and today (Friday) our final day in the Dordogne

Visited Monpazier today, a bastide (walled town) to the south west of Berbiguieres. The history of bastides is quite interesting. About 300 were built, mostly in SW France, on empty or cleared sites, and in one period of time. Their plans were usually laid down in a charter together with by-laws and regulations on the management hierarchy and taxation. Edward 1 of England ordered the building of Monpazier in the second half of the 12th C andan inauguration ceremony was held on 7th January 1284. The town in built on a grid system and is probably the only FLAT place we have visited so far this holiday!

Would love to add more photos but blogger is SO slow and one can only spend so much of one's life in maccas. Tomorrow morning we leave for Chateau Julie (NE of Bordeaux) where we are overnighting before flying out of Bordeaux to Dublin. I saw in the paper yesterday Dublin's weather was 14 degrees and raining, so I will not complain about it being 30 degrees here today. Hopefully we will have some time to blog in Ireland :)

images of Beynac

no more moos ...

Thursday 21st May
We awoke to no cow sounds today – sadly they seem to have been relocated.
Domestic morning of washing, writing postcards etc, then a short drive to the next village to Ferme Auberge des Tilleuls for lunch. Much duck. Very pleasant setting looking out over the valley. Needed a sleep afterwards but soldiered on to visit Castlenaud and so glad that we did. The castle is (yet again) on top of a rock overlooking the Dordogne and faces Beynac castle. The original building is 12th C and was occupied at various times over the 13 and 1400's by the French and English (this is where Richard the Lionheart was based when he conquered Beynac). The castle has been restored to be a museum of war in the middle ages, and the self guided tour starts in the artillery tower which is on 3 levels connected by a narrow, steep spiral staircase. We then continued through various rooms and levels, watching videos on the development of armour and weapons, castle design through the ages and the history of Castlenaud itself. There were weapon displays as well – some of them quite chilling when you began to imagine the brutal ways in which they were used. The 360 degree views from the tops of the buildings were stunning – the Dordogne valley is lush and green with both cliff faces and gently sloping hills, and due to the limestone the river is very bendy (good geological term there). A mediaeval garden has been established with raised vegetable beds in the centre and bordered by a Rosamunde rose which was in full bloom. The garden beds were formed using wood (like sleepers) and then a layer of woven cane placed around the wood – very pretty. Drove home via the very pictureasque village of La Roque Gageac and had a quiet beer by the river.
http://www.castelnaud.com/uk/

a prehistory day ...

Wednesday 20th May

Made it out by 10am and headed up to Montignac to visit the Lascaux 2 cave. The original cave was discovered in 1948 when a couple of young Parisien men were walking their dog and he fell into a hole next to a tree. When getting him out they noticed some rocks tumbling further down the hole, and discovered the cave entrance that had been blocked by a rockfall some 15,000 years earlier. The cave was opened to reveal some of the most extensive paintings ever discovered, and with very little deterioration as they had not been exposed to light or the weather. In 1962 the cave was closed to the public because of the CO2 damage being caused. Lascaux 2 is a replica of the original, having been constructed from a concrete and resin mixture in what was formerly an open air quarry. Two of the galleries have been reproduced (about a quarter of the original size), containing 90% of the paintings. A team of sculptors worked on recreating the rock surface centimetre by centimetre for 11 years before a single artist spent 2 years recreating the murals using the same tools, materials and methods as the original artists. The original paintings themselves could not be carbon dated because they had been created using minerals (oxides), but the tools used indicate that they were produced about 18,000 years ago over a 2,000 year period. Our guide was a very informative and very cheeky Frenchman who insisted he was actually English and just putting on an accent because we find French accents so charming.
We sat out in a quiet wooded area after the tour and had a picnic lunch of baguette, egg, salad, fruit and apple juice.
In the afternoon, we drove home via La Roc Christophe, a trogolodyte dwelling a kilometre long in a limestone cliff that was occupied until the 17th Century. Displays have been set up to show how people lived during this vast period of time. Pete did the tour whilst I sat under the trees and read the English papers. Ditto at the Prehistory Museum at Les Ezyies. It was too hot for me this afternoon.
Came home and watched a DVD of Local Hero and were even more entertained by a thunderstorm and lengthy lightening display which Pete said continued for some hours – I was asleep!

and time for some pics ... Peta's walk to St Cyprien

a few days all at once - pictures to follow ...

Saturday 16th May
Today was 'give in to the cold' day for me – I had caught a cold the Monday before we left Australia, and thought it was on the way out after a couple of weeks of a tight, dry cough. Emily had generously given me her spare Ventolin inhaler, which helped enormously when trying to get enough air to climb the metro stairs and all those steps / inclines in the ancient villages we were visiting. Poor Rob caught a cold as we were leaving Paris, and yesterday I started sneezing AGAIN! This morning when I fuzzily realised I was about to rinse my contact lenses with eye makeup remover, I thought it would be a good decision to stay at home and definitely not to drive anywhere. Pete and I did a mid-visit clean of the house, and then in the afternoon, Peta walked the 4 kms in beautiful susnshine into St Cyprien to have a look around this pretty village. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading, until 5.30 when Pete texted me to be picked up. We bought the makings of a simple meal from the supermarket and headed home for a cuppa, and then an evening walk to a spot in the village overlooking our cottage (with a bottle of white wine and olives for a pre-dinner refreshment). The evening was just stunning – warm sun and silence apart from the larks, insects and munching of the large, caramel-coloured cows in the fields opposite (we need a What Cow Is That? book – think they might be Limousins?). By the time we had finished dinner it was 10pm again – and an early night.

Sunday 17th May
Market day in St Cyprien. After buying our fruit, veggies and some spit-roast pork ribs with new potatoes for lunch, we sat outside the cafe and watched the world go by. Ordering coffee has become something of a challenge in France. If you order a grande cafe au lait, you (might) get a normal sized coffee cup 2/3 full of strong black coffee with a small jug of hot milk (perfect for Marianne!). Or you might get the same size cup of milk coffee. I have also seen people with the larger cups that I have always associated with cafe au lait, but the only time I have succeeded in getting one of these was when we were at a cafe before visiting the Rodin Museum and ordered a Grand cafe crème (it was great coffee – hot and strong – but also $8.40 per cup). So today I took the challenge and ordered a 'Grand cafe crème', miming the size of the cup, and voila! I got a great coffee. So good, in fact, that I decided to have another one. When the waitress came past, I asked for another coffee (the empty cup was still in front of me). She said 'cafe au lait?'. I said 'Non, un grand cafe crème s'il vous plait'. She smiled and took another couple of orders, and when she was passing me on the way back into the cafe, I asked 'Pardon Madame, le cafe crème et le cafe au lait, c'est la meme chose?' (are the coffees the same?). She winked and said 'Oui'. Hmmmmm. And then she brought me a regular sized white coffee. Vive la France.

Monday 18th May
S-L-O-W morning – in fact it was nearly lunchtime when we looked at the time, so we decided to go straight to lunch and explore afterwards. Auberge de la Nauze had been recommended many times in the house guest book, but unfortunately when we got there we were informed that they were 'desole' that they were unable to open due to illness. The monsieur recommended another place for lunch in the nearby village of Belves. We drove to have a look but decided the menu wasn't special enough to warrant the expense and decided on a brasserie nearby. The terrace was busy with lunching tradesmen who were working on the restoration and repair of local buildings, and Peta had the advantage of facing a large tableful – and wondering about OHS regulations and how they relate to wine consumption at lunchtime. The guys were served a huge tureen of soup, plates of crudites (shredded carrot etc), a plate of spirali pasta and prawns, a huge formed veal pattie with rice, a chocolate and raspberry dessert, then coffee. All washed down with copious quantities of red wine consumed from large water glasses (one fellow emptied his into his soup bowl, gave it a swirl and swallowed the dregs). And then coffee – served with a little speclaas biscuit.
We spent a little while exploring the village (stunning of course) before heading to Beynac, about 10kms from our cottage, to visit the clifftop castle.
The original parts of the building are from the 12th century and additions have been made through until 17th C, with a 50 year restoration plan currently being undertaken to reinstate such things as the arrow-slit windows and repair of external walls. The castle is across the Dordogne River from another at Castlenaud which was occupied by the English – Richard the Lionheart and his troop gained access to Beynac in 1189 by scaling the cliffs and entering via the WCs which overhang the external walls. He then occupied the building until his death in 1199. The castle is privately owned.
Peta then walked down to the village at the base of the castle (it is 450 feet above the river), and I moved the car down to meet her. We were just in time for a 5pm cruise along the river towards Castlenaud, motoring up and drifting back with the river flow – again very peaceful and interesting to see another chateau – Fayrac - that has been purchased by a Texan family who made their money through car crushing equipment.

Tuesday 19th May

Lunch at Auberge de la Nauze - lovely setting and reasonable food but a little disappointing. We thought perhaps the chef was the one who was ill yesterday and they had a replacement.

Afternoon spent exploring the lovely old part of Sarlat.

Friday 15th

Left home this morning at 10 to take Rob to Brive and have a bit of a look around town before she caught the train at 1.45pm. It was a slow and very wet drive along one of the windiest (as in curvy not blustery) roads I've ever been on. If you can imagine that 70 km per hour bit of the Clyde Mountain for 60kms you'd just about have it. Anyway, we had allowed a lot of time to get there so it wasn't too bad. We had a quick coffee then wandered through the narrow streets that radiate out from a central church - some great shops. I have become a bit obsessed with the beautiful lace curtains I keep seeing in France and had decided I would like to get some in my living and bedrooms to create a bit of privacy given my house is right on the street. After we had said goodbye to Rob at the station we returned to a fabric shop (which had been closed for lunch earlier - everything closes for 2.5 hours in the middle of the day) and they happened to have 2 metres of the fabric that I liked, which is exactly the amount I need - the saleswoman said (in French) 'It was waiting for you'.

We are in Macca's again checking email and updating our blog before heading home for a quiet evening. We will probably stay pretty local tomorrow as I think the weekend traffic will be busy, but will head to the St Cyprien markets on Sunday morning. The cottage owners Geoff and Kathy Richards phoned last night to check how we are going - they are currently in their cottage in Gascony. They spend autumn and spring each year travelling between their 7 cottages, doing repairs and updating / improving the buildings. They certainly organise their properties well and attempt to include everything they can to ensure your comfort.