Castlenaud-La-Chapelles

This is really a Fairytale land of knights and castles. The scenery is dramatic. The Dordogne River cuts the valley into a deep chasm with the cliffs rising steeply on either side, dotted with Medieval Castle Keeps on their promontories and troglodyte cave dwellings along the rock faces. We hiked up the side of a cliff to go into one of these dwellings. It was fascinating. We visited a Medieval castle that our area is named for, Castelnaud-La-Chapelle, a key player in the hundred years war. The castle had winding stone staircases and teetering tower walls. it is complete with 3 giant catapaults, chainmail and suits of armour, and and armoury full of crossbows, lances, canons and bows.

The bed and breakfast is lovely, the owners are American from California. They have some excellent insights into the french culture being foreigners themselves. They say the thing that attracts them here besides the dramatic beauty of the countryside, is that the french understand when it is time to stop working and enjoy themselves. the B&B itself is an old stone farmhouse, our room was originally a dirt floor barn, the stone walls are still exposed. its very charming. the feed us a large breakfast (huge by french standards) of baguettes, croissants, jam, fruit, (strawberries with creme fraiche) yogurt, coffee. And there is a lovely warm pool. I will be sad to leave this place. But not too sad for we are off to Barcelona!

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