In the Acquitane region of France, the Perigord area in the Dordogne Valley hosts many beautiful medieval towns. One of the most popular is Sarlat.
Jill, all agape, standing in the town square. The French do love children . . .
. . . and their dogs. When a customer sits down with a dog, the management quickly brings the pooch a bowl of water and admires the loved one.
Lots of truffles and local foie gras for sale in old Sarlat.
Lots of candy stores tempt those on foot.
A good, free way to extract teeth: a block of divinity.
Lots of gelato for sale. YUMMM!
J’adore la glace!
Another plus belle town in the area is Domme, a medieval town perched on a hill.
A Dordogne River view from the village
Frenchmen love to play petanque in the park. Much like bocce ball, the goal is to throw hollow metal balls as close as possible to a small wooden ball called a cochonnet, while standing inside a circle.
Great place to shop for des cadeaux (gifts).
The town loves its papillons (butterflies). . .
. . . and its fleurs (flowers).
Now it is time for some serious hiking to burn off the calorie intake of the past 2 days. We drove to Chateau de Commarque to see its ruins.
We hiked for 20 minutes through the woods to the ruins.
Some people get there en velo (on bike).
The chateau was built during the 12th century. During the Hundred Years’ War the British captured it. Later during the French Wars of Religion, the Catholics took it back.
Since 1994 the chateau has been undergoing restoration.
We got lots of exercise as we climbed all ces escaliers (those steps).
Un papillon
The chateau is perched on an outcropping of rock in a beautiful green valley.
The nosebleed section
Picturesque silouettes
Under the castle lies a prehistoric art cave, so this spot has a history of over 15,000 years. The French love their chevaux (horses). We did not spend time touring the grotto because of all the caving we did in New Zealand last year.
Room with a view
Castle view of the neighbor’s castle
What’s for lunch?
As we departed for Carcassonne, we drove past fields of poppies and other wild flowers.
Comme c’est belle!
Portrait of a poppy
Wild daffodils in a creek
Adieu, Commarque!
7 Comments
really should not read these at 9:15 am, all that yummy food makes me very hungry. Love the butterflies and poppies, and sunny weather.
Just another gorgeous day in paradise! So glad you’re having such a wonderful trip.
I’m beginning to dislike you two! Looks like the trip couldn’t be better. What’s not to love about dogs in restaurants, butterflies and poppies? We envy you.
News from here: my nephew and his wife had boy #2 last night, Maxwell Philip Pentecost, 9.1 lbs. Mother and son are doing great and the rest of us are over the moon.
Congrats, Auntie Sandy. Your family is growing.
What a beautiful area, thanks for sharing all your adventures. Today is Thurs the 14th and it’s raining. They say we should get a good amount of rain from this storm, we will see. All is well, drive safe.
With all the dogs at restaurants, it looks like I will have to find you a “cat cafe” to even things out. Just let me know! Have you figured out your MPG on the Peugeot?
Pearce claims theirs gets 60 MPG on the road. You two have very mischievous looks on your faces – which means you are having the time of your lives. A LOT better than getting up at 4 AM to grade papers. The food, scenery and your narratives are superlative. You are going to have a bunch of addicts on withdrawal when you return and this blogs ends! FIGHT ON!
Mike, we have driven just over 2250 km so far. Looks like we are averaging about 19.64 km/l (34.2 mpg) for our mix of driving. I imagine we would see about 40 mpg if we were driving the AutoRoute exclusively. Fuel cost is running about 1.32 Euro / Liter or $5.75 per gallon at today’s exchange rate.
Tomorrow we head for Chamonix in the Alps. Weather promises to be clear but chilly.