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Yesterday we left Bordeaux and travelled to Sarlat-la-Caneda via Oradour-sur-Glane. Oradour-sur-Glane was a small French town that was massacred by the Germans in 1944. An SS detachment surrounded the town and moved in as part of a campaign “of terror” to scare the Resistance that were prevalent in neighbouring towns. The residents of Oradour itself were largely non-political and had not carried out any activities that would attract the wrath of the occupying Germans. For this reason, the residents of the town willingly obeyed the German soldiers when they separated the men from the women and children, taking the men to the town square and the women and children to the church. The townsfolk presumed that as they had done nothing wrong they would not face any real harm.
The men were forced into barns where they were gunned down, while several hundred women and children were herded into a church where a bomb was detonated. Those who tried to escape through the windows were shot before the building was set on fire. Two women and a baby escaped through a church window, however only one woman survived her injuries. I think about five other men survived together with a small
Jewish family.
Since the massacre the entire village has been left untouched. The Germans burnt out and destroyed the rest of the village so you walk through an eerily quiet town of ruins, complete with cars still parked in the street and sewing machines left in buildings. You are able to walk through the church where the women and children were killed, the remnants of a melted church bell are left lying on the floor. In many of the buildings down the street you can still see the bullet holes are in the walls.
I was not able to look at the sites where the men were killed as Dad got too depressed and had to leave. A new Oradour-sur-Glane was built right next door to the original town, but in order to mourn the massacre there were strict laws imposed for some time, such as no flowers in the town and the streets were not to be named. The town was to be in perpetual state of mourning. These laws were later lifted and the town has since grown, particularly with the influx of tourists given it’s sad history.
Later that night we arrived in Sarlat-la-Caneda. We needed to
Le Mont Dore 026
Our hotel - 14th century guard house be in Sarlat prior to 6pm so of course anything that could go wrong did. Our lunch at a local Tabac was delayed by about 2hrs because of Dad’s steak, so Dad went apopletic. We then had to deal with the dueling Sat Navs which were telling us to go in opposite directions. We eventually turned the Aussie one off not only because he was sending us on wild goose chases, but also because it did not recognize the street our hotel was located on. As soon as we turned off the Aussie sat nav the French version decided to take us on the “scenic route”. OMG, we were driving along the cliffs of France on streets that were almost narrower than our car. We then came upon a car towing another car on these winding mountain roads so our trip was delayed even more!!!
We did eventually made it on time to our 14th century hotel which once formed the corner tower of the old medieval wall that surrounded the town. AMAZING. I am in a a pretty small room, but it’s so quaint that I can’t complain, particularly as I have an ace bidet that washes my
fess quite well. Mum and Dad have a bodgey bathroom light and every time they turn it on they take out the power for the whole floor! Hilarious.
Sarlat is another small walled town that is a maze of small lanes and road. WE LOVE IT! On our first night we had dinner at this beautiful little restaurant and at the end they invited us to visit their 11th century cave! Yes, there was a real live secret passage that went down to an underground creek bed. It’s amazing that such gems are tucked away within a restaurant! Dad and I have now decided that we were now going to judge all restaurants on whether they had a cave. No cave, no eat.
Today we drove about 15 minutes to Les Eyzies de Tayac. This is a small town in the middle of the forest that is strangely reminiscent of Halls Gap, but not… The main street is dominated by an imposing cliff face that is punctured by many holes where cro-magnon men once lived. We visited the Musee National de Prehistoire where we saw the biggest elk ever ( I think I came up to it’s knee).
Dad was mesmerized and every time I lost him I knew I could go back to the elk and find him. The museum, as it’s name suggests, displays prehistoric relics such as cro-magnon bones, mammoth skeletons and my favourite, a fluffy rhino! The museum itself is built high on the mountain into a cliff wall, using part of an old chateau and troglodyte residents. It’s an amazing sight to behold and the photos can’t capture its immensity.
We had lunch by the river which was very picturesque. We then had a quick view of a troglodyte village before setting off on our booked tour of Grotte de Pont de Gaume, the only cave in the world still open to the public that has prehistoric, polychrome paintings. Apparently I was very lucky to get my booking through as they turn around thousands of people a day. They only take 100 people a day and 10 people per tour. There is only one English tour per day.
We had a lovely English family with us on our tour, however that did not stop Dad from talking French to them. Tres embarrassing. The paintings in the cave are amazing and our
guide spoke with so much passion which added so much more to the experience. It’s amazing the ability the cro-magnon man had 14,000 years ago, employing techniques that we thought weren’t invented until 400 years ago by the Italians. I could go on forever about this site so I might leave it until I get back to you guys. Hopefully I’ll remember.
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