Sarlat in Perigord Noir, Caves du Roc de Cazelle and Gouffre de Proumeyssac

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This is one of those places where time seems to have stood still. You get to walk around a real medieval city because it has literally been left unchanged since the 13th Century. It has the usual history of this South West region of France: Gallo Roman, then Catholic Rome ruled it and put in monasteries and bishops etc, it faced a few religious wars and invasions (Hundred Year war and the Normans) then became prosperous with Royalty moving in. It went into a decline because it was just too far from anything important until being 're-discovered' and restored to its former glory (for the purposes of tourism) just 30 years ago.

The town itself is enclosed in a defending wall like many French towns and is an array of skinny wiggly streets and passageways. There are so many magnificent old facades and stone roofs and cobbled pathways that it is easy to lose yourself in the history of it all. To access our apartment for example, first you enter an enormous door (from a plaza) then walk down a crowded little alleyway to the actual building, then open another heavy old door before walking (in almost pitch black) the 3 flights of the narrow circular wooden stairway, before opening a small side door revealing a little wooden roofed landing that, eventually, leads to the apartment. Worth it but, the view of the main square is unbelievable.

We didn't eat out much here because we had our own kitchen but the regional specialties are fois gras (a kind of pate made from the liver of a force-fed goose or an over fed duck) and Confit de Canard (pieces of duck in a fatty mix). I made that sound pretty gross.

The thing I like about France is that whenever you travel, the food is always different from town to town. Even if those towns are just hours apart. There is always something unique to that particular region and it's surprising how you actually can't buy those specialties in other parts of France (unless they are hugely successful dishes like Boeuf Bourgiugnon or things like creme de marron which you can buy in any supermarket.) It's always easy to see what you should try in each town as it is virtually the only thing you can buy (with variations of it) in the restaurants. For example, In Ile de Re, you can get Mussels in white wine and chips (called Moule-frites) and lots and lots of Oysters, salted caramels and gallette (flat, round biscuity cake). In Bordeaux, you get the canele (little round moulded cakes with custard) In Sarlat you can get fois gras and duck, In Carcassonne you can get Cassoulet but you can't get cassoulet in ile de Re or Moule Frites in Sarlat. This is very different from Australia or England where you can get most dishes anywhere, depending on the restaurant rather than the region you're in. Probably if we lived in one region we would be bored due to being spoilt for choice in Aus, but it's really nice during this trip to see "What's unique?" to each place we visit. As an aside, there's also a lot more organic here (called 'bio') that is also local and fresh, even in the supermarkets or local markets.

We stayed a few days in Sarlat so also visited a few sites around town like the Gouffre de Proumeyssac (a huge cavern full or stalagmites and tites and crystal ponds). And also The 'Caves du Roc de Cazelle' (Caves in a rock face: a great little walking exhibit showing the history of the local caves from pre-history (Lascaux with the famous cave paintings of bison is just half an hour drive from here), then medieval fortresses built out from the rockface right through to the 1960s which is the last time the caves were inhabited. It's a pretty cool way to spend an afternoon.

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Photos

Les Eyzies grotte (cave)
Prehistoric and medieval cave