More Sarlat

We didn't see as much of Sarlat as we would have liked. COVID and the heat wave were powerful inhibitors. But we did get back for a Saturday market and also an evening stroll. But after 10 days it was time to proceed on.

Did you know that 95% of foie gras now is duck, not goose?
Duck, duck, not goose

Me with other famous sculpture; pay no attention to the woman behind 
the wall

Cathedral tower and episcopal palace next door;
17th century, but Renaissance-looking, we thought

Sarlat humor

Bow view of cathedral 

The Lantern of the Dead; unique in France

Love the visual effect of the flying buttresses

Other side

They call it, erroneously, an "Americano," but it
still has all the ingredients, in correct proportions,
of a Negroni; it takes so little to make me happy

Illuminated Sarlat

Something we didn't see in previous visits; 

something you don't often get to see when in a camper

Pretty place, Sarlat, by any light

Martel

Sometimes you drive through a place and just have to stop for a closer look. So it was with Martel, on the way back to Sarlat. According to tradition, it was founded by Charles Martel, of Tours/Poitiers fame (732), but that was not the attraction. Rather, it was the church and the Medieval center. Just a few pix.

Side note: what the rest of the world calls the Battle of Tours (732), the French call the Battle of Poitiers, often characterized as a glorious victory for Charles and Christian Europe over the invading Moors. The battlefield is thought to have been somewhere between Tours and Poitiers. The Battle of Poitiers, as the rest of the world knows it (1356), was not one of France's glorious victories: their King, John, was actually captured by the Black Prince and taken hostage to England. Further side note: according to the Moors, what Charles defeated in 732 was merely a raid or reconnaissance-in-force. Indeed it would take another seven and a half centuries of fighting to extricate all the Moors from Europe. 

PS. As it happens, Martel just this year became a member of les beaux villages de France!

The church of St. Maur

Medieval Martel scenes 

A pizza vending machine; we've seen these before
in France; and only in France

A fine Medieval tower; ignore the spider that ate
Cleveland: the French have some unusual ideas about
public sculpture and its placement

As we got back to Sarlat, there was a fine double rainbow, a reminder
of the day's earlier excitement

Seeing Rouge At Collonges-La-Rouge

In clearing weather, we proceeded on to Collonges-la-Rouge, so-called because everything in it is constructed from striking red sandstone blocks. The town dates from the 9th century, has had its ups and downs, but always profited from being on the Camino, very near Rocamadour, another important pilgrimage site. Most of Collonges' buildings are late Medieval or younger. Not a hill-top fortress like many of these places, it was easy and enjoyable to just stroll its streets. Collonges-la-Rouge is where the le plus beaux villages association in France began, we read, and it is indeed a most beautiful village. Rather few of the buildings were much labeled, so my pix will be short on descriptions.

Buck up pilgrims! only 812 miles to go...across these hills...and then
the Pyrenees...and then the frying pan of central Spain...

Among several chapels

Not very helpful model

In the Chapel of the Penitents

Communal building

Communal oven

In another chapel

Our home in Dallas, way back long ago, and in
Missoula, featured a country French dining table and
chairs--now long sold--so we looked longingly
at these scores of beautiful chairs

Chateau

Ramparts

Lodging for pilgrims; and not cheap, either--the Camino is nowadays
mostly a recreational sort of thing, everybody dressed in North Face or 
Patagonia attire, carrying telescoping walking sticks, drinking from
fancy "hydration" systems, guided by satnavs or apps on their phones;
one sees rather more of the budget accommodations in Spain 

Never did figure out what this structure was: 16th century Quonset
Hut-la-Rouge? Nice barrel vaulting though

Got cutlery?