Blogs from Domme, Aquitaine, France, Europe

Geo: 44.8398, 1.14208 Woke up to a beautiful sunny day, so we headed for the Dordogne River to book a kayak. We hired two person kayaks and entered the river upstream from La Roque Gageac. We had one and three quarter hours to paddle nine kilometres to Chateau des Milandes, where we were to be picked up by van and taken back to our car. The next pick up was some two hours later and we wanted to visit Castle Beynac in the afternoon. The kayak trip was luckily downstream, although the river is not fast moving. During the paddle, we passed five castles/chateau, and the kayak trip was definitely one of the highlights of the holiday. The river water was warm and the slow journey enabled lot of photo opportunities. They gave us a sealed ... read more

Geo: 45.3397, 1.3647 This morning we visited Rouffignac Cave (also known as the Cave of the Hundred Mammoths) in the Dordogne region. The cave contains over 250 engravings and cave paintings, and is accessed via an electric engine train that drives around 2 kilometres into the cave. The Rouffignac cave was already mentioned in 1575 by Francois de Belleforst, where in his Cosmographie Universelle he cites "paintings and animal traces" in the cave. It was only in 1956 that two prehistorians from the Pyrenees rediscovered and confirmed the cave art. During the Second World War the cave had served as a hide-out for the French Resistance. The artistic representations in the cave were mainly executed as engravings or black contour drawings. The animal representations can be subdivided into:- 158 mammoths, 28 bisons, 15 horses, 12 ibex ... read more

Geo: 44.7995, 1.61835 This morning we travelled to visit the cliff-hanging town of Rocamadour. Rocamadour is the second most visited historical site in France. The town is perched high above the River Alzou, which is a tributary of the River Dordogne, and is known especially for its historical monuments and its sanctuary of the Black Virgin Mary. For centuries it has attracted pilgrims from every country, among them kings, bishops, and nobles. Rocamadour was first mentioned in 1172 in relation to the Miracles of Our Lady of Rocamadour. The town below the complex of monastic buildings and pilgrimage churches was traditionally dependent on pilgrims through the middle ages, who had to climb the massive stone stairs on their hands and knees and then seek forgiveness from the Bishop. Pilgrims still flock to the site, as do ... read more

Geo: 44.8029, 1.21463 After leaving our "cave" in Amboise, we headed for our accommodation in the Dordogne region in the south of France. On the way we crossed the river at Montrichard and took some photos of an old castle overlooking the river. We then headed for Limoges, which is the administrative capital of the Limousin region in west-central France. Limoges was founded as Augustoritum by the Romans around 10 BC. After eating lunch, eating chocolat from a Chocolatier and walking around the city for a few hours, we headed for the Dordogne. Our accommodation here in the Dordogne is a three storey stone house on a farm, which is well fitted out for our one week stay. The owners of the farm live in another house on the farm nearby, and were very helpful in ... read more

Another glorious bright blue-sky day accompanied by a red hot sun. Hot enough for me to put suntan lotion on my shoulders before we set off on the scooter. We decided to wander a little way along the Dordogne valley, though we have ‘done’ all this area before it is still such a beautiful area especially on a beautiful day. We headed for Vitrac and then across the bridge and up to lovely medieval Domme. Was not impressed when riding up the winding road to the hilltop town to have a white van man so close behind I thought I was sitting on his bonnet. Certainly hot enough. Quite relieved when we came to a road where cars (and vans) were banned so we took it ! That is the beauty of a scooter, we can ... read more