Today we awoke, refreshed, to another beautiful day in Dordogne. We had a sumptuous breakfast, prepared by Francoise, consisting of hard boiled egg with cheese, freshly squeezed orange juice, bread with home-made preserves, carrot cake, creme caramel and coffee. Mmmm!
I had a very successful conversation with Jean-Claude et Francoise. The outdoor market doesn't start for 2 weeks. Their Lab, Stiki, brings veggies and eggs from a neighbor to them each morning by carrying a plastic bag in her mouth. The laundry facilities? Madame will wash and dry all of our dirty laundry. They also advised us on the short walk to the chateau and where to go for the best place with a view for a picnic lunch.
Our first stop of the day was to Sarlat to put gas in the car and visit a bank ATM. Then off we went, back to the village of Beynac, parked the car and set off on our walk to the Chateau de Beynac, one of the most imposing in France. The chateau was the setting of the 1998 movie "The Messenger: the Story of Joan of Arc." Walking to the chateau was circuitous and steep! During the Hundred Years' War, it was a stronghold for the French. Like most chateaux, Beynac is sparsely furnished although there were two typical rooms that you could look at but not enter. It's the views that make this chateau so breathtaking! This is a cliff-clinging chateau 500 feet above the Dordogne River and the awesome vistas of the Dordogne countryside.
After our walk DOWN the steep path, we strolled a bit around the medieval village
and then returned to the car. We drove along the Dordogne to La Roque where we bought some sandwiches and drove UP to the esplanade in the village of Domme on the other side of the Dordogne. There we had our picnic lunch and gawked some more at the gorgeous vistas. After a coffee and a chat with Mark who was getting Global service for Bea's iPhone, we headed back to Petite Versailles for a rest before our evening activities. Imagine my glee at seeing all of our laundry for the past 10 days, on our bed, washed, dried, folded and sorted!!!
After a relaxing respite organizing, napping and reading (guess who did which!), we drove back down down to the village center to The Hotel de Chateau for dinner. Truly, we're not sure which was better: the food or the meaningful conversation! We enjoyed traditional duck confit, omelette with mushrooms, steak hache, salads de gesies d'oie confit and saussicot avec champignons. We closed the place!!! But we were practically the only diners!!
Back at Petite Versailles we met some new guests, also from America, here also with the recommendation of Rick Steves. Hallelujah for Rick and Winnie!!
No comments:
Post a Comment