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Why I should take better notes while traveling

By on February 3, 2009 in Dordogne, France, Travel

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thumbnailsSo I’d know where this is.

I know it’s a tiny village off the road from Sarlat to Terrasson in the Dordogne, but I don’t know the name and can’t figure it out from looking at the map. It’s been bugging me lately because I have my screen saver set to the folder from our 2007 trip, and I keep seeing it and wondering. We looked out over this view while having lunch in a little restaurant whose proprietor also did stone sculptures like the one at the right. I mentioned the lunch in my blog entry for the day, but didn’t bother with the name.

I guess we’ll just have to go back and find it. As I remember, the food wasn’t spectacular, but it was such a lovely day in the little garden with the mannerly cat and lichen-covered statues of fat little animals that it didn’t matter.

Is it just me? Does everyone else keep better notes of things like this?

bread_and_wine

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From Dordogne to Provence in the rain

By on May 6, 2007 in Dordogne, France, Provence, Travel

The worst day of the best trip ever was definitely the drive from Sarlat to Millau, and it definitely wasn’t a really “bad” day, just long and tedious at times.

First we had to backtrack to Perigueux to pick up a new car from Europcar since the damage to the first one had messed up the passenger door so that it leaked air and rain. This wasn’t a bad drive, but it did take up most of the morning.

Then Frank and I followed our usual practice of picking out what looked like an interesting and direct route on secondary roads rather than taking the autoroute. From Sarlat to Gourdon to Figeac to Rodez to Millau took us through some pretty countryside, but the rain was heavy at times, the roads were crowded with big trucks, and every town was a bottleneck that we inched through in a parade of big trucks.

The second day was much nicer, in spite of our worries about the forecast of bad thunderstorms and heavy downpours. We turned north a little bit and took a mountain road through the Parc National des Cevennes, then down through Ales, Uzes and Avignon. It drizzled most of the way, but the scenery was beautiful, the traffic was light, and we were in Provence in time for lunch at Uzes!

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Adventures in the Dordogne

By on May 1, 2007 in Dordogne, France, Travel

Adventure #1

So last night we’re having dinner at L’Octroi, the little bistro we liked so much last week, on their terrace under one of those big canvas sun shades that covers most of the terrace. Suddenly there’s a HUGE clap of thunder, and it begins to pour.

We’re in the center of the covered area, perfectly dry, so we watch as people sitting at tables around the edges are moved either closer to the center or indoors. But the rain continues, so before long, the staff of the restaurant is standing on tables around the edges of the cover laughing and poking with brooms to try to push off the water that’s accumulating on top.

Apparently those shades have an automatic safety feature, because suddenly it decides it’s had enough and starts to fold up, leaving us all out in the pouring rain!

About 20 people grab what they can – Frank took his cake, but I have my priorities straight so I took my wine – and run inside.

I was amazed at how well the restaurant personnel handled it. Within a few minutes, they had tables set up and everyone was back to eating dinner as if nothing had happened.

Adventure #2

We’re driving back to Sarlat this afternoon from a beautiful drive and lunch in Monpazier when suddenly a stone wall on the edge of the road leaps out and scrapes the side of the car, damaging the passenger door! At least that’s my version of the story, although Frank’s is much less imaginative.

He’s just spent an hour or so on the phone sorting everything out with American Express and Europcar, and we’ll be picking up a different car, one that doesn’t leak rain in the passenger door, tomorrow morning.

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Geese!

By on April 30, 2007 in Dordogne, France, Travel

Today we found geese! They were on their way to lunch, following a guy on a tractor who filled troughs for them just at lunchtime. They looked fat, happy, and silly, as geese usually do.

Speaking of geese, we’ve eaten way too well here, but I’m already looking forward to menus that do not feature foie gras and duck confit. I know it’s sacrilegious, but I’m not that excited about foie gras, which I find way too rich, and duck confit seems to me like a nice occasional treat, not a daily staple.

We’ve been especially happy with dinners here in Sarlat at Le Presidial, a very good restaurant with a lovely garden, and L’Octroi, a nice little bistro just outside the historic center. We had lunch on Sunday at La Belle Etoile in La Roque-Gageac, suggested by Ann from Hawaii on the message board. Although the weather didn’t cooperate with our plan to eat out on the terrace overlooking the river, we had a lovely meal in a dining room almost entirely full of elderly British folk.

Today, in addition to visiting the geese, we took the tour at Lascaux II. I’m so glad we were able to take an English tour, because the explanations made all the difference. We stopped to buy tickets on Saturday and asked about the English tour, which they said they added just for us, but by today it was completely full. I was surprised by how beautiful the cave paintings were.

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Where have all the geese gone?

By on April 29, 2007 in Dordogne, France, Travel

The Dordogne is growing on me. After an unpromising start, I’m really starting to appreciate how beautiful it is.

We had an especially nice day yesterday, starting with a morning stroll through the Sarlat market. It’s HUGE, winding all the way through town. I think I at least glanced at most everything, although I only bought dish towels. I can almost never leave an outdoor market in France without buying a few more dish towels.

The produce was lovely and tempted me, but our apartment kitchen doesn’t seem convenient for any serious cooking so I bypassed it.

Then we drove north and found a nice place for lunch in a quiet village. A well-mannered cat joined us when the food arrived and requested one bite from each of us, then washed up and went back to sleep in the sun.

After lunch we visited Les Jardins de L’Imaginaire in Terrasson. I LOVED it. I always find formal gardens impressive but dull, but this is a very exciting contemporary garden that uses water in surprising and original ways. It was a guided tour in French, which went mostly over our heads, but they provided a booklet in English that covered the basics.

About those geese… When I was reading about this area before we came, I saw lots of pictures of grandmotherly ladies on farms tending their geese. We’ve done lots of driving around the countryside and seen lots of farms, and I’ve seen cows, sheep, horses, a few ducks, and quite a few chickens, but not a single goose. Where are they? Are they all already foie grased?

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Sarlat

By on April 27, 2007 in Dordogne, France, Travel

My first impression of Sarlat was that I’d made a terrible mistake in choosing it. When we arrived, the traffic was insane, and we spent about an hour inching around the edge of town to where we could park to check into our apartment. I was surprised and a little dismayed to find our apartment right on the main street, although it turns out our huge terrace overlooking the street is private yet a perfect place to watch everything. The apartment is quiet when the doors are closed. When I got up this morning I discovered they’d set up the Saturday market right below us without me hearing a thing!

I still wouldn’t choose Sarlat again, because of the traffic, which must be unbearable in season, and because the number of shops marketing tourist junk is just overwhelming, but the buildings are SO beautiful. I keep imagining how beautiful it would be if I could just edit all of that out.

On our first day, we headed out to explore with no plan in mind and had a great day. A nice late morning drive led us to St. Cyprien for lunch in a café full of local construction workers and traveling motorcyclists, then we visited Beynac, La Roque-Gageac and Domme after lunch. Wow – what spectacular scenery!

We took a tourist boat ride down the river from La Roque-Gageac and enjoyed it. I was skeptical, but once I saw the crew wasn’t dressed as pirates, I decided it would be ok. It was a tranquil one-hour ride, with a recorded commentary in English to match the live commentary in French.

My overall impression of what I’ve seen of the Dordogne so far is that it is beautiful, but almost too manicured and too altered by its success as a tourist destination. Do they really sell all of that canned confit and foie gras?

This morning, the Sarlat market is waiting for me just outside the door!

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