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.