2004 - The Dordogne Valley
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| 2004 - The Dordogne Valley
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| Our first stop this trip, the Dordogne River valley is a beautiful area filled with ancient history and gorgeous scenery. Four days was a good amount of time here - it gave us time to see many different things and relax into the culture before moving on. | ||
| Mediaeval Villages:
This was probably the biggest draw for us. We love the narrow, winding streets lined with ancient stone houses, and the colorful flower boxes sported by all. This trip we visited Beynac-et-Cazenac (our home base), Sarlat, Castelnaud (pictured) , and Domme. |  | |
 | Castles:
We had originally planned to stay two nights in the Loire Valley for castle-seeing, then two nights in the Dordogne, but then decided to skip the Loire and give ourselves more time to relax during the first days of our journey. We're so glad we made that decision - not only did we enjoy the Dordogne and the leisurely pace of the 4-day stay, but we found plenty of castles to explore within a few miles in either direction. Had we stopped in the Loire Valley first, we'd have been "castled out" before ever reaching Beynac and its glorious royal fortress (pictured). | |
| Natural beauty: The obvious gem here is the Dordogne itself. One day we took a tourist boat up the river for castle gazing and cave and cliff viewing, another day we took a leisurely stroll along the towpath to the train bridge in the photo at right, and on more than one occasion we drove along the river on our way to another village, enjoying its beauty and surprises around every turn. Another wonder of nature in this area is the network of caves. Many empty into the river, but there are many that open from the cliffs high above the water line, and others that pop up in the middle of a stroll through the woods. Some of the caves even have pre-historic paintings inside, discovered only in the recent past. See the next paragraph for more on cave paintings. |  | |
 | Pre-historic Caves:
In and around the village of Les Eyzies, there are a number caves with pre-historic paintings. The cave called Font de Gaum is the only one of these with polychromatic (multi-colored) paintings, and if you are able to get a ticket, it is well worth the time to take the short tour. In fact, Font de Gaum is the only cave in the world with polychromatic cave paintings still open to the public. The famous caves at Lascaux are now closed to the public and instead, if you visit Lascaux, you are directed to "Lascaux II" - a reproduction of the original. Too much human contact leaves bacteria that destroy the paintings. Less than 100 visitors are allowed into Font de Gaum each day, and it is recommended that you book your tickets up to two weeks in advance during tourist season. | |
| Where to Stay: Café de la Rivierè Beynac 24220 Aquataine, FRANCE Tel: +33 553 28 35 49 Fax: same E-Mail: info@cafedelariviere.com Web site: http://www.cafedelariviere.com/ Would we stay here again? Definitely A lovely stone restaurant with rooms, overlooking the Dordogne. The rooms are comfortable and the views excellent. The location too, is perfect. Beynac is a great base from which to explore this lovely valley. New owners have taken over since our visit, but I'm sure that this is still a sound choice for accommodation, dining, or both while in the region. |
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 | What else is there?
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Last modified: 4/13/2008
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