Beautiful Dordogne

La Roque

As we left the Loire Valley, I was trying to prepare to present myself to register for the validation of my long stay visa. This is a bit tricky because the instructions are designed for people who will have an address in France. Once you send in your paperwork, they will send you a letter telling you when to come for your appointment/interview and medical exam. That letter could arrive anytime - up to two months later. Sigh. All this doesn’t fit well with our plan to travel at will.  So we decided to pick a central location in France, have me register there and plan to return for the appointment.  That central location was Poitiers. We had to get there early because, like most businesses, they close in the middle of the day and there were a lot of miles between there and our campsite for the night. I took notes to answer imagined questions and practiced explaining my predicament to the officials prior to arrival. They were polite but not very impressed with my French and also not particularly happy with my nonconformity. They asked where we were going next and then thereafter and responded that it was “complicated.”  I'll let you know when we hear something . . .

On the way to the campsite, we decided to tour the Lascaux cave and museum.  It was a great introduction to the primary draw of the area: the prehistoric cave paintings.  The original Lascaux cave had to be closed due to damage caused by visitors bringing in pollen, pollutants and changes in atmospheric conditions. They have re-created most of the original cave and paintings underground so you can some as close as possible to the actual experience. They also provided a tablet guide and an interactive museum that were very well done.  Highly recommended.  I had visited Font de Gaume with an English-speaking guide about eight years ago and it was very moving for me.  

Sarlat-la-Caneda

Afterwards, we made our way to the camping place which is just a 10 minute walk (downhill) to the lovely town of Sarlat-la-Caneda that becomes a 20 minute walk back uphill. This suited us fine and we walked into town for an evening meal after a lot of driving.  

Crazy coincidence #1 of the trip happened next.  Dermot ran into Tom - a co-worker from Siemens and his wife! They were on a self-guided biking trip thru the lovely towns of the Dordogne. They invited us to join them at the restaurant where they had made reservations and we had a great time sharing stories with them.  We parted late in the evening and walked back up the hill still shaking our heads at the odds.

Saturday was market day in town. We walked into town and the streets were packed with vendors and shoppers. The number of sausages, cheeses, veggies and other general goods were overwhelming. I put pictures of the market day on the “This is how we roll” blogpost.

Sunday was a quiet day in town and we followed Rick Steves walking tour.  It's a beautiful town with lots of history. We made it back in time to do laundry, make a blogpost, watch part of a soccer game and try out video-calling.  So, this was kind of a “downtime” day in relation to most.

Sunday we took care of some essentials in the morning and headed into town in the late afternoon.  The crowds were gone and we were able to concentrate on following Rick Steves suggested self-guided walk through the town.  I love these - he explains the history and points out architectural, cultural, historical and even art-related information that I’d never know otherwise.  

Being Father’s day, the rest of the day was dedicated to Dermot catching world cup soccer games in the campsite TV room and a quick dinner prepared in the campsite of market finds including a 4.50 euro bottle of wine of the region that was very good.

I met and had a great conversation with two other campers while doing dishes. Campers are wonderful people and we ended up trading contact information and we were even invited to stay at the home of a couple who live in Brittany if we’re ever in the area! 

Now that I’ve “checked in” with the French officials, we’re free to slow our travels down and go at a more sustainable pace. It feels really good!

Monday we launched into tourist mode after a breakfast of pain au chocolat for me and pain noix (walnut bread - specialty of the region) for Dermot.  We headed for the pretty towns of the area among the Dordogne river.  We visited a church built in the middle ages, made a run at Domme, but missed the road that makes the town accessible to camping cars. Then we went to La Roche-Gageac which was very cool. Right on the river, it climbs up into the cliffs made of limestone. We took lots of pictures of this little (very touristy) town. The area has been inhabited for thousands of years. Caves were formed both by water and the same systemic activity that formed the Pyrenees.

Next we went to Castelnaud - a castle built in the middle ages that was the scene of many battles and changed hands seven times during the hundred years wars. This one takes the prize for having the most interesting information available including videos and a town model with light and narrative depicting a pivotal battle.  The "Musee de la guerre au Moyen Âge" Is housed here which includes 11th century chain mail, huge trebuchets, and cases bristling with hand-held weapons of war, cannons, guns and crossbows. I imagined what it would be like to see a combatant wielding any of those and decided I had it very, very good in this century.  Afterwards we relaxing with a limonade for me and a beer for Dermot in a cafe in the "medieval village" just outside the castle.

We decided to squeeze in one more castle - Chateau de Beynac the largest of the day castle along the Dordogne river.  It was dizzyingly high and offered great views of the other castles in the area. During the war years, these castles were built to spy on each other. We decided to have dinner there but, after ordering drinks found they were closing so we headed for home, found a supermarché along the way and cooked dinner at "home." Later Dermot watched the last 20 minutes of a world cup game.  Many of those at the campsite were happy when England beat Tunisia 2 to 1.

More photos here.

Tuesday - This being Dermot's birthday, I offered him his choice of activities and he chose to not have to make decisions! We took a kayak trip down the Dordogne River and took pictures of all the castles we had visited on the previous day - very relaxing and lovely.  We walked into town for dinner in Sarlat to celebrate and then back to camp for more - you guessed it: soccer! Happy birthday sweetheart!!