La Rogue Gageac

Thus engorged, we decamped and drove on the few miles to the village of La Rogue Gageac on the Dordogne. This was aided in fact by our crack satnav Tom's finding many ingenious shortcuts across the beautiful rolling countryside, some of which may once have been intended for 4-wheeled vehicles. La Rogue Gageac is totally touristy but has a nice setting and another aire de camping cars, this one not free but not expensive. We settled in, explored the town, investigated the recreational opportunities, did a river cruise (next post), had a repast, took a hike up the cliffs, and rested. Tourism is hard work.

La Rogue Gageac, from the river, which is at this point quite wide, deep and fast;
it passes through by many such cliffs hereabouts

Walking about La Rogue Gageac

Ditto

Repast of poulet roti from the Sarlat market and white
asparagus from Cahors (I think the wine was left-over
Ribera from Spain)

Another hike

Looking down on the pretty public park and aire at La Rogue Gageac, and the
Dordogne

Part of the cliff collapsed some years back, destroying
several homes and killing three; but it's a view to die for...

The limestone apparently retains heat so well it is possible to have plants here
otherwise not possible at this latitude in France; here, walking back down to the
aire, we are emerging from a bamboo forest

The Dordogne does flood from time to time, marked on the
stones at the left of this buidling; the highest about 8 feet above
street level

Sarlat Market

We timed our visit to include Sarlat's Saturday market, said to be one of the best. It encompasses 10-12 blocks of the main drag plus half a dozen side streets, some general merchandise, but mostly food, augmented importantly by all the entrail and truffle and wine stores.

The aire de camping cars at Sarlat--overflowing into other
lots, streets...

A bit of the market

We bought our goose entrails from this nice lady, who
convinced with two generous samples

More market

Author/illustrator signing a book for Penelope

Plaque for Andre Malraux, the Minister of Culture
responsible for much of France's cultural preservation and
restoration post WWII

Ever more market; we may have over-
stimulated this economy, buying foie gras,
a bottle of Montbazillac, walnut oil, cake,
poulet roti, the book for P, some chocolate,
dinner, plus all the usual cheese, olives,
veggies, fruites, etc. One tends to force-feed
oneself in these surroundings; perhaps it is
an act of solidarity with the geese...

Le Badaud, The Onlooker

And friend

Sarlat

We drove on from the Lot to the Dordogne and Sarlat, a town where nothing much happened but which is beautiful to look at and otherwise experience. This is ground zero for duck and goose entrails, truffles, and a variety of great wines. We found the large aire de camping cars with relative ease and set forth on foot the few hundred meters to Sarlat's main drag and an afternoon and evening of exploration there.

Welcome to the Dordogne...I was singing "I left my heart, I mean, liver, in
Sarlat-la-Caneda..."

Very famous statue

The place is littered with dozens of 16th and 17th century
architectural items, beautifully restored

Thus

And thus

And thus

Cathedral interior

Lantern of Death...sort of a Plague thing

Vicki in Sarlat

We had a great 4 course dinner here

To my astonishment, she actually tried the foie gras; to my
dismay, she said she liked it and asked for more...

The Auberge Le Mirandol has its own grotto (it's next to the old city spring),
appropriately decorated...Lascaux and all the rest are very nearby

Cahors' Pont Valentre

After Alcantara, I would not normally do a bridge that has not stood the test of time and doesn't carry heavy goods vehicles. But Cahors' Pont Valentre is 14th century, it is a fortified bridge, and is said to be the most photographed bridge in France. And it was only a few hundred meters away. A fortified bridge, unlike sherry, has to do with warfare, and in this case the bridge's three towers were used for the Medievals' favorite mode of warfare, namely, throwing crap down on people (cf. any scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail that ends with "run away..."). Thus...

Standard view; not a postcard nor grabbed from the web 

Little side-stream that actually provides Cahors' drinking
water

View from the far shore

Just downstream, another dam and lock for boats

OK, it's not the Yellowstone, but you do see a Lot of fisherpersons

There's even a Federation for Personnes Who Fish a Lot (nyuk)

Nice place, but we're moving on to Sarlat

Fun At Cahors Cathedral

Cahors Cathedral was consecrated very early in the 12th century and is approximately half Romanesque and half Gothic. Fashions change. Mid-stream. We have seen worse. Said to be the first of the Aquitaine Gothics. It's the older stuff that is interesting inside, and then the sculptural program outside that is fun.

Cathedral again from the market

Another welcome model; the two rotundas are the old part

Nice old frescoes high up in the entry

The western rotunda is painted with the zodiac, or the twelve tribes or apostles,
or possibly the stoning of Stephen

Interestingly, the eastern rotunda is not painted; according to our completely
trustworthy guidebooks, these are the two largest rotundas in Christendom,
apart from Hagia Sofia; I think the relevant emphasis is on "two," as in "set"

Nice old-looking glass here and there

This is the Chapel of the Holy Coif; very rustically-painted, etc;
we are still not entirely sure what a coif is, possibly something
French;  anyway, here is one, and it's on, you can tell, because
the little red light is glowing

Out in the very nice cloister, you can see the tower and twin rotundae

Also in the cloister is this appealing sculpture of Mary as a girl

It's outside, on the north porch, above the tympanum, where things get weird, and
fun, in the sculpture program

On the archivault (?), Medieval back-end stabbing

A little bestiality maybe?

Higher up, a kiss...

Happy about something, maybe the kiss

I could have stayed and collected the whole set; it's with these
exterior secular items that you can really see what fun-loving
folks our Medieval ancestors were

But Vicki said it was time to go taste more wine

And so we moved on

Noting, finally, the Cathedral Garden (seriously), for decorating the altars, white
and blue for Mary, orange and red for the sufferings of Jesus, and yellow and gold
for the "mysteries of the Resurrection"; too bad for the Florists Guild