Travel Postcards: LIMOUSIN and the DORDOGNE

May 9: Valleres -Solignac
Today was a 200-km journey through the centre of France, first in rain, but clearing somewhat. We side-tracked a bit to Le Village Martyr, Oradour-sur-Glane, where 642 men, women and children were murdered by the Nazis on June 10, 1944 when they also burned the town. No one knows exactly why this atrocity took place here, but the town has been left as it was, with blackened buildings and rusting automobiles, as a memorial. Very sad.

We arrived at our chambre d'hote, Le Cheyrol, in Solignac, managing to follow a complicated set of directions though coming from the opposite direction. Le pont rompu, the broken bridge, saved us as it was obvious. After greeting us warmly, Marie said "parlez francais s'il vous plait" so we knew it was going to be hard work! She does speak a few words of English, and Alain fewer, but we managed to communicate, mostly in French with a little English and Spanish, dictionaries and tablets to help. They went out of their way to be helpful, showing us around the town and area, lush with fields of Limousin cattle and race horses. The delicious table d' hote meal prepared mostly by Alain was worth every euro. He is a retired butcher and there were 15 hams aging, literally hanging from the rafters in their barn. The meal started with aperitifs of local liqueurs made from fruit or walnuts, diluted with white wine, and tiny toasts with pates of rabbit pate and parsley. This was followed by a salad plate with lettuce, potato salad and head cheese. Yes, we did eat the head cheese. The main course was grilled steak and potatoes gratin dauphinois, like scalloped, already a favourite with us. All this was served with lots of red wine. Next came the ubiquitous plat du fromage with four excellent local cheeses. Finally the meal wrapped up with tarte tatin. No wonder we weren't hungry the next day, though we did manage to eat the breakfast, just no lunch. We waddled away like the famous geese of the region.

Tues. May 10: Limoges - Les Eyzies-de-Tayac

Since we had a shorter drive of about 130 kms. there was time to explore the Historic Rue de la Boucherie in the Chateau Quartier of Limoges, named for the butchers' shops that lined the street in the Middle Ages. There was time for a lovely riverbank stroll along the Vienne with its old stone bridges before heading on.

Rue de la Boucherie

Chapelle St-Aurelien, patron saint of butchers

Hotel de Ville where a stage of this year's Tour de France will be from July 5 -6.

We made an afternoon visit to the Medieval walled city of St-Yvrieix-la-Perche before crossing into the Dordogne department, our destination for the next five days. It was so quiet because on Tuesdays all museums in France close and it was the mid-day closure too, it was almost creepy.

We reached Montignac then Sarlat-la-Caneda, a picturesque maze of honey-coloured stone buildings and definitely on the tourist trail, for a short look about before heading to our petite maisonette in the countryside near Les Eyzies-de-Tayac in the Vezere Valley. To say it was difficult to find is an understatement, but a lovely English-speaking man who lived on the road phoned Michel for directions and we finally arrived. Michel had a co-worker from England waiting to translate. The little house of stone is modern inside, albeit a little damp, but once we found the dehumidifier we were set. It appears Michel is another man of many talents like Richard. He is a realtor, also renting out various properties and building a new home.

Sarlat-la-Caneda

May 11: tour of the Vezere Valley, Lascaux II, Beynac

Now we have traded the chateaux of the Loire for the grottes of the Perigord. This region is world-famed for pre-historic sites and especially cave art. The first visit was to Lascaux II, with a 40-minute tour in English. The original cave has been closed to the public since 1963, but the art has been faithfully reproduced in the copy. We could not take photos but it was magnificent; coloured images of animals such as horses, cows and deer from 17,000 years ago. Cro-Magnon man's remains were first discovered near Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. If you Google "Lascaux II images" you will see some fantastic cave paintings.

Also in the region is the Chateau de Beynac, a 12th century fortress occupied by Richard the Lion-hearted and a defensive position during the Hundred Years War. The town was where scenes from the movie Chocolate were filmed.

May 12 - 13: Around Les Eyzies

We spent most of Thursday checking out the museum for background on the"pre-history" valley, then today visited three more sites nearby to view cave art: Grotte de Font-de-Gaume, Grotte des Combarelles and Abri de Cap-Blanc. You can't take photos in any of them, more to keep you from posting them on the internet than anything. All are carefully controlled as to how many can visit and visits are only by guided tour. We had one tour in French, one in English, and the third in a mixture. We are happy we've had a chance to see them while they are still open to the public.

It was rainy and cool today so we haven't been in the unheated pool yet and probably won't! Here's Jim happy to be home to our little cottage.

Sat. May 14:

Chateau de Commarque, a 12th C. castle in the Beaune Valley, is on a site occupied for more than 15,000 years. Abandoned about 400 years ago, it was rediscovered slowly collapsing and disappearing under vegetation in the mid 20th C. Since then it has been restored and opened to the public.