The Dordogne—May 24th

(Surprisingly, it was warm, ranging from 75-87F.)

Today was our day to "get lost" in the Dordogne region and that's what we did. Our plan was to make a loop from the Farmhouse in Cressensac, Rocamador, St-Cirq Lapopie, Gramat, Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne and back. Basically, our goal was to get lost in the Dordogne region and that's what happened. We ended up driving along country lanes hoping we were going in a direction we intended. That turned out to be mostly true. The really funny part was that GPS took us to Pech Merle, the caves I tried to get tickets for but never got confirmed. 

I joked with Marie as we drove along country roads that seemed to direct us toward the caves that maybe all roads, according to GPS, lead to Pech Merle. And wouldn't you know it, this turned out to be the case. ;-)

I never did find out if I secured tickets to the caves where we might view original artwork dating back 27,000 years. We did, however, enjoy the information timeline outside the museum. The pictures and videos later in this blog provide some background. Remember, you can pause the video and enlarge the screen to read text. And that goes for any of the pictures as well.

But before I take you on our roadtrip, take a look at these pictures depicting the size of the fireplace in the Farmhouse and the thickness of the walls. Stunning!

Check out the depth of the window well on the far
side of the breakfast room.

Standing in the window well, Marie
provides a sense of proportion.

Our first stop while getting lost.

This cafe did NOT look open. Nothing
in this minuscule village looked open,
the baker next door assured us it was.

And the coffee was delicious. A note: Everywhere
we are in Europe, American rock-n-roll or easy
listening 80's music is playing in elevators, cafes,
and restaurants. This cafe in the middle of nowhere
seemed to specialize in Motown tunes.

On the road again. Much of what we enjoyed
today was this kind of pastural landscape.

Landscapes like this.

Pulled over to take the above picture and then
turned around to prove we were really driving.

Ya, ya more pastoral views and winding roads. 

Really? GPS brought us here?

This visual of timeline of human habitants in
Europe gives you a sense of scale. 

Enlarge to read text on all the timeline pictures.

This zeroes in on when humans first mastered fire.

This video takes you on a walk along the European timeline beginning in 1950 and 

ending about 150,000 years later.

Entering  Espedaillac.

This solar array just appears as we round a bend
leaving the tiny village of  Espedaillac.

We just liked the look of this house in
Beaulieau-sur-Dordogne.

Noticed this side street and walked
down it after lunch.

Marie awaiting lunch.

This cafe was still serving lunch by
2:30PM and we were grateful.

Happy to be served lunch.

We shared a ham and cheese panini 
with grilled red and yellow peppers
and apple slices. It was DE-LISH!

After lunch we wandered the medieval

town center of Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne.

St. Pierre Abby Church (1135).

Note the beams above the entrance.

I took pictures of three doors in a row.

Door 2.

Door 3.

Exiting the medieval section of 

Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne.

A section of the Dordogne River is
diverted from the main to create a
quiet watery park for campers.

When we arrived back at the Farmhouse, the dogs
greeted us and then flopped onto the cool grass.

Today we were on the road for nearly six hours. Our intention was to "get lost" and enjoy the scenery the Dordogne region offers. We did exactly that, driving in and through tiny villages via narrow lanes and occasionally getting out to stretch our legs. Something that cracked us up was that our GPS decided we wanted to go to the Pech Merle caves to see 27,000 year old paintings even though we requested a different destination.

A month before making this trip I tried to reserve tickets for a guided tour of the caves. I was unsuccessful. And then after arriving in Paris I tried again, but only seemed to secure tickets, because two, and then four days after I purchased tickets, they didn't arrive in my email. Imagine my surprise when GPS decided to direct us to Pech Merle anyway. Crazy! All the same, we enjoyed walking along and reading the European human history timeline.