Bordeaux Train Station
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44°49’35.5008″N, 0°33’22.3488″W

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Paris Montparnasse Train Station
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48°50’27.1176″N, 2°19’12.1404″E

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Hotel Max Paris 14
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48°49’40.6452″N, 2°19’47.6976″E

Today was a pretty easy day. Our train to Paris was not until 12:00 noon & our hotel was right across the street from the station.

We went to the restaurant next door for a light breakfast & then back to our room to finish packing & relax for awhile.

Photo above – the Bordeaux Blogger (limited edition prints are available to order)    🙂

Thankfully the weather was much better today. Although it really doesn’t matter much to us because we won’t be driving anymore.

Photo above  – Hall 1 Bordeaux Station

When we enter a train station in a city in France we really notice the difference from home. These stations are happening places… as busy as most airports but without all the security barriers. However,  it’s not uncommon to see groups of 2-3 policemen walking through the station with machine guns & body armour. It’s a bit unsettling but people seem to be used to their presence. I don’t think I’ll be asking them if they would pose for a photo for my blog.

Our train departed right on time. This particular train was configured differently than the others we have taken. Seats are set up as 3 together, the aisle & then singles on the opposite side. It was also a double decker & very long. It was fast & smooth but because of the seating arrangement it was not as comfortable as the others we have taken.

We arrived at Montparnasse Station just after 2:30 & took the metro to the Alesia stop just a couple of blocks from our hotel.

Photo above  – Hotel Max

This is a nice hotel. The bedroom & bathroom are small but modern, comfortable & clean. It’s in a great neighbourhood location with shops & restaurants & public transit.

Photo above  – the view of “our” neighbourhood from our hotel room window. We really like staying in these small neighbourhood hotels. It gives you a sense of what it’s like to actually live in the area. There is a boulangerie (bakery) across the street & a fruit & vegetable store on the opposite street. Also within a few steps is a beauty salon, a wine store, a convenience store & a realtor. What else does anyone need?

After resting for a while Emily came to see us & we went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant just a block from our hotel. She had lots to tells us about her first few weeks of starting to live in Paris.

Photo above – Catherine & Emily catching up over a cup of tea after dinner.

Tomorrow we will explore a bit more of Paris with Emily.

Cheers!

Jardins du Sarlat
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44°53’40.1964″N, 1°13’5.0016″E

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Avis Car Rental Bordeaux Train Station
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44°49’24.5388″N, 0°33’12.7692″W

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Ibis Hotel Bordeaux Train Station
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44°49’35.1120″N, 0°33’24.5376″W

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La Taverne du Midi Bordeaux Train Station
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44°49’36.0840″N, 0°33’23.9904″W

Today we travelled back to Bordeaux from Sarlat. It was a 3 1/2 hour drive. About 1/2 the time was on secondary roads & the other half on freeways.

We were sad to say goodbye to our b&b  hosts Wendy & David in Sarlat.  They were fun people to be with. We also enjoyed visits from their cat Tiggy. A very friendly female that Catherine would have loved to take home with her.

We saw Tiggy sitting in the doorway looking out over the front step. Wendy said the cat often sat like that & it reminded her of T. S. Eliot’s poem “Practical Cats” which the play “Cats” is based on.

I managed to catch a photo of Tiggy in her familiar pose & then turned it into a “watercolour”.  Wendy loved it so much that she is going to get it printed & framed.

Photo above  – Tiggy contemplates her morning.

All of the GPS locations at the beginning of the blog look like we did a lot today but we really didn’t.

Sarlat to Bordeaux was the biggest portion of our trip. The Avis car rental depot is across the street from the “backside” of Bordeaux Train Station.

The Ibis Hotel is across the street from the front of the train station & the restaurant we had dinner at tonight is right beside our hotel. So, all told, we probably took 10 minutes to walk from the Avis depot to our hotel & 1 minute from our hotel to the restaurant.

The drive back to Bordeaux was mostly uneventful except that it rained pretty hard while we were on the freeway. The speed limit on a major portion of the freeway trip was 130 km/hr but I didn’t have the nerve to get up to that speed in such a small car & especially during a rainstorm.

We returned the car to Avis at 12:30, well before our 2:00pm due time. In total we have driven Opie the Opal 773 kilometers.  

I actually thought we had driven further but I guess that’s because several of the narrow roads we were on were “white knuckle” adventures.  Oh, & I almost forgot that Opie actually had a 15 kilometer piggyback ride on a tow truck when we had our flat tire.  It’s hard to believe that the tow truck ride was only 15 km. It was so hair raising that it felt like 50 or even 100km!

Good news from Avis – they will refund the cost of the tire to us! Maybe I should have asked them to refund a day’s rental fee as well seeing how that whole misadventure took about 5 hours. But, I think I won’t push my luck on that one.

Photo above – Bordeaux train station. Our Ibis hotel is right across the road from it. That will make tomorrow a lot easier.

Photo above  –  our hotel.  Very reasonable price & clean & comfy.

Photo above  –  La Taverne du Midi.  Our “favourite” restaurant in Bordeaux!  We have eaten here 3 times in the last 10 days. The service & the food is great & the prices are very reasonable. Breakfast here tomorrow morning.

Our train to Paris tomorrow leaves at noon so we will have an easy morning. Time for lots of coffee & maybe 2 croissants!

Cheers!

Jardins du Sarlat
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44°53’40.1964″N, 1°13’5.0016″E

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La Roque St. Christophe
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44°59’17.7468″N, 1°4’13.8180″E

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Lascaux Cave Paintings Exhibition
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45°3’30.0096″N, 1°10’10.2432″E

Today we went back on the road again. Our first stop was to visit La Roque St. Christophe, a 30 minute drive from Sarlat. It is a natural limestone cavity about 80 meters above the road surface & one kilometer long. 

Photo above – copied from the internet.

Archaeologists determined that this area was occupied by humans as early as 55,000 years ago & were developed during the middle ages as small cities that offered excellent protection from predator animals & human enemies.

Photo above  – Catherine getting ready to pass through one of the short tunnels linking the ledges together.

Photo above – the view from the beginning of the “community”. Thank goodness there was a substantial railing all along the outside edge. But it was still all I could do to grab this photo quickly & head back towards the inside. I was having quite a time with my vertigo.

Photo above  – the tour started with a model of what the area must have looked like in its prime – based on what remains & what archaeologists have discovered. I guess you could call this one of the original high rise communities.

Photo above  – one of the inlets was set up as a church.

Photo above  – this church even had a pulpit that the priest would preach from!

Photo above  – the display even included some of the machines built to lift items from the ground below.

Photo above – this inlet depicts an area where pottery was made.  There were also sections that present a carpentry shop, a blacksmith shop & areas where food was stored.

There were 2 busloads of public school students touring the area while we were there. The kids were very well behaved but it made me wonder, if it feels this crowded on a rainy, chilly day in late September, I certainly wouldn’t want to be here during the peak season.

All in all it was a very interesting place – even with my vertigo & I am glad we got to see it.

Back on the road again, on our way to Lascaux Cave Paintings Exhibition, which was about another 30-minute drive. 

Photo above  – this area is called Lascaux IV, which was opened to the public in late 2016.  It is a museum/exhibit/replica of all of the painted areas of the original caves.

The original caves are nearby & were discovered in 1940 by a group of young men & their dog. Archaeologists have documented 6,000 figures in 600 paintings on the cave walls. The paintings are estimated to have been done about 17,000 years ago.  There are figures of animals, humans & abstract symbols painted in red, yellow & black colours. The colours were made from mineral pigments.

Photo above  – some of the paintings in the re-created caves.

The original caves were closed to the public in 1963 because the walls were starting to grow mold & fungus generated by moisture & carbon dioxide from the breath of over 1,200 visitors a day.  Authorities were concerned that the paintings would be ruined forever if something wasn’t done but it was also recognized that people wanted to visit the site, see the paintings & learn more.

The site had various exhibits & displays until this facility was created. It is truly amazing. All of the caves were 3D scanned & the location of all paintings was incorporated into the 3D scans.  Next, the caves & their paintings were replicated to be an almost exact copy of the real ones.

When you are on the tour it’s easy to imagine that you are in the real caves. It is dark & the temperature is much lower than outside. Each person is given an audio guide device that automatically senses where you are & then provides a commentary of what you are looking at.

Photo above – after touring the caves you go to an interpretive center where you can view cut-aways of replicated sections of the caves, learn more about the wall & ceiling paintings. 

This is an outstanding facility but it’s easy to become overwhelmed with details. So, if you go, you should be well rested & be prepared to absorb a lot of information in a relatively short time.

Photo above  – one of the main corridors leading from the recreated caves to the interpretive center. There are also several small theatres in the facility that give brief video presentations about the caves & the efforts made to protect & preserve them since their discovery.

We drove back to Sarlat & had a brief rest before going to dinner. We went to Chez Marcel,  a small place recommended by our hosts.

Photo above – our last night in Sarlat with a wonderful glass of wine & very tasty food.

Photo above  – the market square – very empty compared to the day before.

Photo above – the truffle museum at the edge of the square. We missed visiting this one. Oh well, perhaps on another trip. We would certainly be happy to come back to Sarlat again. 

Tomorrow we have a 3 1/2 hour drive back to Bordeaux to return our rental car. We will stay overnight near the train station & then take a train to Paris on Saturday afternoon.

Cheers!

Jardins du Sarlat
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44°53’40.1964″N, 1°13’5.0016″E

Today we thought we would give our car a rest & spend some more time exploring Sarlat.

Our b&b hosts suggested that we check out the Wednesday outdoor market in the center square of the town’s historic district. They cautioned us that it would be pretty busy & crowded & they weren’t wrong.

Photo above – the bronze statue in the foreground is of a young man sitting on the wall without a worry in the world looking at the plaza below.

The outdoor market was very crowded but everyone was in good spirits & it was easy to move around from stall to stall & to stop & shop when you wanted to without feeling pushed. If it’s this busy near the end of September it must be nuts in July & August!

Most of the stalls were fresh food vendors with lots of locals picking up their meat, vegetables, cheese & bread. Some vendors were also selling preserves.

Photo above – a few vendors were selling BIG cans of cassoulet. They were truly family size! I wonder if they sell spam in those size cans? Would be great to have a few cases of each stored in the basement at home as provisions in case of another pandemic or an apocalypse.

The side streets focused more on items that tourists would be most interested in. Catherine enjoyed looking at the scarves & linens & even made a few purchases.

Photo above – while Catherine was shopping in the market stalls I went & explored some of the quiet side streets. We just love this architecture & are so impressed at how France has done such an outstanding job preserving it.

Photo above  – I’ve been having fun learning to use some of the photo editing software that comes with this phone. It’s helped me improve my drawing skills (wink, wink). What do you think?

Photo above – as we explored the side streets it was easy to see that most of these places were private residences & also probably divided up into small apartments & short term rentals because several entrances had 2 or more combination lock boxes for access keys.  It would be interesting to get a closer look at the inside of some of these places.

We had a light lunch at a nearby cafe & then walked back to our b&b for a rest.

Photo above – we pass by this house each time we are walking from our b&b to the town center. It’s obviously much newer than most others in this neighborhood, but the architect did a great job in honouring the heritage of the surrounding buildings.

Early in the evening we had an excellent dinner at an Indian restaurant. Tomorrow we’re back in the car & on the road to see some more sights.

Cheers!

Jardins du Sarlat
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44°53’40.1964″N, 1°13’5.0016″E

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Beynac-et-Cazenac
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44°50’24.3060″N, 1°8’25.9584″E

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Castelnaud-la-Chappelle
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44°48’47.2788″N, 1°9’10.6632″E

Today, to say the least, was a very interesting day.

We started out by driving about 20 minutes from Sarlat to visit Beynac-et-Cazenac. This village is built on a hillside beside the Dordogne River. There is an impressive chateau high up on the hilltop.

Photo above  – Chateau de Beynac, built 9 centuries ago.

The chateau overlooks the river & the valley below. Part of the movie “Chocolat” was filmed there in year 2000 & another movie “The Last Duel”, directed by Ridley Scott, was filmed there in 2021.

Photo above – the Dordogne River below the chateau.

People can charter boats on this river, similar to our adventure a few days ago on the Charente. Looks very peaceful & inviting. I’ll bookmark this info in consideration of our plans for next year. Another interesting fact about this river – it was a border between France & England during the 100 Year’s War. 

Photo above  – the streets in this village were very steep. Thankfully several of them didn’t allow cars. We walked around the village for awhile admiring the architecture & looking in the shop windows. The walk up to the chateau was pretty far so we decided to take a pass & move on to our next destination.

Next, we were going to visit Chateau des Milandes, former home of Josephine Baker, a famous entertainer in France & member of the French Resistance during WWII.  Unfortunately,  we never made it there.

We stopped in Castelnaud-la-Chappelle for a bit & when we started to drive away we had a flat tire. Fortunately, there was a safe place to pull off. When we got parked I checked the trunk for a spare tire but there was none. I called Avis, explained what happened, told them where we were & asked for assistance. They said they would send a repair vehicle to us right away.

Photo above – yep, it’s flat – at least on the bottom!

The repair vehicle driver called me about an hour later & asked where we were. He didn’t speak English so it was a challenge communicating but we finally figured out that Avis had sent him to another town!  We gave him a new set of directions along with our GPS coordinates & he finally found us.

Photo above  – Opie gets a piggyback ride to Sarlat.

The truck driver told us he could not repair the tire at this location so he loaded it on the truck. We rode in the tow truck with the driver down a steep & very curvy road to the tire repair shop in Sarlat.

I think our driver was aspiring to take Daniel Ricardo’s place on the Red Bull F1 team. He was in a hurry to get to Sarlat! It was an exciting ride, to say the least. Cath was less than thrilled & was glad that our wills were up to date.

All said & done, nobody got hurt & no other damage to the car except for a new tire & our bank account being €164.00 lighter.

This was about a 5 hour event so that pretty much ended our sightseeing for the day.

Photo above – back in the main square in Sarlat to find a restaurant for dinner.

After resting for a while at our b&b we walked back to the historic district,  found a nice restaurant, ordered a bottle of wine & reflected on the events of the day.

Tomorrow should be better – fingers crossed!

Cheers!