This area is so unbelievably rich in natural wonders (caves, rocks, beautiful countryside), gardens and castles (chateaux). If we were so inclined, we could spend another week and still not really make a dent in interesting things to do.
We have not gone to any of the artisanal farms where they raise ducks and geese; many offer tours similar to the way that wineries have tours. We have not gone to a cave with paintings, only one with carvings. We have not spent quality time in Sarlat, the tourist bureau's dream.
Sarlat is like a fairy tale town. It is somewhat like a miniature Venice without the canals. The "streets" are lanes big enough for one cart to pass another only if they are not overloaded. The lanes go in various directions resembling the quilting pattern aptly called "Drunkard's Path". The town is just incredible. It is also cheek by jowl with restaurants, gift shops, various kinds of trinket sellers, etc. In short, it is a thoroughly tourist town. But, if you can close your eyes and make the 21st century population evaporate, the place is just like it was centuries ago. Really, only the store fronts have changed. Take out the cars, put people in period dress and it's back 500 years or so.
Today, we actually left early (9:30) and planned to do two separate things. In the morning, we went to the museum of prehistory. The interesting part of this to me was the videos that they had which showed a person crafting items just as the early inhabitants would have done. No language was necessary, as the actions were self evident. There were a few titles to explain the major theme, but even they were unnecessary.
Through the museum, we went up to one of the lower levels of rock that we had seen earlier in the week. Unfortuntely, this being France, the museum closed for lunch and we did not get to the end of the exhibits in the rocks. I would have liked to see more, but I also did not want to wait two hours for them to re-open. Of course, we could have had lunch, but we wanted to move along.
We had another French lunch, this time at a larger place than usual, called Restaurant L'Auberge Des Chateaux. There we had lunch with mostly French tourists. Today is Sunday, so the French are weekending. Most tourists that we saw today were French, a few English and a handfull of Germans, some in their own cars (with German plates, of course).
After lunch, we went to a town much touted as a place to see. It's called Domme and it's across the river, about 20 miles as the crow flies. But, let me say that the crow doesn't have to go up hills, down hills, up more hills, etc. and around many hairpin turns. Domme http://www.les-plus-beaux-villages-de-france.org/fr/domme-0 is an ancient town with all the picture postcard views. Here are some of ours:
I wanted to add more pictures, but my internet connection is painfully slow. I've waited over half an hour so far for the rest, so I cancelled them. Trust me, the scenery was magnificient. The town is like something out of a poster. The downside to the town is that it is strictly a tourist destination. If people really live there, they are living in an amusement park.
Tomorrow is a travelling day for us, which is just as well because it will be raining off and on.
Next week I do not have any acess, even poor access, to wifi. My next blogs will be an accumulation of next week's activities and hopefully I will find live wifi in Nice. It's a big place and it has lots of free hotspots.
No comments:
Post a Comment