9/24 Home again!

When we left off, we had visited some of the most beautiful villages in France. above you see Estaing on the left, and Rocamadaour on the right. we had gone to bed too late, and got up early to see some of our gite mates run their dogs. irish setters, brittany spaniels, and a couple other breeds. all were professional hunting dogs here to be trained by their trainer before competition. it was a beautiful morning, and the dogs were fabulous and very well trained. walker was in heaven.

we left Sebastians after a wonderful breakfast of fromage blanc, and homemade jams and bread. our destanation was the grotte de peche merle, a cave full of prehistoric paintings. the area around sarlat, and les eyzies in the dordogne is full of caves and dwellings of prehistoric man, including the famous lascaux cave.

following our trusty gps, marge, we avoided any road of any significant size, preferring the goat paths and other petits chemins of the area. all told we may have passed 4 cars in about 20 miles. peche merle was fantastic! it was mind boggling to think that the paintings we saw were done 25,000 years ago. little is known about the paintings other than their age. why they were done will remain a mystery subject to conjecture.

we then advanced several thousand years to the 9th century with a stop in rocamadour, the resting place of the hermit amadour. this is another pilgramage stop, on its own, and on the way to santiago de compestella. built into the side of the cliff it became a major tourist destination in the middle ages and continues as that today.

our next two nights were spent at les granges hautes, a bed and breakfast in a tiny village in the dordogne. a lovley spot for relaxing, swimming pool included. our schedule did not include relaxing. we arrived at 7:30 p.m. with a loaf of bread, some cheese, wine, and foie gras. nous sommes en perigord, quand meme.

we have not talked about food much, and that has not been the point of this trip. however the perigord region is famous for truffles, foie gras and the accompanying duck and goose. we did quack a little as we left, bringing back some wine, foie gras, and magret de canard from a farm next to our b&b.

saturday morning found us in sarlat for the market. if you don't think they take foie gras seriously here you just have to walk around. more stores as well as market stalls with foie gras, confit, magret, cassoulet and any other form of fowl you want. it was fabulous.

a note about sarlat, in 1964 they dedicated a portion of the old town as a protected area. it is well preserved, and a beautiful city to visit. the conservation of the patrimony in france is significant, and this was a wonderful example. the area is a little hard to get to, but well worth the effort.

back to pre-history. we spent several hours in the museum at les eyzies, where they have one of the most significant collections of pre-historic artifacts. much has been retrieved from sights in the area. a very technical museum, with almost too much to take in. lascaux II was next, the recreation of the famous cave. the original is closed to the public to preserve its condition. the replica is extremely well done, and the quality of the paintings is extremely good.

our last visit on sunday pulled a lot of our visit together. it showed how the cro-magnons lived. they did not live in the caves they painted. they were ceremonial sites. their living quarters were built into large overhangs in the limestone cliffs. all in all a very interesting learning experience for us all. Life changing to say the least!