Blogs from Aquitaine, France, Europe - page 4

We've just spent three days crossing the Périgord. We stayed in Les Eyzies, where we visited the Font de Gaume, a cave with marvellous prehistoric wall paintings. It's the only French cave with multicoloured wall paintings you can still visit. (Lascaux, for example, is out of bounds - but they've built an exact replica of it that you can explore!) We were with a small group and led by a really enthusiastic man. He gave the tour in French, but every once in a while tossed and English word or two at us ("bison", "engraving", "don't touch"). The next day we stopped in Sarlat, a very beautiful town full of buildings glowing with the local golden stone. Also full of tourists - especially since we were there on market day. And what a market! Lots of ... read more

We left our friend Marie-Laure and her family yesterday morning, to return to the route of France en velo. It was a long day through oak-studded farmland. We landed in a quirky chambre d'hotes run by an English couple, Two French cyclists were also staying there, and it was fun to hear about their approach to touring (i.e. much less planned than ours!) Today we followed the Vienne river south, getting closer to the Perigord (aka Dordogne) area. Definitely more English-speakers here. A Brit in a right-hand-drive car stopped by me today and asked hopefully "Bancomat?" (French for ATM). Désolé, monsieur I replied. We stopped along the way to take a look at a ruined castle that once dominated a slow-flowing stretch of the Vienne. Tonight we're staying in a family-run hotel in Rochechouart. The chateau, ... read more

On my trip to Bordeaux in 2019, I heard, constantly, how Bordeaux is all about tradition and rules. They also had to bad mouth Napa Valley in just about every presentation or tasting. Interestingly, when in Napa, nobody ever mentions France or Bordeaux. I found this highly irritating, and even brought it up to our very knowledgeable guides. So, try to figure this out! Food and Wine: As climate change continues to affect the French winemaking industry, the Bordeaux wines we've come to know and love may be different, but at least the region is actively preparing for its survival. In 2019, perhaps the world's best-known wine region url=https://www.foodandwine.com/wine/bourdeax-grape-varieties-allowed-cl... read more

From Barcelona, we drove through snow, staying halfway between Barcelona and Bordeaux at the cheapest place we could find for which we could pay online, which was a high school/hostel, and finally fell into the embrace of our wonderful friends in Bordeaux, who had a business phone that could call anywhere in the world. I spent nearly an hour on hold with Delta (not Air France through whom we had purchased the tickets). The US/Delta ticket agent was GREAT...his brother had recently been robbed in Rome, apparently with physical issues, so he was sympathetic and he found us fares that did NOT include the $300 per ticket change fees. The cheapest hotel (80 euros for one bed, toilets and showers down the hall) we could find was near DeGaulle airport, so far, so good, as long ... read more

Got away from the chateau around 10am heading to Puy L’Eveque for an overnight. 5hr drive today through beautiful countryside, chose no freeways just windy country roads and pretty villages, arriving in Puy L’Eveque around 3pm which gave us plenty of time to explore the small town situated on The Lot….very pretty and we stayed in a very old B&B run by a nice English couple. A beautiful town that should be visited more. All pics are on previous post. Thursday left Puy L’eveque around 10am and drove around 3hrs Castillon la Bataille….we decided not to do freeways….just the whole way on country roads through beautiful villages…which you do not see on the freeways…..it was fantastic….watching the changing landscape from the Langguedoc-Roussillon region…which is quite rocky and sparse to rich soils and lots of farming of ... read more