Thursday, May 28, 2015
Bonjour!
Honestly, we had such an incredible meal on Tuesday night,
that after our picnic lunch along the
Vezere
yesterday afternoon, (and of course my gelato…) neither of us were hungry last
night, so instead, as soon as I had finished the blog posting, I went to bed at
10 pm and Robert worked until midnight!
Awoke this morning feeling very refreshed – at least I did; not sure
about Robert yet.
 |
| Sausage everywhere! |
 |
I do like to look...
|
Really lovely bath in
our wonderful tub; we really do love this place!
 |
Robert buying the olive stand!
|
 |
Olives everywhere!
|
 |
Breakfast on the patio
|
 |
One of the gates into Domme
|
Our plan today is to work our way south into the Armagnac country, as R is a fan, and
would like to see their museum and possibly do a tasting or two. (As I can’t stand the stuff, however special
it may be, I have volunteered to be the DD (Designated Driver.) Our feeling is that driving through the
French countryside just about anywhere is a lovely way to spend the day. We may also visit some old friends like La Roque along the way.
 |
Looking at La Roque
|
 |
Gabarre on right, kayaks and canoes on left!
|
 |
More of La Roque
|
 |
Gabarre on the Dordogne
|
Well, you know how funny plans can be…we walked out of the
hotel and immediately were in the weekly
Domme
market!
How fun!
They were still in the process of setting up,
but there was lots to see and certainly lots to buy!
 |
Church at La Roque
|
 |
That's quite a wall!
|
LoWe did find a nice tablecloth with lavender on
it, which I think will look nice on our table.
And of course, a few other things just happened to find their way to us
as well.
As we walked around the corner,
of course Robert was stopped by olive vendor #1, and I thought he was going to
buy the place…not to be confused from olive vendor #2, from whom we got some
wonderful sun dried tomatoes in olive oil.
That decided our luncheon plans, at least – another picnic!
We bought some lovely
Cantal cheese, some stunning small red strawberries, and lots of
cherries for R to munch on.
Also found
some lupini beans, which he really enjoys.
We found a local boulangerie where we bought a baguette for the picnic,
as well as
pain au chocolat for me
for breakfast, and a croissant with almonds for R’s breakfast, washed down by
Minute Maid O.J. – not the genuine article, but good enough.
We had breakfast outside the boulangerie
watching all the activities in the market.
There was a lot going on!
Then, as we had decided to picnic, we took our purchases
back to the hotel, picked up our Intermarche
bag and the knife we bought yesterday, and actually made it to the car –
probably closer to 10:30 when we started out at 9! Oh well!
That’s what holidays are for!
As we suddenly (after the market!) found ourselves in need
of money, we headed out of Domme and
to Cenac at the bottom of the hill to
the Credit Agricole bank. No problems.
We also walked through town, and it is really beautiful. Although honestly, we’d be hard pressed to
find a NOT beautiful spot. From Cenac,
we headed along the Dordogne, and
made it as far as La Roque-Gageac,
which must be all of five or six kilometers away. And there we stopped. First of all, the town is very small and
built, quite literally, against the mountain.
There are flowers – lots of roses – everywhere, and as we were walking,
we saw signs to a gabarre take-off
point. A gabarre is an old-fashioned flat-bottomed boat that used to sail on
the Dordogne years and years ago
transporting cargo up and down the river.
Now, they take tourists on an hour-long cruise about seven miles
upstream – as far as Castelnaud, then
turn around and return.
We got tickets for the 11:30 cruise, and had a lovely wait
along side the river for the boat to pull in and unload.
Then on we went.
 |
Castelnaud above the Dordogne
|
 |
Closer up of Castelnaud
|
 |
| Trebuchets in Castelnaud's backyard! |
We were provided with an audio-tour in
English, to go along with the French guide’s commentary; all in all, a very
good product and we absolutely loved being on the river!
The day was sunny and warm, and absolutely
perfect out!
We passed at least five castles
of one sort or another – there were three in
La Roque itself, as well as two in the distance and then
Castelnaud, where we have visited
before.
(That’s where Robert found a
full-size trebuchet, and he has been wanting ever since to get one for our
backyard…)
There is really something
magic about castles – most of them have been around for hundreds and hundreds
of years –
Castelnaud played a big
part in the Hundred Years War (1347 to 1453).
But at least for me, castles always conjure up visions of princes and
princesses and knights and all that sort of thing!
And here they are!
Apparently, there are more than 115 castles
in this area of
Perigord alone!
R has been telling me for the past few days that I
HAD to write about French rivers,
because, according to him, there are no more beautiful rivers in the world than
these, and I’d have to say he’s right.
French rivers for the most part have been left very much alone – they haven’t
been damned up or set in another course, and unlike Los Angeles, absolutely NO
concrete anywhere to be found!
They just
flow naturally, some faster than others, but it seems for some reason that
miles and miles and miles of their banks have been left alone and
undeveloped.
The trees and grass grow
all around, and we were able to see a duck go past with a whole trainload of
little guys following behind her.
 |
Momma Duck with little ones behind
|
 |
Another stunning castle in La Roque
|
 |
Cute guy at the picnic!
|
The
birdlife is wonderful and varied, and honestly, the beauty of the rivers is
really unsurpassed anywhere that we know of.
 |
Beautiful town ... lots of steps!
|
 |
Lovely buildings!
|
So, we got back from our mini-cruise about a quarter to one,
and were able to secure the last vacant picnic table in the park. I went to get the goodies out of the car, and
R held the fort, or table, as it were.
Our picnic was great – with cheese, bread, strawberries and sun dried
tomatoes, who needs anything else? After
our picnic, we cleaned up and took everything back to the car and went for a
walk down the main street. There are
some wonderful looking hotels here, as well as restaurants. As I said to Robert, the real problem about
France is that you can only stay in so many hotels each visit, unless you want
to jump around every night … and we’d rather have quality time in few
places.So…I got today’s stracciatella
gelato and we walked back along the river and decided that, as it was our
holiday, naps sounded really good. Got
back to Domme about 2:30 p.m. and I
am blogging while R is sleeping. My turn
next! The real question is: Will we even need dinner tonight after our amazing
picnic lunch!
 |
| Amazing strawberries! |
 |
| Me along main street |
More later!
m
xxx
It's so magical!!!
ReplyDelete