Destination Dordogne-Domme

We didn't actually choose this destination, our dear friends, John and Claude Elk, chose it for us! Thank goodness or we might never have discovered this gorgeous part of France. They plan to spend a year here in 2008 and hoped to set up a rental for when they come. We were thrilled to get to spend a few days with them and exploring this area. The Dordogne River, from which the area gets its name, "winds gracefully through some of France's most picturesque countryside past villages dressed with grand castles, through peaceful meadows dotted with farms, beneath towering cliffs, and into pretty woodlands"(from Karen Brown's "France").

Not only is this place unbelievably beautiful, it is also incredibly old. It is France's prehistoric capital. The Cro-Magnon skull was discovered here, there are 15,000 year old paintings decorating several caves in the area, Lascaux perhaps the best known of these and man occupied terraces on cliff sides here as long ago as 70,000 B.C. So, with that intro, off we go!

Fortunately, we're not suspicious because we set off from Aix on Friday the 13th in the pouring rain! It was a difficult, six hour drive to our hotel, Le Perigord*, near the "blink and you'll miss it" town of La Roque Gageac. After our long drive, we were thankful to arrive safely and to find John and Claude standing under their umbrella at the turn off to the hotel to welcome us! Nick was even more thrilled when John presented him with a welcoming gift of a bottle of special scotch!

The five of us had a wonderful time catching up and sharing travel tales. Claude brought Sarah her favorite candy, Swedish Fish, which because they are not available in France she hasn't tasted in many months! She was in Heaven!

Since moving from California, we've only seen the Elks a few times so this was very special. John is one of my oldest friends. He was the group leader on a trip I took to Switzerland when I was 16! He met Claude, who is French, on the same trip so as you can see, we go back a long way. Happily, we have kept our friendship all these years. We opted for staying put for the evening and ate dinner at the hotel's pleasant restaurant. We enjoyed area specialties like fois gras, garlic soup, duck, special cheeses and local wines. Saturday morning, after a typical French breakfast of juice, yogurt, bread, jam and coffee, we headed off to visit the nearby towns of Domme, Beynac-et-Cazenac and Sarlat. We could see our first stop, Domme, up on the hill right outside the window of our room... With a population of only 1,000, the delightful, little medieval fortified town of Domme has been both English and French. In fact, the Dordogne River was once the border in this region which divided the two countries: English on the north side, French to the south. Domme was one of about 260 French and English 'bastides' built throughout the southwest of France near the end of the 13th century. These were military outposts built in sparsely populated areas where troops could be posted in order to gain control of the area. It was laid out in 1281 by Philippe le Hardi(the Bold). It is indeed a heavenly place to see and visit. We were greeted by these spectacular views of the alluvial valley, about 500 feet below, from a cliff-top walk on the edge of town.

As you can see, being early spring, many of the fields are just being prepared for planting.

The town was darling and we enjoyed going into several shops and speaking with the owners...in French, bien sur! The entire town is built of this beautiful honey-colored stone. You may be interested to learn, as we were, that all this stone came from the quarry at the bottom of the town. The peasants in the valley were coerced by the king to haul the stones up the steep slope, (which rises for almost 1/2 a mile!) to the top and build all the walls and defensive buildings that are now there. He promised them freedom from taxes, seignorial duties and they could mint their own money! We felt sorry for them doing all that hard work, but the fruits of their labors are these beautiful buildings.

Nick may not always have great luck getting geese in Duxbury, but he had no problem catching this goose!


As we strolled around further, one thing became clear to us...wisteria is everywhere and in full bloom!

We started calling this "Wisteria Weekend". No doubt you'll see from these and future photos, the lovely, fragrant, lavender blossoms were everywhere we went. While we were looking at all the wisteria, this hardy troop of Scouts marched through the town . Scouting, for both girls and boys, is big here in France.

We made our final trek through the town and manged to find a great restaurant for dinner that evening in the process. I have a thing about being sure to visit the churches of the villages we go to, so couldn't miss this one either.


Now, we're off to Beynac-et-Cazenac, about 10 kilometers up the river.

actual date 4/13-14/07

*Le Perigord Hotel, 24250 La Roque Gageac, 05 53 28 55