible on its own as a daytrip from Sarlat.

Photos of St. Cirq Lapopie: http://tinyurl.com/jap5k
Photos of Figeac: http://tinyurl.com/hunkl

Next: Les Jardins du Manoir d’Eyrignac

bookmarking to read later

Loved the pictures of St. Cirq LaPopie. By the time we got there we were running so late and were so exhausted that I didn't get many pictures. The one blow-up that I have is awesome, however.

>>We liked the Jaubertie rosé better than the white we’d bought previously so added some to our collection. FYI, at 6.30 euros it was one euro less per bottle than at the Sarlat market. Later, when we ordered this very same wine at le Presidial, it was 22 euros, a substantial markup.<<

Jaubertie makes two grades of white. We buy the "lower" one for Kirs and their top grade for drinking with our meals. I don't remember which one is served at Le Presidial. Ira, Lois, & I had their top grade at Le Meynardie.

I think their lower wine sells for less than 10E & their other is more than 10E. We consumed quite a bit if it while in the Dordogne last year.

Stu Dudley

cobbie, I hope you find this helpful.

hopigtotravel, Thanks! Sounds like you have to return and see it properly.

Stu D., I appreciate the info about the different grades of Jaubertie wines. After reading so many rave reviews we were disappointed but thought it must be us. Obviously we were drinking their lower wine. We’ll make sure we get the real stuff next time.

Les Jardins du Manoir d’Eyrignac

After our lengthy drive the day before, we lingered over breakfast, lounged around La Bouquerie and packed a lunch before heading towards Salignac just before noon. We knew that Les Jardins had picque-nicque facilities but they sure weren’t in the shady acres of trees you drive through when you first reach the grounds. Here there were signs reading “picque-nicque interdit” every which way you looked. The actual picnic spot was right beside the parking lot and it was packed. Every table was full, even in full sun. Likewise, the lovely restaurant overlooking the gardens was also full. If you plan to eat there, be sure to book ahead. We decided to tour the gardens first and eat later, a very wise decision.

Sometimes the traditional noon lunch pause can work in your favour. The gardens were almost deserted at this hour so it was an excellent time both to enjoy them and to take photos. There was a threesome well ahead of us and a family of four behind but we all toured at the same pace and had each area to ourselves until near the end. The garden was mostly green and white but one area had pastel blossoms. It was all very lovely.

The owners still inhabit the 17th century stone mansion on the far side of the gardens. The gardens were originally laid out in the 18th century in the French style of the time which was heavily influenced by the Italian. In the 19th century they were remade in the English manner following the taste of that era. Just 40 years ago, the gardens were carefully restored by the father of the present owner in accordance with their original style.

There were a number of structures that were integrated into the garden design such as chapel and dovecotes. The plantings themselves are quite sculptural. It must have taken an immense amount of planning to predict the expected growth of each tree and bush and an immense amount of pruning now to maintain their shapes. The water bill alone must be enormous. Probably the owners have to accept visitors to pay for the maintenance.

When we returned to the picque-nicque area the young French family was also there with their baby and young daughter. The little girl was wearing only underpants because of the heat. When they left, she refused to put her dress back on. I didn’t blame her. Fortunately, because we were almost alone, we were able to find a shady spot under a tree. The groundskeepers don’t spend much time here. The grass was parched and brown. There hadn’t been any rain since we’d arrived and the days had been very hot.

Photos of Jardins du Manoir d’Eyrignac: http://tinyurl.com/zp2ao

English Version of Website: http://www.eyrignac.com/index1.html
Be sure to click on the Visit of the Gardens button for an interactive tour!

Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip. I had copied part of your report a while back, but now would like to follow along so I don't miss anything.

We covered some of the same ground in September, and how beautiful it is. I regret missing the market in Sarlat, though the small indoors one was open until a little after noon on a Sunday.

The 'clock' system of roundabouts only annoyed my husband, though, when I was navigating; he thought I was trying to show off.

I love reading your descriptions of it all.

fun4all4 and stokebailey, it's nice to discover new readers so far along in this report. Thanks for your words of encouragement. There's just a few more days of our Dordogne adventures left to relate.

Stokebailey, I'm enjoying your report too. Sorry your husband found the clock roundabout system annoying. It works very well for us but my DH is a an accountant. Maybe that explains it.


Turkey Provençal

This past Monday was Thanksgiving Day in Canada and that meant turkey at least once last weekend for almost every Canadian. I found an idea in Fine Cooking magazine for adding a little more moistness and flavour to the usual bird by placing herbed butter under the skin. This is my adaptation of their recipe. If you’ve already brought back herbs de Provence or can obtain them locally, you can try this too on your next turkey occasion.

Melt one quarter cup of butter. Add one tablespoon of herbs de province plus one teaspoon of sea salt or kosher salt, crushed. Gently pull back the skin on the turkey breast and slather on the butter concoction. Your family will thank you! Not only was our turkey extra delicious but our home was invitingly scented as our dinner guests arrived.

Moolyn - thanks so much for the great report. your last posting about the gardens reminded me of our trip there with our kids about 5 years ago. They were particularly taken with our guide's description of french gardens as being "intelligent" ie planned and ordered, as opposed, presumably, to english unplanned and stupid ones! They still remind me of this when they get the chance.

Thank you for the garden pictures and also the info that one could eat lunch there. It does look like it's worth going out of the way to see.

Annhig, thanks for your comments. I love English gardens but this French one especially appealed to me and your guide may have hit on the reason why. All the thought and effort that obviously went into it is impressive and it’s probably so relaxing and peaceful because it was all so carefully planned.

hopingtotravel, I think that either Ira or Stu Dudley may have eaten at the restaurant there. Perhaps one of them will comment on it for you.

The gardens are not far from Moulin de la Tour, Salignac, St. Amand-de-Coly or La Meynardie Reataurant which I described a few segments back. You could combine one of more of these with your visit to Les Jardins du Manoir d’Eyrignac. Les Jardins only take a couple of hours to wander through unless you eat there so you still have an open half day.

Le Tourny

We stopped in the pretty hillside village of Carlux on our way home from Eyrignac to drink some lovely French wine with Carlux and her husband. It was idyllic sitting in the shade on their patio on such a hot afternoon, hearing about their experience of falling in love with the Dordogne and consequently finding a way to live there, overcoming many daunting obstacles in order to finally achieve this. We admire them and envy the lifestyle they have attained through their efforts.

This afternoon, for the first time, there was no parking space in our handy lot when we arrived back in Sarlat. DH backed into a place along the edge in front of some residences but we weren’t sure whether these were actually parking places so, when he saw someone leaving, he quickly drove out, not noticing a low standing pole beside the car. I did but my yelp was too late. Oops! That’s why we usually avoid drinking more than one glass of wine during the day while driving. The next morning DH had me take photos of the thankfully very slight scrape for the inevitable damage payment negotiation with Europecar.

Rossignol, the fish place we’d decided to try, was closed this evening. Until this point we’d always eaten at recommended restaurants but tonight we diverged from our usual practice and decided to simply wander around town and pick a place that appealed to us. Perhaps it was because of all the wine we’d drunk that afternoon, first in Carlux and then with our American neighbours back at La Bouquerie who appeared at our door, wine glasses in hand, soon after we returned home after our little misadventure. Well, no more driving that day.

The centre of Sarlat is full of small bistros, catering to the hoards of tourists and we were tourists so why not see what gem we could discover on our own? It was a bit before 8:00 so we had time to check out menus before the crowds arrived. Our criteria were an interesting, reasonably priced menu and diners that seemed to be enjoying their meals. We ignored deserted restaurants although they could have been the haunt of fashionably late diners. In the end we settled on Le Tourny, near the Tourist Office, because there were quite a few people happily eating at tables in front of the restaurant and their food looked good.

We decided on the 14 euro, four course menu, with a two euro supplementary charge for sandre, a fish, which we both chose. DH selected a half bottle of Montbazzilac rouge whereas I restricted myself to one glass of blanc, my wine quota for the day already far exceeded. I started with a zucchini terrine, very nice, but DH chose the gizzard salad. He expected only a token gizzard or two, easily pushed aside, but the salad was loaded with large gizzards as you can see in the photo. Why ever did he choose that instead of the terrine? It turned out that DH had read the English menu whereas I had read the French one. I knew that courgettes were zucchini but the English menu used the British term marrow. Hmmm, gizzards or marrow? I understood his dilemma. When our server returned for our plates and saw the untouched salad he sympathetically offered to replace it with something else. DH declined but appreciated the kind offer.

The sandre, which we had ordered partly because of the accompanying potatoes sarladaise, turned out to be lovely. As was the cheese course and the desserts. Altogether it was a very positive experience, eating outdoors in the centre of this beautiful, medieval town, and we would take a chance like this again. Our next impromptu dining experience was not as fortunate as you will read later.

Reading some differences of opinions lately on restaurants that we enjoyed and others did not made me realize that even high praise doesn’t guarantee a great experience. And perhaps high praise raises expectations beyond any hope of fulfillment. Incidental factors such as noisy groups, smoke, inattentive servers, over pricing, meal choice and whether you eat indoors or outside can mar your impressions of each place. Personally we had very good luck following the recommendations of other Fodorites, especially Carlux who lives in the area.

Photos of le Tourny: http://tinyurl.com/h563g

Next: Rocamadour

Gizzards cropped up in a salad I ate on my "big birthday" 6000 ft up in the Pyrenees. perhaps it was the altitude or the wine, but I managed to eat them!

annhig, I'm glad to know that someone is still following! This report is much lengthier and has taken much longer than I ever expected.

Rocamadour

Rocamadour, rated three stars in the green Michelin guide, is the stuff of legions. Comments about it being very touristy didn’t scare us off because DH and I grew up in a city very close to Niagara Falls so we know that you can choose the good aspects and ignore the tawdry. Besides, as a primary destination for countless pilgrims, Rocamadour must always have been full of hawkers. This pilgrimage was a considerable penance imposed by lay as well as ecclesiastical tribunals I was surprised to read in Michelin. With all these sinners gathering in one place I can only imagine that the attractions were always secular as well as sacred.

I had poured over the map the night before to pick a scenic route there from Sarlat but needn’t have bothered. The signposts we picked up on the south end of Souilllac took us along exactly the route I had planned. By now we had also realized that the speediest way out of Sarlat in that direction was via Carlux.

Michelin recommends spending a full day in Rocamadour but half a day is more than enough if you aren’t interested in seeing all of the religious sites. Arriving at the top of the Alzou canyon we paused to take photos of the breathtaking cliffside setting before parking in the lot beside the chateau and the fortress built to protect the sanctuary below. There are two tiers of transportation to the village below, a funicular then an elevator, both requiring fees, but we decided to walk and were rewarded with awesome views all the way downhill.

The first part of the descent, just below the ramparts, is a zigzagging path with shrines at each turn, the Stations of the Cross. There is also a wonderful lookout point along this trail. The steep stairs in the sanctuary area are harder to manage so we took an elevator past this portion of the climb on our return.

The main street of the village is quite flat. Most or all of the stores are directed towards tourists but they are colourful and nicely maintained. Over restored is a term I have since read in reference to the medieval village but we were caught up in the magical atmosphere and didn’t notice this at the time. A small, open train passed us and we later realized that it picked up passengers at the lower level parking lot and brought them up to village level, for a fee of course. If you are traveling with children this would be the most fun option to choose.

It was lunchtime and we observed many happy diners at the restaurant beside the square on the main street, viewing the ecclesiastical city above and the valley below. This restaurant was full so we ascended the cliff and drove instead to L’Hospitlet to L’Esplande, a café suggested in the Michelin GG, the very last driveway in the village. We arrived around 2:00, just as all the diners who had eaten at the traditional lunchtime were leaving, so we were very fortunate to have our choice of tables beside the railing, overlooking the Alzou canyon and Rocamadour. DH had a galette complet and I ordered a salad with mature chevre, Rocamadour of course. The food was fine but the view was priceless! We watched the small train winding its way several times from the parking lot way below to the main village still well below our cliffside perch.

On our way into Rocamadour that morning we had noticed a large, isolated building with a cheese shop attached, just before the village. A huge sign on the side offered “degustion” so we now stopped to educate ourselves about the various Rocamadour cheeses and buy some to carry home with us in our cooler. Instead, the woman in the store was insulted by our enquiry and actually quite rude. Puzzled and chagrined, we left the shop without buying any cheese and reread the sign. It indicated a doorway to what we decided was a cheese factory along the front of the building and the free tastings were at a later hour. Surely the woman in the store should have been aware of this and could have simply cleared up our confusion without taking offense. The factory was probably where the chevre was produced for the shop anyway.

Directly across the highway a farm, the Borie d' Imbert, offered tours of a goat farm so we investigated. A class of small children was waiting for a tour with their teacher and, as a former kindergarten teacher myself, I thought that this would be a great family excursion, observing all the steps in the production of goat cheese. Should we take a farm tour or should we stop for a tour of Lacave on our way back to Sarlat? The heat helped us choose a visit to a cool cave rather than a goat fragranced farm on that particular day. Next time.

Photos of Rocamadour: http://tinyurl.com/knqnj

Borie d' Imbert info: http://tinyurl.com/j9upu

Next: Lacave

Moolyn: Nice description of your visit to Rocamadour, but I couldn't help laughing out loud at the Google translation of your page on Borie d'Imbert: "Rocamadour has the wind in poop" Really?? Is the cheese that bad? (Just another reason never to trust computer-generated translations).

laverendrye, I'm sure that the cheese is great but the air on such a hot day smelled rather poopy so maybe the computer generated translation was not so out of line. You can translate the page for yourself by clicking on the original French version.

My Virgo horoscope informs me that my communication skills are tops today. It also urges me to finish something that I started a while ago. So it sounds like an ideal time for me to hunker down over my computer, draft my final segments and polish off one that I’ve already written!

Lacave

There are actually two caves close to Rocamadour that could be combined with a visit there and both can be enjoyed by the whole family. The less famous but still spectacular Lacave, between Rocamadour and Souillac, involves a train ride while les Gouffre de Padirac utilizes boats. According to our Cadogan guide, long queues can be expected at Padirac. At Lacave, we didn’t need to buy tickets in advance and tours were offered every 30 minutes. Admission was 7.70 euros each. We only had to wait ten minutes for the next tour, just long enough for me to change out of sandals into walking shoes and make use of the unisex washroom. Although we were in the cave for at least an hour and another group or two must have been there at the same time, we didn’t actually see another group until we were leaving. This is unlike Lascaux II and Font de Gaume where I often had trouble hearing our guide because of the talk from other groups.

No English tours are offered at Lacave and our guide spoke absolutely no English but we were provided with a perfectly adequate printed guide in English. Our guide was patient when I asked questions in my rusty française and responded carefully so that I could understand. Something I really liked on this trip was how seldom the locals would automatically switch to English when I tried to communicate. Accordingly, my confidence and my française improved.

Lacave is immense, much bigger than any of the other caves we visited. Tour groups are easily swallowed up and there is lots of room to spread out. If you tend to be claustrophobic like me, this is the cave for you. From the entrance you board a small train that takes you deep underground. Then you walk through a tunnel to go even further. Finally you climb many stairs to reach the start of the tour although there is an elevator if you can’t manage the climb.

We were immediately impressed. Because the entire cave system is spacious and extensive there is lots of walking and climbing up and down stairs so it’s a good place to get some exercise on a hot day. It is all very well maintained and well lit. While there is absolutely no cave art the concretions are quite beautiful. It was quite noticeable that the different types of rock eroded differently. The colours seemed a little dull at first after the glories of Peche Merle but we soon began to appreciate the subtle differences: white from calcium, pink from iron oxide and grey from magnesium. Interestingly, or perhaps obviously, these are the exact same minerals used as pigments in the cave paintings we had seen at Font de Gaume, Lascaux II and Peche Merle.

There were two little girls in our tour group, aged about two and five, and it was the first cave that we felt was appropriate for young children. They were quite awestruck by the rock formations, gazing all around with wide eyes.

A great bonus was that photography was allowed here, at least by our guide. It wouldn’t have occurred to me to take photos if others in our group hadn’t started. Unfortunately, this was the day that my battery petered out so I only managed a few shots and missed many spectacular concretions and eccentric formations.

In one area there were obvious shifts in the rock formations and a visible gap between the rock layers caused by a prehistoric earthquake. The second last cave was lit by black light so that anything white showed up fluorescently, including white clothing, while everything else receded. The explanation on the information sheet was that the white mineral was living rock whereas all the black rock was dead. I’d never thought of rock as a living organism before. We walked beside the Lac de Mirage, a clear underground lake, where the reflections of stalactites in the water gives the illusion of an underground city.

That evening we returned once more to Bistro l’Octroi but this time we went with our American neighbours from La Vigne across the lane from La Bouquerie. They enjoyed the meal as much as we did and we enjoyed their company. It was pleasantly cooler by the time we returned home.

Photos of Lacave: http://tinyurl.com/jeszw

Next: Final Day in Sarlat

moolyn, I have followed your trip report as it unfolded and it is marvellous. You combined information about the sights and areas with your own insights. This is a great resource that we have copied and plan to take and use on our upcoming trip to Dordogne in the fall. We will follow many of your recommendations including staying at Carlux's terrific gite Le Fournil in the village of Carlux. Thank you. I know it took a lot of work at a time in your life that was particularly stressful and sad. Great job.

Bob, thanks for your kind words. Your advice was very helpful to me so I'm glad to return the favour. I took your cheese list with me and followed many of your recommendations including one I'll mention in the next segment.

Losing my mother this past August was indeed very sad and stressful. I'm just now reaching the point where my memories of her bring smiles as often as tears. Continuing this report was impossible at first but now serves as comfortable escape.

Final Day in Sarlat

Sadly our stay in Sarlat was coming to an end. DH walked to the market early and returned with fresh strawberries for me and a pastry for himself. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast while we read a copy of the International New York Times brought over to us by our American neighbours. We hadn’t followed outside news up until now because we didn’t have a TV and the English newspapers were always gone whenever we remembered to check at our neighbourhood tabac at the end of our day’s adventures. It just hadn’t been a priority.

We needed to get packed and organized for our return trip but first up was a final visit to the Sarlat Saturday market, shopping list in hand. We wanted to provision ourselves with some things not so easily obtainable back in Canada and to buy picque-nicque supplies for our drive towards the Toulouse airport the next day.

There had been a thunderstorm again during the night but again there was not much rain. The sky was overcast and it was sprinkling slightly when we walked to the market just before 10:00 but it was also pleasantly cool. By the time we left at noon it was hot and the there was not a cloud in the sky. There seemed to be more merchants and more people than last week but we were also later.

First I bought brébis from the same stall as last week, knowing that is was good. This time the vendor offered me samples of different stages of maturity. I have to admit that I liked them all and bought some of each. DH had wandered away and found a prune merchant during my degustation so he led me there. Again I had to sample in order to select the best ones then bought a kilo to take home. At another stand nearby we tried some cêpes, cooked in oil and seasoned merely with salt. They are sold dried and the vendor explained how to soak them in water for 10 to 15 minutes to rehydrate them. Robjame had advised me to bring home some of these so we bought a bag of cêpes too.

I wish I had that sunny afternoon in the Dordogne back now but I had reached the point in the trip where I was saturated with the euphoria and got into magic thinking of how nice it would be to be able to bank the last couple of days and bring them out later to enjoy when I really needed them. Right then I just wanted to get all our things together for the trip home and lounge around in our lovely little medieval house and finish the book I was reading. We hadn’t had much down time up until this. I packed all the things we wouldn’t need again in our large suitcase and laid out the essentials for the last day or placed them in our carryon bags, along with a final change of clothes. I put our last two large bottles of Evian in the freezer to keep our lunch cool the next day. Then I curled up with my book and fell asleep, dreaming of home. As it happened, while I slept, clouds rolled in and we finally had a good rainfall. Lulled by the raindrops on the tile roof and skylight, it turned out to be the perfect afternoon for a cozy nap.

Next: Le Présidial

Le Présidial

Le Présidial must have the loveliest dining patio in Sarlat. It is located on a side street and protected by high stone walls. The patio is quite extensive but there are also lawns and gardens adjacent to the ancient building. Tables were arranged in rows under awnings. The first row, nearest the wall, is for twos, the next row for fours and the next for sixes. The final, outer row had the longest tables, for larger groups. This means that couples are well away from the noise of the largest groups and can enjoy a quiet, romantic dinner. As with other restaurants we’d been to in the Dordogne, the tables were nicely spread out, so different from Paris. We didn’t notice many smokers during this visit to France but it usually wasn’t a problem when eating outdoors anyway.

Although the rain had stopped, the sky was still threatening as we set out that evening with my as yet unused umbrella. When I pointed out that the awning didn’t quite cover our table along the wall our server told us convincingly that the rain was over and it wouldn’t fall again. Except for an occasional sputter, the rain held off until the cheese course. By then the couple beside us had finished and gone so we quickly relocated to enjoy the shower from their table. By the time we finished the rain was over so I still never unfurled my umbrella.

With the help of our server, DH chose from the 32 euro menu and I chose from the 26 euro menu. All of the sauces were thickened with wheat flour, to my surprise, so I couldn’t have a sauce or the little pastry basket that the beans came in. No problem. Altogether, with a bottle of Chateau de la Jaubertie 2005 rosé, our bill came to 80 euros, very reasonable for such an experience. We were surprised at the time that the Jaubertie cost three times what we’d paid for it at the chateau but, thanks to Stu Dudley, I now know that we undoubtedly drank the superior version that evening. It was certainly excellent.

DH started with fricassée de queues de crevettes aux oignons frits and germe de soja (stir fried prawns with onions and snow peas in soya sauce). His main course was carré d’agneau roti au coulis de romaine. I began with tartare de salmon cruet marine aux cinq aromates and my main course was a different version of lamb, pave d’agneau roti pas sauce. Our cheese course was cabécou sur lit de verdue. For dessert, DH had profiteroles with vanilla custard ice cream and chocolate sauce while I enjoyed some crème brulée. We were well satisfied.

We had saved the experience of dining at Le Présidial for our final evening, stopping by on our way home a couple of night before to book a table. It was so pleasant and the food was so enjoyable that I would eat there more than once next time.

Photos of le Présidial: http://tinyurl.com/gs7uu

Next: Excellent Misadventures!

Marilyn - What are you doing to me with those food pictures! I have added Le Presidial to my list and I am ready to go now.

Bob, you have yourself to blame. It was the food photos you sent me before our trip that gave me the idea of photographing our meals too.

>>It was so pleasant and the food was so enjoyable that I would eat there more than once next time.<<

We dined there twice - once outside & three weeks later - inside. Both experiences were fantastic.

Stu Dudley

My fellow Virgoan, if we would happen to be in France together at any time, I'd love to share a glass of wine with you. Anyway, I'd take your report along for reference. Beautiful stuff.

Stu, you deserve much of the credit for the success of our excellent adventures, beginning with the two day scenic drive from Toulouse to the Dordogne that you outlined for us personally. We printed out a copy of your Dordogne Itinerary to take along and referred to it often.

Stokebailey, thanks! Your kind words cheered me up on a down day. I‘d love to share a glass of wine with you too. Since the chances of us winding up in France at the same time are slight, perhaps you could bring your daughters to Toronto for a field trip and we could open one of the bottles we brought back from France!

Everyone, thanks for your patience with this report.

Here is the link for a scenic two day drive from Toulouse to the Dordogne:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34794617

If you are planning a trip to the Dordogne, be sure to contact Stu for a copy of his Dordogne Itinerary:

StuDudley@aol.com

On the URL Moolyn posted about my advice for a scenic route from Albi to Sarlat, I re-read what I wrote & noticed an error in a village name. I posted a correction on the original thread. Hope Moolyn either didn't get lost or she didn't take the side trip.

Stu Dudley

Thanks for correcting this itinerary Stu. We didn't get lost but we missed the scenic spot overlooking St. Eulalie because we weren't looking for it when we drove through St. Geniez-d’Olt. Next time!

Excellent Misadventures

Except for the scrape on our car, everything had gone remarkably smoothly up until this point and a smile was becoming permanently etched upon my face. Sure my hair was misbehaving a little because of the recent humidity but that was no biggie. I had even started looking at house ads and fantasizing about relocating to the Dordogne when we retire.

That last Sunday in Sarlat we stripped our beds when we got up and put the sheets in the washer as per house instructions. We ate breakfast and prepared a lunch to eat along the way. Then we realized that we hadn’t packed all the wine bottles we had accumulated and lined up on the kitchen counter. We’d planned to visit a wine merchant and have them bubble wrap our carefully selected purchases but had ended up lackadaisically buying a couple of bottles here and a couple of bottles there. An urgent phone call to Carlux, our guardian angel, and she showed up with a wine carton designed to hold six bottles. Her husband had emptied one of his for us. Thanks, Harry!

DH naturally headed south at Souillac while I was trying to figure out the Michelin printout so we missed the entrance to the auto route. The 820 wasn’t a bad road and there was very little traffic so we continued along for an hour before joining the motorway just north of Cahors. Quelle difference! In half an hour we drove twice as far as we had in the previous hour! I recommend using the motorway between Toulouse and Sarlat because it is so much quicker and easier, especially if you are used to North American highways. The scenery might be more interesting along the A road but it is just fine along the autotoute.

I thought that DH knew the difficulty of gassing up on a Sunday in Europe but it turned out that I was wrong. It was my daughter and I who had painfully learned this lesson driving from Brugge to the ferry to England several years ago but that is another story. DH didn’t mention that our gas tank was low until we were exiting the autoroute and heading towards Lectoure. Surely we would find one open in town we rationalized, foolishly.

This area was quite different from the Lot and Dordogne, scenic but not nearly as prosperous. The crops were more advanced and the cows were a paler shade of brown than in the Dordogne. Lectoure is one of les “Plux Beaux Détours de France” according to a Michelin guide I had picked up in the Figeac tourist office in exchange for a donation. The buildings are rather grey and many are in need of paint but it has potential and a pleasant central park. Unsurprisingly, it’s set on a hill. It’s definitely not touristy; we didn’t notice any souvenir shops.

Once we arrived in Lectoure I expected to see signs all over for the woad dyeing workshop I wanted to visit but there were none in sight. It was 12:30 by then so we knew that Bleu de Lectoure would be closed for lunch anyway but we spotted the tourist office and decided to stop there to ask for directions. Just as we arrived, however, the clerk was locking the door for her lunch break. Since it would just take a few seconds for her to point us in the right directions I asked for help anyway. She paused, unlocked the door and led up inside. Graciously, she provided us with a map and directions not only to the workshop but to a possibly open service station and the nearest public facilities as well.

The preponderance of unisex toilets in France had already puzzled us as it seems inconsistent that a country whose language has genders would have public facilities that don’t. The first couple of times I encountered them I thought I had entered the wrong door by mistake. This happens, but no. As someone pointed out when I raised this matter on Fodors a few months ago, the cubicles all have walls and doors that continue from the ceiling right down to the floor so they are quite private. Of course, the urinals aren’t enclosed and women often have to pass them to get to the sinks but this doesn’t seem to trouble anyone.

DH and I headed in opposite directions when we entered the Lectoure public facilities. Later, when I went to open the door of my cubicle, the handle wouldn’t turn. I banged on the heavy, metal door. DH heard and came to my aid. I was relieved that he was within hearing distance but he wasn’t any more successful than me. We eventually realized that it was the loose handle and not the lock that was at fault. As he repeatedly turned the handle from the outside and it repeatedly hit the doorjamb inside, I recalled the definition of insanity as repeating the same action in expectation of a different outcome.

The factors that made the cubicle secure from invasion also made it impossible to escape. Frantic thoughts ran through my head. Would I be trapped there until the next morning when there was a chance of workmen appearing? At least the cubicle was large and clean so I could lie down to sleep and there was as sink so I wouldn’t perish from thirst. Perhaps the tourist office would reopen after lunchtime and the friendly, helpful woman there would know exactly what to do.

TO BE CONTINUED

I always have that thought in European rest rooms. No way to crawl under the door if it becomes stuck. Anxiously awaiting the outcome, even though you do seem to have made it home.

Hi Nikki, yes I made it home. But it was a bit nerve racking for a while until.....

Sorry, I just couldn't resist including a cliffhanger.

Excellent Misadventures Continued

Just then a group of French women appeared, intent upon using the facilities. They quickly assessed the problem, decided that DH wasn’t a potential molester and took charge. First one woman tried to pick the lock but the lock wasn’t the problem. Then another pulled the knob towards her then turned it in the opposite direction DH has used. That did the trick. I was free! I wanted to hug her but restrained myself and just thanked her profusely and warned them all to be careful about the door. Afterwards I realized that they had succeeded where DH hadn’t because they had a much stronger incentive. A few minutes later when we passed the Tourist Office again my rescuers were sitting at a table in front waiting for it to reopen. You can see them in one of the photos. It looks like they are telling bystanders about my inadvertent imprisonment!

It was almost the end of lunchtime by then and we were getting hungry. The service station was closed so we drove straight to the workshop planning to eat our lunch there while we waited for it to reopen. It was still open, however, because there had been a group tour that morning. Madame Lambert, a vision in bleu, apologized in perfect English that they would have a later closing that day, explaining that she was obligated to give her employees their full lunch break because of French labour laws. We were disappointed but understood. She gave us directions to the one service station in the area that she assured us was always open on Sundays; we decided to drive right there rather than wait around.

By the time we reached the truly open service station along the highway, almost to Agen, our gas gauge indicated that we had only enough gas to drive another 10k! But it was a scenic drive and we had noticed a couple of very pleasant picque-nicque spots along the way. By now we were starving so we stopped on our return drive to enjoy our final alfresco meal in France. We were pleased that we just happened to have some great French wine along to wash it down!

Brief History of Woad

Cultivation of dyers’ woad in the “blue triangle” between Toulouse, Albi and Carcassonne brought immense prosperity to the area during the Renaissance. Most of the elegant brick mansions of Toulouse and Albi were built by woad merchants. In France, woad-dyed garments were worn only by the Royal family and it became known as Royal Blue. Local peasants used the dregs of the woad dyepots to daub their doors and shutters with this extraordinarily durable and protective pigment. Artists used this pigment in place of lapis lazuli and the French name for it, pastel, has gone on to denote drawing chalks. Unfortunately for the local economy, the woad trade declined with the import of a much cheaper alternative, natural indigo, in the 17th century then collapsed when synthetic blues were created in the 1800s.

Photos of Lectoure: http://tinyurl.com/y8cksb

Next: Bleu de Lectoure

Bleu de Lectoure

Bleu de Lectoure is located in an old tannery on the Condome side of Lectoure, just between the railway tracks and the Gers River. The Lamberts, originally from Brussels, bought the property twelve years ago after becoming obsessed with the idea of reviving the colour used for the mesmerizing blue shutters that you see everywhere in this area. During their research in Paris they discovered that woad came from the very same plants flourishing on their Lectoure property. It took two years of tinkering and the serendipitous acquisition of the notebook of one of Napolean’s chemists to refine the complicated fermentation process.

The Lamberts weren’t around when we returned but the manager took us to the atelier to explain the history and process of woad dyeing. Although similar in many ways to indigo, woad has yellow flowers whereas indigo has pink, woad pigment is greyer and woad hues tend to be lighter. Also, while indigo dyers are careful to keep air out of their dyepots even during the dyeing process, woad dyepots at at Bleu de Lectoure are constantly aerated.

It takes one ton of fresh leaves to produce only two kilos of woad pigment. The Lamberts use the resulting pigment to dye scarves and clothing for sale in their shop, including a copy of one of Napoleon's military shirts. Couturiers bring bolts of silk and wool to be dyed. It was intriguing to see that thin cotton yarn could be dyed right on a vented plastic spool. Ink, pastels, watercolours, paints and even cosmetics are also produced although not by the Lamberts.

If you’ve never seen the indigo or woad dying process it is quite magical. Items dipped in the dyepots emerge yellow then turn green and finally blue as the dye oxidizes. Our guide showed us a photo of a little yellow duck that had fallen into the vat one day and turned blue. Woad isn’t toxic so the duck was unharmed but visiting children were amused. Our guide turned out to be a children’s author who wrote a book about this adventurous duckling. There is no charge for the tour but a blue piggy bank beside the till in the shop collects tips for the guides.

The shop had an amazing array of woad dyed articles. DH had by chance worn a polo shirt of the same blue so he blended right into the merchandise. I bought a tube of aquarelle, a linen scarf like the lovely one worn by our guide and a bib for the new grandchild we were expecting when we returned, all very compact for carrying home and all very bleu!

Photos of Bleu de Lectoure: http://tinyurl.com/jkdut

Website: http://www.bleu-de-lectoure.com/sommaiuk.html

Blackduff kindly sent me an article he had scanned from a French magazine when I was researching Bleu de Lectoure. The photos of M. Lambert working in the atelier nicely supplement my report although the words are quite illegible.

Pastel Article: http://tinyurl.com/yn2cv3

Next: Ups and Downs

Hi Moolyn. Hadnt realised that you had such a traumatic time after you left us!

I thought anyone intersted in things bleu might want to visit the shop in Toulouse that sells lots of 'pastel' items.
Fleurée de Pastel 20 RUE DE LA BOURSE 31000 TOULOUSE 05 61 12 05 94

Marilyn
The posts about the Lectoure really pleased the photos and report about this area. It's only three hours from my house, so I have to drive up there soon.

I've found a lot of people who are interesed with the blue. I want to buy some of the paint to use some furniture. I have an old box which is used for baguettes. Currently it's brown-ugly brown. The Blue de Lectoure should smarten up this old box.

I really like to see your reports and all of the photos. Keep them coming.

Blackduff

Hello moolyn,

I haven't been popping by as I once was able to, but have been so pleased to see your report still up and running when I do. I am happily catching up on your wonderful journey.

Looking forward to your up's and downs section moolyn.

Cheers,

Murphy

ttt

Carlux, there is also a shop in Albi devoted to "pastel". The shop you mention in Toulouse might be the one I've read about where bleu chocolates are sold!

Blackduff, I think using woad paint would be a great way to decorate. You defiitely should go there and get some plus art supplies for your wife. Do you have blue shutters in your area?

Murphy, it's great to hear from you and know you are still following along. I am away from my home computer right now so won't be able to post Ups and Downs until next week.

How are you plans for your trip to Croatia coming along? I've been following tcreath's report and I'm almost ready to join you.

Ups and Downs

The minor highway leading diagonally southeastward from Lectoure towards Blagnac changed its number several times but was obviously the same road. The drive was pleasant, up and down through one pretty, little hill village after another. Plane trees were planted along the road in many places; to me these are so quintessentially French. Saint Clar is one of the few villages in the Lectoure area with a B&B. We were sorry it was too far from the airport to stay here before our early flight the next morning. Many villages had medieval half-timbered buildings and churches with tall steeples; Cox even had a windmill. As we got closer to Toulouse more and more buildings were made of brick.

Photos of Lectoure to Montigut: http://tinyurl.com/ky39e

Saint Clar B&B where Carlux has stayed: http://www.lagarlande.com/uk/guest_room.html

Since 90% of the restaurants in Toulouse are closed on a Sunday evening, rather than stay at an airport hotel or in town we decided to stay at Le Ratelier in Montigut-sur-Save, a recommendation found here on Fodors. It’s very peacefully located in the countryside on the west side of Montigut, away from everything except an adjacent riding stable. It was a little run down but not bad. Our room was one of the few without internet connection so I took our laptop to the bar while DH sat outside on the patio. The bar turned out to be too smoky and the patio too hot but it was almost time for dinner by then anyway.

After our long day we were content to eat at the hotel restaurant. We’ve always had good luck doing this in France, up until tonight that is. The local wine was good and very reasonable, the starters and desserts were fine but our main courses were totally mixed-up. The chef made the meal ordered by DH gluten-free whereas what I had ordered was not. DH kindly offered to trade with me rather than us both waiting for replacements. My food was fine but poor DH was rewarded for his kindness with an almost inedible meal and our server didn’t reappear for some time. When she finally did she offered no apology or sympathy and no replacement. Next time we will follow Stu Dudley’s advice to stay in Toulouse, even if it’s on a Sunday!

We asked to pay our bill that evening since we had to leave early; we also requested a wakeup call. The bartender who was helping us wasn’t quite sure what we wanted and went to find someone who could speak English. It turned out to be our server! Needless to say we were a little concerned but she was very efficient with both requests this time. For the first time I found it hard to get to sleep without air conditioning because we were on the ground floor and didn’t want to leave our windows open. I finally drifted off not long before we were awakened promptly at 5 am for the start of a very long day.

By 5:35 we were showered and dressed and on our way. It was an easy, direct drive to Blagnac but it took 30 minutes rather than 10 as the waitress/clerk had told us so DH dropped me at the terminal while he went to return the car. There were no Lufthansa counters to be seen and I wondered whether there was more than one terminal and I was in the wrong one but Lufthansa turned out to be in a different section at the very far end. By the time DH found me I had already started checking in. There had been nobody at the car place to point out the scrape so he had just left the car there. The attendant was very wary about checking our two small cartons of wine so we compromised by checking just one of them, carefully marked fragile, and carrying the one with a handle.

We didn’t have to wait long before boarding our bus to the plane but we couldn’t set out until the numbers at the gate and checkin matched. The plane was the same kind of Canadair jet with grey leather seats that we’d flown to Toulouse but there were more rows, 19 instead of 13 this time. We were still in the last one! Breakfast came around soon and I dug out the remnant of my lunch from the day before, the cheese still cool because of the frozen Evian. I asked for plastic utensils and the flight attendant brought me real metal ones plus an assortment of jams and Nutella to spread on the rice cakes he’d noticed. I had enough food left for a second breakfast later in the Frankfurt airport where we had four hours between flights. Having to clear out of the waiting room at the gate then line up for ages to show our passports and boarding passes to reenter is not our idea of German efficiency. Having an attendant on duty from the time the waiting room opened would have made things so much pleasanter for everyone.

We had never flown Lufthansa before this trip and were quite impressed with the overseas flight. The meals were the best that we have had in coach on a plane for some time, if ever. I started with smoked fish topped with chopped cucumber and my main course was tender chicken with tomato sauce, mushrooms and moist rice pilaf with shredded carrot. For dessert there was good fruit gelatin, not jello, with sliced kiwi. There were also two packages containing two thin slices each of gluten free bread made from rice, maize and millet flour, wonderful stuff. I have a vague memory of pumpernickel bread tasting like this. The attendants were generous with good German wines and even offered liqueurs; they came around with water often. And the clever headrests had wings at the sides that folded forward to keep my head erect while I snoozed.

Before our trip I had called Canada customs and discovered that the duty for importing wine was 90%. Whenever we bought wine with the idea of bringing a bottle home we doubled the price in our heads and bought it only if it still seemed reasonable. Usually it did. I had carefully compiled a list of all of our wine with the prices to show customs. Our plan was to claim the most expensive bottles for our exemption. At customs the clerk studied my list intently. She asked what other food we had brought since I had ticked that box too. Prunes, I said. I had forgotten about the sea salt and the dried mushrooms and other things. The prunes intrigued her and she asked several questions while I extolled the virtues of Agen prunes. She wrote a code on my card in red ink. Well, I thought, if they try to confiscate them I‘ll eat them all then and there, damn the consequences. And we won’t have to pay duty for any broken bottles of wine since we’ll collect our baggage before clearing customs. By then DH’s arms had both stretched about two inches from the weight of carrying a carton of six bottles all day. But at the fragile baggage claim area we found our wine bottles intact. Then, to my elation, as I started to ask where we paid the duty we owed at customs, I realized that we were being waved right through. Our son-in-law greeted us at with a bouquet for me and the handle on the wine carton DH had carried so carefully held up just until he was placing it safely in the car. And to top this we never heard to this day from Europcar about paying for that little scrape incurred five months ago! We just hope that somebody else didn’t have to pay for it.

There have been ups and downs too since we returned home. The happiest was the arrival of a beautiful little granddaughter in July and the saddest was the lost of my mother in August. That was the reason for my hiatus. Thank you all so much for your patience and your kind words. Finishing this report has helped me through a very tough time and now I’m feeling up much more than down.

This was intended to be the end of my lengthy report but last week I had a chance to attend a reading by the author of a book set in the Dordogne that I mentioned earlier in the Font de Gaume segment. So now there will be one more chapter to share this experience with you.

Next: Murder in the Dordogne

Moolyn your report is just wonderful! You ceretinly covered lots of ground durng your time in the Dordogne..makes our group look like real slowpokes!
I read Michelle Wan's "Deadly Slipper" (sorry for the quotes, do not know how to underline on my Mac) before I left and think it is a great introdution to the region...besides being a suspenseful yarn. Read "The Orchid Shroud" after I got back..good but not as good as the first book, in my opinion. Interested to learn about the reading you attended.

ekscrunchy, thanks for your kind comment!

My book club is interested in the Michelle Wan reading too so I promised to send them the link to this report.

Murder in the Dordogne

Several months ago, while researching the Dordogne area prior to our June trip, I came across a mystery novel by Michelle Wan called "Deadly Slipper: a Novel of Death in the Dordogne". Not only was this book a great read but the actual botany and geology of the Dordogne played a significant role. It was very exciting for me to find two of the wild orchids described in the novel when my husband and I visited Font de Gaume in early June.

This November Michelle Wan paid a visit to the same small town Niagara library where I had discovered her first book. She very effectively used a variety of voices and accents to read passages from the sequel, "The Orchid Shroud". Later she revealed that once she realized that the first book would become a series she sketched out the remaining books so that she wouldn't prematurely kill off a character she needed later. This means that we can expect at least two more books in the series; the third is already completed and with her agent. Also, we learned that a character developed in the second book, a sympathetic, young gendarme, could possibly be spun off into a new series.

Michelle's characters are mostly based on an amalgam of people she knows but the heroine, Mara, isn't Michelle. Wan wanted her central character to be Canadian but fluent in both French and English so Mara grew up in Quebec; her different accent would provoke comments. Mara's profession of interior designer gave her access to local homes and is credible because of the popularity of renovating ancient buildings in the Dordogne. Julian, the main male character, is based on Michelle's husband, Tim. Both are British born floral enthusiasts but Michelle gave Julian more hair. Again Julian's character is credible because there are so many British expariates in the Dordogne. We encountered them everywhere. Mara and Julian have been described as a likeable, neurotic couple we were told.

Michelle informed us that her research has two components, historical/factual and on site. Werewolf legends have a basis in the Perigord, for example. Michelle and Tim spend several weeks in the Dordogne every spring, photographing and charting wild orchids and enjoying the local cuisine. I gathered that they would stay longer except for the dogs they have to leave behind in Guelph, Ontario while they travel. Like Mara and Julian they are dog people. In the Dordogne they stay at the wonderful house that Michelle's Californian sister converted from farm buildings that used to be a piggery and stable.

I had brought along my # 329 local Michelin map of the Dordogne and Michelle asked me to unfold it and hold it so people could see as she pointed out where Mara lived in the fictional hamlet of Ecoute-la-Pluie, right under the "d" of the grey, large type "Sarladais" if you want to check. Someone commented that Sarladais was like the potatoes that Julian loved. People were very interested in the Dordogne and many people approached me afterwards to ask questions, the map having branded me as a Dordogne expert.

Michelle shared her very favourable impressions of the Perigord area, people, food and wine. She and Tim have eaten all of the meals described in her books, often cooked for them by friends; they know some very good cooks she said. Afterwards Tim told me that they love to dine at the Esplanade in Domme and le Vieux Logis in Tremolat although more often they eat out at the related Bistro in Tremolat or at various fermes auberges in the countryside.

Although a tropical horticulturalist, Tim was very excited when they stumbled across the proliferation of wild orchids in the Dordogne about ten years ago. I can relate. He still photographs them on film rather than digitally. When they returned with their first orchid photos they had to figure out where they were taken by their sequence on the rolls. This triggered Michelle's idea for Mara to try to track the disappearance of her orchid enthusiast sister through the sequence of orchid varieties on the film in a camera Mara believed to have belonged to her sister. You'll just have to read the book to learn more.

Deadly Slipper: http://tinyurl.com/u9scp

Orchid Shroud: http://tinyurl.com/scy2t

TOUT FINIS / THE END / ENCORE NO MORE

moolyn,
Thoroughly excellent from start to Finis.
Congratulations on your lovely granddaughter, but I am so sorry to hear that you lost your mother.

Your photos and descriptions are beautifully observed. I've been savoring your meals, too. Thank you!

Merci.

Your photos are gorgeous and inspiring. I want to go!

Thanks

Obviously, or not so obviously, I didn't make that last comment. While I was trying to figure out what happened I heard from my daughter. It turns out that she has just started to read my report, using my password which I gave her months ago so she could peek at it. Anyway, Kimeiko, I'm glad that you like it but please register now for yourself!

Nikki and stokebailey, I'm so pleased that you followed my report right to the end! I've enjoyed yours both too.

Okay, this is really me and now I really know what happened. It wasn't my password that I gave my daughter but the direct link that appeared when I was on my thread myself. It leads right back to my page. She wasn't even given a chance to register. So it's all my fault. Sorry!

I've given this same link to several friends who are interested in reading about my adventures so this may happen again. Fortunately, I think that all of my friends are too shy to post a response anyway!

Marilyn
Your adventures were a great read. Of course I liked the section about Lectoure where I plan visiting soon.

I've already forwarded your posts for others.

Gluten Intolerences: How did you find to have this restriction. Did this develop during getting older. I've seen this tolerence more and more times. Being outside of North America, I find things through the internet. I'm just curious.

How about taking your husband to another place. Andalucia should be good gest for your posts.

Again, thanks for a good post.

Blackduff

Mike, I'm pleased that you enjoyed reading about my excellent adventures in your beautiful country. Thanks!

If you google celiac disease you'll find lots of information about gluten intolerance. It was once thought to be a childhood disease that was outgrown but that isn't true and it's now diagnosed more in adults. It's estimated that one out of every 120 North Americans is a celiac, one out of every 300 in Ireland.

Here’s a couple of good links, the second one is for the l'Association Française Des Intolérants Au Gluten.

http://tinyurl.com/y6hv98

http://www.afdiag.org/

Sorry, it's probably more like one out of every 30 people in Ireland that are celiacs, not one out of 300. It was thought to be one out of 300 when the incidence in North America was considered to be one out of 2,000. An Irish doctor told me the Irish are all celiacs but you know how the Irish exagerate. Obviously North Americans with Irish ancestors like me are more vulnerable. The majority of celiacs are undiagnosed so I'm always happy for a chance to talk about it.

moolyn, have you figured out how to share link where the reply doesn't appear to praise (or dis) your own report?

stokebailey, you mean besides trying to remember to whom you sent the wrong link so you can beg them not to add a comment?

After trying a few experiments I decided that the easiest thing is to use the "email to a friend" function at the top or bottom of the thread. There isn't space to include much of a message using that but if you email it to yourself first then you can copy and paste that unbiased link as needed.

I'm sorry Le Raterlier was a let down. I've only ever used it en route to or from the airport as aplce to saty. Mental not:- don't eat there.

Sheila, Le Raterlier wasn't terrible even if it wasn't as good as the other places we stayed. It was very quiet and it was easy to reach the airport from there in the morning.

My dinner was fine. As long as you don't confuse the chef by requesting a gluten free meal you could probably eat there quite succesfully. Besides, their gaillac wine is good and very reasonable too!

moolyn,
What a wonderful trip report and such beautiful pictures ... I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I hope to make it there someday.

katzen, thanks for your kind comments! The Dordogne is a wonderful place to visit. When you decide to go there are many knowledgeable people here on Fodors who can help you plan your itinerary just as they did for me.

An article about the Dordogne appeared in a New York newspaper recently. It even mentioned La Bouquerie, the wonderful little house that we rented in Sarlat!

http://www.nysun.com/article/51171">http://www.nysun.com/article/51171

Great report Moolyn. I found it very informative and think I'll take your advice and wait till spring when I will have more time to plan and arrange accommodation.

Thanks, justcuz. I'm glad that you found my report helpful.

bkmking

jim. thanks for topping this wonderful trip report. It brings back my memories in the Dordogne and I,too,enjoyed reading the Deadly Slipper.

I am bringing this post up again to take many notes for travel days in the Dordogne.

moolyn-----I would love to view your photos but Kodak Gallery is closed. Is there another way to view them?

TPAYT, sadly all my Kodak albums are gone although I still have most of the photos. I was thinking of incorporating some of them in a report of our June 2012 return to the Dordogne but could always post some here too. What would you especially like to see?

Updates:

Some current information about Dordogne caves can be found on this thread:

www.fodors.com/community/europe/favourite-dodogne-caves.cfm

The hotel we stayed at in Albi, le Vieil Alby, a logis de France, has changed hands and is reportedly no longer the same, a pity.

La Bouquerie in Sarlat has been sold and is no longer available for rental at the time.

The crepe place we ate at in Carennac has closed and the building is now for sale. We noticed many for sale signs there and elsewhere in the Dordogne this past June.

La Meynardie has closed but Bistot de l'Octroi in Sarlat, under the same ownership, is still open.

La Métairie, on the road between Sarlat and Font de Gaume, now has a different owner.