Blog 5: Exploring the Dordogne Region and More Cave Art

Bog #5: Exploring the Dordogne Region and More Cave Art

Amazing Village of St Genies 

We start out in two cars for St Genies, which has a delightful local market and truly amazing architecture with unbelievable stone roofs.  

Luckily, it is market day.

We wander about this gorgeous village market and try to buy some foie gras some of which is marked 41 euros for a small tin. Thinking this is a mistake Barbara turns the container around asking if it is 14 euros?  The shop keeper looks at us with amazement.  We end up buying some other foie gras from a different seller that is cheaper. We are not sure if we getting a deal or whether the other foie gras cost more because it had cognac in it. We have yet to learn about checking the percentage of duck in the can compared with other added ingredients. 

Scampi

Sausage

Village of St Leon Vezere



Next we go to St Leon Vezere another quaint and charming village and order lunch sitting by the river. 

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John leaves us after lunch to go back to Les Charmes for a nap. 

La Rogue Saint-Christophe
Barbara, Peter and I go on to La Roque Saint-Christophe, a troglodytic site (pre homosapien) site listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO. This is a refuge built by the people of the cliffs 55,000 years ago.  It is one kilometer long and 80 metres and made of high limestone with hundreds of rock shelters and cave dwellings shaped by the river. 

 Delighted with our earlier discovery of cave art we try to get into another cave called Font de Gaume but find it is fully booked. We are told if we show up at 8 am the next morning we will get a ticket. We plan to do so. 

We return to our place for a swim and enjoyment of the sunshine and relaxing ambience of our place.  













Eric has made reservations for us in Sarlat at Le Bistrode L’Octroi.  

At this restaurant John orders “duo de foie” not realizing this will be both duck and goose foie gras. He thought he would get an actual duck piece of meat but got two slabs of foie gras. Barbara and I order tender veal with mushrooms. We remark on the emphasis in this region on duck and meat rather than vegetables and fruit and I think fondly of salad. We appear to be overdosing on duck fat ~ are we becoming “foodies”? 

No matter how much fat and pasta we have, we still seem to manage room for desert!

Tuesday

Font de Gaume Art Cave

Impressed with our earlier prehistoric art cave, we get up early and wait in line for 2 hours for tickets for Font de Gaume.  We are not early enough in line for the 10 am English tour so get a ticket for the French tour. Parties are restricted to 15 people per group.  


This tour is inside a very narrow, twisting and dark cave and is known for being the only cave in France with colored paintings.

 It was discovered in 1901 by a schoolteacher and has more than 200 images. The most famous painting is a frieze of five bison discovered in 1966 that dates from 17,000 BC.  Images also include 80 bison, 40 horses and more than 20 mammoth. In addition there are some geometric designs (that look somewhat like houses) but our guide tells us the meaning of these signs is unknown; however similar designs have been found elsewhere in caves in this region. We leave this amazing cave for lunch and return home for naps and a swim. Later we go back into Sarlat to see this city architecture and for a short bit of shopping ~ we keep this short because we miss being in our charming and peaceful casa.

Again Eric has made reservations for our last night together at a wonderful restaurant situated high up in the hills with views of fields and grazing deer.

 On this evening we decide we have had enough duck and go for steak and lamb. Gorgeous artistic looking plates of food arrive and we still feel we are in heaven and have room for a buttery, creamy dessert.  We joke about these 2 cardiologists going off the Mediterranean diet and how much they are enjoying it. They talk about needing to exercise when they get home and resuming a diet of salmon and salad. 

Wednesday

Our friends Barbara and Peter leave early this morning by train for Paris and we will miss their company and are sorry to think our holiday is ending.  John makes his usual trip to the village for espresso and Eric seems touched when we deliver him croissants and bread at his door. We talk with Eric more and think it would be nice to have him as a friend.  Later we explore the local village in the search for more foie gras. We find a small, wonderful store with produce from farmer’s gardens nearby. We obsess over the foie gras and whether to get duck or canard (goose) and what percentage of pork is best if any, and what the difference is between pâté and pâté foie gras?? The prices vary from 10 to 40 euros for a small can of foie.  According to Wikipedia, French law states that, "foie gras belongs to the protected cultural and gastronomical heritage of France." and is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by force-feeding corn with a gavage. Foie gras is sold whole, or is prepared into mousse, parfait, or pâté.

Canards force fed for foie gras

Eyrignac Garden

Gardeners House

We enjoy sauntering through the large manor Eyrignac Garden nearby. This is a very peaceful, quiet place with intimate garden rooms of sculpted yew trees, structured forms, and a mixture of formal and wildflower beds and a vegetable garden to "live for" with lots of lettuce. 

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One garden room is entirely planted with white flowers and sprays of fountains and has a bucolic atmosphere. We sit on a bench to contemplate our trip. I think about the art of gardens and wonder about my garden rooms at home. John tells me I should get some ideas for Vashon ~ I can’t quite imagine sculptured yew trees in the shapes of deer or frogs there but a fountain yes.  Eyrignac means “where the river flows”.. an eternal, unifying thread.

We hate to leave this magical place and can envision coming back here with family and friends and staying here much longer. It is peaceful to be in the country. But we are especially lucky to have met Eric, the owner, who not only speaks English, is incredibly friendly, generously brings us croissants and fresh bread each morning, but has helped us plan relaxing daily trips and get into non pretentious restaurants in the country side we otherwise would not have found on our own.  Not only that Eric has a dog just like our  Chardonnay dog who died over a year ago.

 

Bog #4: France ~ Under the Dordogne Sun

Blog #4: France ~ Under the Dordogne Sun

 We reluctantly leave our friends at 7 am for Ciampino Airport south of Rome. It is raining hard and we are surprised to find the cars on the highway still driving at more than 90 miles an hour.  We pass several bad car accidents and 4 hours later arrive at the airport thankfully without any difficulties. We fly to Bordeaux Airport where we pick up another rented car and drive 4 hours to an amazing village called Domme. 




Domme Village 

We stay at the small Hotel l’Esplanade which is a quaint hotel (only one of two in the village) overlooking the Dordogne river and valley.

Esplanade Hotel Over Dodogne River and Valley 

Morning Fog and View from Hotel 

Mid day View from Hotel 

Domme itself is an incredibly picturesque village with flowers spilling over most windows and amazing views. We meet up our friends Barbara and Peter from Seattle who have recommended this lovely place and pass a delightful evening dining on the terrace of our hotel restaurant.

We breakfast at Hotel l’Esplanade, which we feel is too expensive for what we get and John takes the remaining bread for later consumption.  We walk around Domme, which seems quiet and 

Cleaning the Head Stones

peaceful.  Saturday morning we wander around Domme, escaping tourists which begin to arrive by wandering in the back streets and checking out the grave yard. 

Barbara and Peter 

Pre historic Cave Art in Dordogne

Our stop on the way to our next country Casa is Gotte de Rouffignac (aka Cave of the hundred mammoths), one of the world’s oldest and most beautiful art galleries. Here we take a small electric train through a labyrinth cavern and learn about the prehistoric art completed on the cave walls and ceilings roughly 13,000-14,000 years previously. There are 158 mammoths, 28 bison, 15 horses, 12 capricorns and 10 woolly rhinoceros many of them remarkably intact.  The exact purpose of the Paleolithic cave paintings is unclear but evidence suggests they are not merely living decorations as there is no sign of habitation and they are found in inaccessible spots.  Are they a form of written language, or a religious message?  We see amazing friezes of mammoths, as well as deer and horses on walls peppered with claw scratches from hibernating bears and are stunned by the Great Ceiling at the end covered with images.  I can hardly image how these ceiling images were painted in the dark lying on their backs?  (floors have been lowered to allow visitors to view them) Some are engraved and others painted in red or black colors using ochre, manganese oxide and charcoal pigments. These pictures illustrate the stylistic phases of the Magdalenian period and date back 35,000 years are verified by radiocarbon samples . We see no drawings of humans and I wonder if painting of humans was forbidden. I am struck by some of the similarities to hunting scenes we have seen on walls by Native Americans in Arizona and New Mexico and learn about other cave paintings in many countries around the world.  Our tour is in French so we struggle to understand the main points and I vow to learn more about the history of cave art or take a French course.  Some researchers have suggested the paintings were made by Neanderthals. What is clear is that in our human evolution, art was critically important to our species ~ an unforgettable experience.

Les Charmes de Carlucet and Region

View of Les Charmes (from back)

View of Les Charms (front entrance)

Morning Sun Rise View from Our House 

Early evening after an amazing day we arrive at our house. Les Charmes de Carlucet in the Sarlat area. The main part of this house dates back to 1761. Our place is a barn renovated by the owner, Eric, in 2004 and is a spectacular cottage called Beaux Reves with a large dining area, 3 bedrooms upstairs, patio and private pool.  All four of us are delighted with this amazing place and already can’t wait to come back with our families and other friends.  

View of Side of Our House Beaux Reves at Les Charmes

Eric ~ a treasure of a thoughtful host 

The owner, Eric, lives in the main manor. He is delightful, welcoming and full of good information about key sites to see and how to put together an itinerary with minimal amount of driving. He makes us a dinner reservation at a nearby farm restaurant and intuitively understands that we don’t want “snobby” restaurants. He talks about the “innocence” of the dordogne region, which has attracted him to this area of France in comparison to Provence.  His English is flawless leading us to believe he might be British, however, he tells us he is French but once lived in England. 

Straight away we go for a swim in our private pool and believe we have arrived in heaven.

This country dinner at Sarle L’Auberge des Mathes is literally to “die for”.   It is located in a large, active farm and tables are set outside with views of the farm and surrounding hills. 

Peter and John order the assiette gastronomique while Barbara and I order the duck comfit. Wow.. What a meal of foie gras, magnet sec, racamodour (cheese), salade, and pommes (potatoes) soaked in duck fat.  While we thought our cholesterol diet was blown in Italy, this meal makes that diet look like small potatoes compared with this! 

 Of course, we had to end our meal with profiteroles… I think they are better than the Italian ones but still not up to my memory of them in Paris.

For breakfast the next morning we find fresh croissants on our doorstep. And while we have brought groceries at the market, Eric has also supplied us with cheese, ham, muesli, butter, coffee and jam. 

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John takes off to find some espresso in the local village.  We have a wonderful breakfast and talk with Eric about the best places to visit. He outlines 3 possible day trips in different areas.  We try to get a dinner reservation in Belle Etoile, which Eric says is an amazing local restaurant, but unfortunately find it is fully booked. Another reason for us to return. We find it is hard for us to leave Les Charmes even though future adventures await us. The view from our window with the morning light on the church and nearby houses is spectacular.

View from window