Dordogne – Day 6: Les Cabanes du Breuil

Friday, October 15, 2010

Dordogne – Day 6: Les Cabanes du Breuil

Another foggy, chilly morning.  We didn’t move fast this morning as there wasn’t much point to go out into the fog.  I did a couple of loads of clothes – it is much easier to pack clean clothes.  It was after 11 before we left the house, and we decided to have lunch in Sarlat.

We had lunch at a Rick Steves’ recommendation called Le Bistro el l’Octroi.  We both decided we have had enough duck and foie gras, but when we looked at the menu that was most of what was on it.  They have a 13 euro menu consisting of a main course (plat), dessert, beverage, and coffee, so I asked what they were serving – it was salmon.  Yes!  It was delicious and one of the best lunches of the trip – I’d rank it in the top 3.  There were three 2-inch pieces of salmon, grilled to perfection – cooked through, but moist.  It was a lot lighter color than our salmon – almost white.  It was served with some sort of creamed vegetable, but neither of us could figure out what it was – it was just very good – and some egg noodles.  The dessert of a tart of puff pastry, pastry cream, and pears, which was actually very light and tasty.

After lunch we drove up towards Les Eyzies, where we had gone on Monday, but before getting there we turned off for Les Cabanes du Breuil.  When we were in Provence, we wanted to go see the Bories Village, but got discouraged because of the difficult road.  These “cabanes” are stone huts much like the bories in Provence, and the road up there is actually quite good.  They are located on a family farm.  There are 6 structures all made from dry-stacked stone: no mortar or cement.  The walls are 3 meters thick and the roofs weight something like 3 metric tons per square meter.  They are quite impressive and it was an interesting sight.   No one knows exactly who built them or when, but the earliest historical record of them is in the mid-15^th century when Benedictine monks resided there.  Subsequently, they have been put to a variety of other purposes and were first restored in the late 19^th century.  The family that lives on the property now has owned it for at least 3 generations, and I could tell that they take their stewardship of the property very seriously.

We took the long way home, going along the Dordogne and through some very picturesque villages,  and got back to the house around 5 after topping off the gas tank and picking up something for dinner.  We want to leave around 9:00 tomorrow morning as it is a long drive up to Normandy. 

Dordogne – Day 5: Rocamador

Thursday, October 14, 2010

There was thick fog when we woke up this morning, and when we left the house, the car thermometer showed 7 degrees centigrade – very chilly.  By the time we arrived in Rocamador, which is in the neighboring Lot Valley and about an hour’s drive from here, it was still foggy. 

It is amazing that there can be a site attracting 6 million tourists a year, but the road up to it is only 2 lanes, and narrow at that.  But, it makes for a much more scenic trip.  I have to hand it to the French who have worked hard to preserve their historical heritage, and have added modern and efficient infrastructure where it makes sense to do so, such as the autoroutes and TGV trains.  It does make it somewhat difficult for the people who live here, though, because they can’t do just anything they want to their property – any improvements have to be vetted and approved to ensure that they stay true to the local architecture, etc.

Rocamador was a pilgrimage destination going back to the 10-11^th centuries.  At one time there were about 8,000 people living there just to support all of the pilgrims that came there to pay homage to St. Amador and the statue of the Black Madonna – miracles have been attributed to both.  During the wars of religion in the 16^th century (Catholics vs Protestants), the site fell into neglect until the 18^th century when there was a bit of resurgence in interest.  Now it is a major tourist attraction in this area. 

It is built on 3 main levels from the river valley up the wall of a cliff.  At the top is a chateau that isn’t open to the public.  The next level down is the “sanctuary” level and that was the interest of the pilgrims.  The buildings on this level will built right against the cliff with the rock face being the back wall of the structures.  There are seven chapels built around a central courtyard.  The main one of interest is the Chapel of Notre Dame, which houses the statue of the Black Madonna.  This level is reached from the village level by a Grand Staircase.  Pilgrims would climb those stairs on their knees, and stop periodically to pray as they ascended.   The lowest level is the village, which is pretty much just one main street with shops, restaurants, and hotels.  The shops are pretty touristy.  The river is still quite a distance below.

Fortunately for us, there are two elevators.  One is an incline lift that takes you from the top Chateau level to the Sanctuary level.  The other is a regular elevator that takes you to the village level.  The shafts for both were drilled (or blasted) into the rock of the cliff.  There is a charge for both lifts – apparently, they are owned by different interests – but we felt it was about the best 12 euro investment of the trip.

The sun finally came out while we were exploring the sanctuary level, and it turned out to be a glorious day, but still a little on the chilly side – there is a definite nip in the air.

We had lunch in the village – a crepe with chicken, mushrooms, and bacon with a blue cheese sauce.  It was very good with a cup of sweet cider.

We got back to the house about 4:00 and had a bit of a rest before going out to dinner in Sarlat.  We had dinner at Chez Vicky in the old part of the town.  It is a popular restaurant.  For our entrée we had a salad with confit of duck gizzards (gizzards that had been cooked then preserved in duck fat – they are so tender), and dried duck.   For our main course we had duck breast with foie gras and truffle sauce.  There was a bit of a problem in the kitchen – our salad plates where still on the table when the waitress  brought out our main course.  She said something to the other person, and took the plates back to the kitchen.  It was still quite a while before our salad plates were cleared and a few minutes after that before our main course was brought out.  I took one bite – it was stone cold.  Of course, the waitress was not any where in sight.  We sat there for several minutes looking at our plates and waiting for the waiter or waitress to come by.  Finally, I attracted the attention of the waitress, and she came over.  I politely said in French, “miss, this is very cold.”  She apologized and took our plates back to the kitchen.  It was probably close to 10 minutes later before we got our dinners back.  We could tell that it was still the same pieces of duck, which had been reheated, but the foie gras, potato, and sauce was new.  We were happy with the result, especially since the duck was cooked more thoroughly than it was at first, but still pink and tender.  We had walnut cake with crème anglais for dessert.  All and all, it was a very good dinner.

It was 9:30 when we left the restaurant – we weren’t even the first ones to arrive at the restaurant – and 10:00 when we got back to the house.  I was able to find the way in the dark with not problems, though I think Mom doubted that I could.

Dordogne - Day 4: Sarlat Market & Lascaux II

Another beautiful day in the Dordogne.  At the risk of jinxing us, I have to say we've been extremely lucky as far as the weather is concerned.  We've been here a little over 30 days and I think we have had only maybe 4 days of rain.  Most of the time we've had sunny blue skies.  This is a good time of year to come, especially to these areas that are very popular with tourists.  Not only is the weather good, but there are not crowds of people to contend with.

We got an early start this morning and got into Sarlat around 9:30 for their Wednesday market.  The market area winds through the old part of the town.  Being there early, we could take some pictures since there weren't hoards of people yet.  We also got to see some of the interesting old buildings.  Some of the buildings have stone roofs -- they are probably a couple of hundred years old!  Since we will be here for just a few more days, we didn't buy any food this time, but we did by a small piece of truffle in a small can for 24 euros.  Don't know what we'll do with it, but I'm hoping my Julia Child cookbook will have a recipe we can use.  We also bought another small watercolor, which we bought from the artist right across from the subject of the painting. 

After exploring Sarlat, we went north to the town of Montignac, which is a beautiful old town with the Vesere River flowing right through it.  We had lunch there -- pizza & the best we've had here.  Lascaux II is right up the road from Montignac, so that's where we went next.  Lascaux II is an exact reproduction of the original Lascaux cave.  The original cave was closed in the 1960s due to damage caused by the many visitors: white calcifications caused by carbondioxide, and green mossy stuff caused by the humidity of people breathing.  Lascaux II shows only about 40 meters of the original cave, but 90% of the art work is represented.  Even for a reproduction, it is stunning.  The art was reproduced using the same pigments and methods used by the original artists 17,000 years ago.  This is Cro-Magnan art, produced by our human ancestors.  The animals rendered are bulls, reindeer, horses, ibex, and cows.  The colors are black, red, and yellow.  In some areas the curvature of the cave wall was used to enhance the shape of the figures.  Once you are in there, it is easy to forget that it is a reproduction.  Fortunately, I was one of the last people to get in on the English tour and the guide was very good.  Unfortunately, Mom wasn't able to go, but she walked a lot in Sarlat and Montignac today, so I don't think she minded waiting for me.  This cave, even as a reproduction, offered a lot more of a "WOW" factor than the Rouffignac cave we saw a couple of days ago.

Well, the music in this McDonalds is the absolute worse, so I'm going to close this out, then we'll go home and rest up for the remainder of the afternoon .

Dordogne - Day 3: Dordogne River Valley, Sarlat, & Geese

Today I fell in love with a new region of France:  The Dordogne.

The day started out with lots of promise for a clear day, and it was a gorgeous day.  We decided to go back to the river, retracing our steps from our drive on Sunday when it was grey and rainy. 

We drove directly to Beynac and got there in time for the 11:00 boat trip up-river.  The boats are reproductions of 19^th century craft used to transport goods up and down the river.  It was a lovely day to be on the water.  It is a 50 minute trip, and the boat goes very slowly upstream with a very quiet motor, and drifts back downstream.  There were other people on the boat, but it was so peaceful and quiet.  We really hated to go back. The views of Beynac, especially the chateau high above the village are spectacular from the water. 

In several places along the cliffs you can see where there are either natural caves, or caves that were carved into the face of the cliff.  Many of them have been faced with stone, with windows and doors.  We saw similar caves along the Loire River – and some of those are still being lived in.  Here, though, I don’t think we’ve seen any that are being lived in – there are stairways and trails leading up to them, but many of those are barricaded. 

After getting off the boat, we looked in a shop and on the way back to the car, Mom noticed the tiniest hummingbird we’d ever seen.  When I saw it initially, I thought it was a bumblebee.  It was taking nectar from geraniums, and couldn’t have been more than 1 ½ inches long from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail.  I was able to get several good pictures of it with Mom’s camera – the battery had died on mine.  (Note:  Turns out this was NOT a hummingbird, but rather a sphinx moth.  There are no hummingbirds in Europe.  This moth is often mistaken for a hummingbird and it can hover and flies much like a hummingbird.  Here is a link for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphingidae - added 10/28/10)

After Beynac, we decided to go back to Domme, but stopped in La Roque Gageac for lunch on the way.  The starter of goose gizzards and foie gras was very good, but the main course of sliced rare beef with a sauce wasn’t very good.  It was a cut of meat that should have been braised, and was very tough.  We decided not go back to Castlenaud because the chateau doesn’t look very accessible for Mom.  So, we went right to Domme – I really like that village.  It sits high on a hill with a fabulous view of the Dordogne Valley.  Beynac, La Roque Gageac, & Les Eyzies all are squeezed between the river and cliffs, but Domme stands by itself, making it much more spacious with nothing between it and the sky.  We walked around Domme and spent quite a bit of time looking out over the valley.

Since we’ve been on this trip, Mom hasn’t been happy with her hair, and the shower situation in this house makes it difficult for her, so I decided she should get her hair done.  We found a hair salon in Sarlat, and she got a new French hair-do.  It really looks nice and I think it should last for the remainder of our trip. 

Later in the afternoon , we walked down the main shopping street in Sarlat and had a cup of coffee.  Sarlat is a very interesting town with lots of old buildings.  There was some sort of demonstration going on in the main square, so we stayed up on the main street.  The crowd of demonstrators was quite vocal.  I’m not sure what they were demonstrating about.  There was supposed to be a general strike today, but it only impacted certain industries.  The French are also unhappy about the government’s plan to increase the retirement age from 60, so it could have been that.

While we’ve seen quite a few ducks around and about, we’ve seen no geese.  So, this evening we went to a goose farm.  It’s not far from where we’re staying and it is a farm that Rick Steves featured on one of his TV shows and is highlighted in his guidebook.  They have 300 geese and they buy them when they are babies.  For the first 4-5 months, they live outside and eat green corn.  The entire field is sown with corn, and when it gets a certain height, they let the geese in the field and the geese eat the corn to the ground.  Today the two fields were about three-quarters eaten.  The geese are also fed corn, wheat, and barley grains.  When the geese are about 4-5 months old, they are moved 150 at a time into the force-feeding shed where they are force-fed corn 3 times a day.  It takes the farmer 5 hours a day to feed the geese.  They are fed this way and kept in the shed for 28 – 34 days, and double their weight during this time.  They are then processed 25 at a time.  They are 100% processed at the farm, and they have a special laboratory where the meat and liver (foie gras) is processed (cooked and canned).  This is all done under extremely sterile conditions.  The woman told us that geese have been force-fed for 6,000 years, beginning in Egypt.  It is considered to be humane as in nature geese fatten themselves up before their annual migrations, and it supposedly doesn’t hurt the geese.   The feathers are given away for use in pillows, etc.  Apparently, not many people raise geese anymore and that is one reason why goose foie gras is much more expensive than that made from duck liver.

One thing I haven’t mentioned is that is area is also well known for walnuts and there are large walnut orchards.  Walnuts are being harvested now, and we often see people picking them up from under the trees.  They also have walnut trees at the goose farm, and the woman who showed us around showed us a gadget a friend sent her from California for picking up walnuts.  It’s a wire basket on a long handle that you roll along the ground and the walnuts are pushed inside through the wires.  It’s a back-saving device and now everyone in the area wants to have one, but they aren’t to be found here. 

The foliage here is beginning to turn and while most trees are still pretty green, there are splotches of gold and red throughout the area.  It is difficult to describe how beautiful it is here in the Dordogne, and we had such an enjoyable day today.

Dordogne - Days 1 & 2: Orientation, Les Eyzies, & Grotte du Rouffignac

Yesterday (Sunday, Oct. 10) was grey and it started to rain in the late afternoon.  We decided to just do an orientation tour, so drove up to Sarlat, which is about 10-12 km from our house.  We drove around the town, but didn't stop, then drove down to the Dordogne River to Domme.  Domme is a "Bastide" - a fortified town - a top a high hill overlooking the river.  We had lunch there, but it was raining, so other than looking in one shop, we moved on with the resolve to come back when the weather was nicer so we could enjoy the view.  We then drove to Castlenaud, which is another village above the river with a huge chateau that is now a museum specializing in medieval warfare.  Again, we didn't stop.  We drove further down the river to Beynac and Roque Gigeac - both, on the other side of the river, are villages that climb up the cliffs above the river.  Beynac has a chateau which was the rival of the one at Castlenaud.  I had recently read a book by an American woman who had bought a house in Castlenaud with her husband.  The book is "Castle in the Backyard" -- their back yard abutted the castle wall -- so it was fun seeing the castle.

It is so beautiful here.  Everything is green, with the golden stone buildings, it is enchanting, and to quote Rick Steves, many places look like movie sets.  We have enjoyed seeing the gardens, and huge fields of corn.  They also grow tabacco; though we haven't actually seen it growing, we have seen the drying sheds, which stand out because they are the few wooden buildings in the area.

We also went to the grocery store yesterday morning and bought a turkey thigh/leg, which I fixed for dinner last night.  In French turkey is "dinde" and I asked a woman what it was because I wasn't sure.  The meat doesn't seem to be as dark or as rich as our turkey dark meat.

This morning it was foggy and raining, so I was disappointed, but hopeful that it would clear up.  By the time we finished breakfast, the fog had lifted and we decided it would be a good day to go to the National Museum of Prehistory in Les Eyzies and to the Grotte Du Rouffignac.  Of course, by the time we got there, it was almost noon and the museum closes at noon; however, the weather had cleared and we had some sunshine.  We decided to have lunch and go to the cave first. 

After lunch, we drove to Rouffignac, which is about 15 km from Les Eyzies through green fields and oak forests on a narrow road.  But, with no traffic, it wasn't a problem.  We got to the cave in time for the first tour after they reopened after lunch.  The neat thing about this cave is that there is a train that takes you through it, so Mom could go.  The narrative was all in French, and we went a long way into the cave without seeing anything prehistoric except rocks.  Finally, we stopped and the guide pointed out a place where bears had scratched the cave walls (bears would hiberate in the cave).  He also pointed out mammoths that had been etched into the rock by Cro-Magnon man.  Next we came to several rhinos that had been drawn onto the cave walls.  The guide spoke at length at both of these stops, but we didn't understand much of it, though I did get a word here & there.  Finally, the train stopped and we all got off (Mom didn't, though because she didn't have her walker and the ground was uneven).  The guide then showed us paintings up on the ceiling: horses, bulls, mammoths, bison.  It was a nice tour, but didn't really have the "WOW!" factor I was expecting.

Now we're sitting in a McDonalds listening to terrible music, but at least they have free Wi-Fi (or for the cost of a cup of coffee and Diet Coke free).  It's kind of cute -- here the drive-through is called "Mc-Drive."

Well, Mom is not enjoying this music and we need to head for the house.  Will post again in a couple of days.