Dommes

Philip III "the Bold" founded Dommes in 1261 as a defensive outpost. It grew into a bastide, a hill-top fortress/village, was contested in the Hundred Years' War, also in the Wars of Religion, served as a holding pen for Templar knights on trial, then declined for the next half millennium. Today it has the distinction of having two tourist trains and also some great views of the valley below. Also a pretty place.

Entry gates, another narrow squeeze that we wouldn't
have attempted in an RV

Also, parking was difficile...tres difficile

Helpful map of the bastide

Among the oldest buildings in town

Market hall; not that old really

Church; note bell wall, not tower

Very interesting vaulting

Priestly vestments on display

The view

Us, there

Men doing what men must do

Alley scene

Dommes is on the Camino Santiago; there are so
many variants, there are hardly any places in western
France that aren't; ever glad we did the Portuguese
version, part of it

Hotel de Ville; 13th century

Interesting artisan shops

Sic transit, Gloria; the Knights Templar would be so proud to know
there is a pizzeria named for them

The Tours gate dates from the founding of the place,
a good example of Medieval military architecture

Note much left in the way of towers

Street scene

Time to squeeze through La Porte des Tours and
return to Sarlat

Castelnaud

Across the river from Beynac-et-Cazenac was its rival, Castelnaud: these were Medieval fortresses, of Hundred Years' War vintage, Castelnaud favoring the Plantagenets, Beynac the French. The river was dotted with these structures, glowering at and occasionally battling each other. Thus, the chateaux of the Dordogne are a very different thing, and vintage, from chateaux of the Loire, the more elegant, famous, and younger affairs. We drove most of the way up the hill to Castelnaud, then walked to the foot of the castle, snapped some pix, and proceeded on.  

Approaching Castelnaud, en pied

In addition to the dress-up shoppes, there are weaponry shoppes
and a full-scale museum of Medieval warfare

No English long-bows...

Street scene

It's all privately owned...

At the foot of the castle

Valley view

It's that time of year when no kids are in the classrooms--
they're all on field trips...and this is what is left behind
before the final summit assault at Castelnaud

Seemed out of place near the fortress, but a nice
sign anyway

Appropriate dining furniture for a Medieval
warfare restaurant

Parthian shot

The contested river

Now a scenic and recreation area

Chateau Des Milandes

At the height of her several careers, Josephine Baker lived at the Chateau des Milandes in the Dordogne. There, mostly, she raised her twelve adopted children, war orphans of various races and nationalities. Our path took us near the chateau, and we stopped for a brief outside look. There are Josephine Baker sites, monuments, and museums all over the Dordogne, and it appears that she is most revered here, apart from Paris. She was brought to the Pantheon earlier this year, only the 6th woman so honored, and the first of African descent. The parking lot at Milandes was jammed even on a weekday.

Beynac-et-Cazenac

After being holed-up for several days, we ventured out June 21st for a day of le plus beaux villages in the vicinity, eventually doing Beynac-et-Cazenac, Chateau Milandes, Chateau Castelnaud, and Domme; plus a drive-through of La Rogue Gageac. Each deserving a brief post.

Beynac-et-Cazenac

We didn't feel like the climb up to the chateau

Everything's up to date in Beynac-et-Cazenac

"Je suis un bucheron et je vais bien"

The Dordogne at Beynac-et-Cazenac

Uptown

Not quite ripe for the pickin'

Cruising the Dordogne; we did this several years ago from La Rogue
Gageac

In this part of France, there are always a couple chateaux or villages
in view

Attic ventilation

You know you're in France when...

View from across the river

Duo Does Dordogne

June 15 we saw Rebecca and Penelope off to the Gare du Nord and the Eurostar to London, finished packing and cleaning the apartment, then took the RER to CDG to pick up our rental car. The plan, for the next 3 weeks, was to tour the Dordgone and Lot valleys, in southwestern France, staying in Sarlat-le-Canéda, then Cahors, and then Toulouse, but spending most of our time visiting the many beaux villages in the countryside. It was a good plan, and we stuck to it mostly. But...

Vicki began having symptoms at CDG, then tested positive for COVID that afternoon. We were crushed, having been the most vaccinated, masked, and distanced people in France, and England too, nearly always eating outside, masked inside, etc. We continued on to Sarlat, where we extended our apartment reservation to more than a week to accommodate a self-quarantine. Her symptoms never got worse than a very sore throat and bad cough. No temperature and O2 normal. I didn't have any symptoms for another couple days, allowing me to visit the nearby Carrefours for a week's worth of groceries and other necessities. And my symptoms were very mild, the worst mainly waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. It never did. But I tested positive too eventually. We hunkered down, and, other than being sick, and concerned, enjoyed several days completely off. The main disappointment was that Rebecca and Penelope also tested positive and lost their Harry Potter visit reservations; but they recovered quickly enough to make the rest of their London visit worthwhile. And Jeremy never was infected. 

Eventually, we altered our outings accordingly, some days staying in, avoiding people, some days going out to the villages that most interested us but still staying outside, masked, etc. Masked even at the outdoor markets we got to. In any case, I'll be blogging about all the visits, and beaux villages, and Sarlat and Cahors, in due course. 

I never, ever, in my entire life, thought I'd be driving a Citroen;
but I did; it was fine; and French roads, compared with the ones
across the Channel, were a joy

For a pit stop before Sarlat, we stopped in pretty
Salignac--not officially one of the beaux villages,
but beau enough for me--and had a nosy; most
everything I saw 14th century

Inside the parish church

Hall near the abbey

Looking up toward the chateau

Thus; we proceeded on