Sarlat Squared

Place de la Liberte is the main square in Sarlat and the place they have there weekly market.

The day started of very promising. We got up relatively early, for us (08:45) and the weather was overcast but mild (18C). We were headed for Sarlat and the Dordogne River Valley, which is about a 2 hour drive. We put the coordinates into our Tom Tom and headed out. After 2 ½ hours we were in a wonderful place of forests and farms, but no villages and our Tom Tom said we would be reaching our destination in 300 meters. The sign came into sight, Sarlat and we passed about 4 buildings and it was back into the country. We pulled over and checked our Tom Tom. This time it showed us two Sarlat’s to choose from. Obviously, we had selected the wrong one. We reprogrammed the Tom Tom and it showed “our” Sarlet was a 90 minute drive away!! Turn the car around and backtrack to the Sarlet we wanted to see. It was well worth the wait.
Sarlet became an important village under Charlemagne in the 7th Century with the establishment of a Benedictine Monastery. However, the city really prospered in the 15th to 18th centuries and many of these building are still standing today. What’s unique about these old buildings are the Lauzes Roofs. They are made from flat limestone rocks and last about 200 years. Lichen grows on the black rocks, sealing the gaps between the stones and effectively waterproofing the roof.

It was a great day, but with the detour we did not get home until 8:30pm. We had planned to go out for dinner as it was our last night before leaving for Carcassonne. But we were too tired to make the effort to clean ourselves up to go out again. So Rita put on a great dinner from the leftovers of a delicious lamb dinner she had made the night before. It was the best way to end our stay in this lovely old barn.

The next time we come through France, we will definitely spend more time in Sarlat and the beautiful Dordogne River Valley.

Rita at Old Manor House door. The door still has the original wood door from the late 1500's.

Place de Oies is a small secluded square where they have held geese auctions for centuries and still do today.

15th Century houses in a lane that is now filled with quaint cafe's

French Desert

Woke up to another misty day and decided to head for the beach to see if the weather would be better there. It was a 2 hour drive but certainly worth it as the sun appeared and it was a lovely 24C. Arcachon is in a large Bay and the whole area is fronted by a beautiful sandy beach. This area has very different scenery from anything we have seen in France. The main difference is the trees, as they are mostly pine. There are amazing forests of Ponderosa pine surrounding Arcachon and they have a lovely Pine covered walkway all along the beach area.
After having lunch at one of the many beach café’s (mussels, frits and a carafe of house Rose) and dipping our tootsies into the Atlantic, we decided it was time for some exercise. Rita had visited this area when she was 15 with a church group and remembered the famous sand dunes. Eileen from our UK office, who used to work for the French Tourist Office, also suggested we should try and include this unique natural attraction. The Dunes of Pilat are about a 10 minute drive from Arcachon, just outside of the Bay and they are massive. The dunes come right down to the ocean and stretch as far as the eye can see. The sand is incredibly fine making walking quite difficult. It took about 20 minutes for Rita and I to walk to the top of the Dunes. On the other side is a massive Pine forest, it’s an amazing sight and certainly not something you would expect to see in France. It felt like you were somewhere on the Coast of Africa.

A great day for Rita as no history involved!!!

Rita dipping her toes into the Atlantic


Rita climbing the Dunes du Pilat

Geoff and Rita at the top

Split Personality of Perigueux

Our Rick Steves Guidebook has very little of the Bordeaux region and so we relied on our friendly hosts to give us a couple of suggestions on which places to visit in the area. They recommended the city of Perigueux as it has both Gallo Roman and Medieval Renaissance sections of the city. So, with that amount of history, I had to drag Rita off to see the place. The Romans called it Vesunna and parts of the Roman wall and temple still stand from the second century AD. The Medieval section of the city has buildings from the 11th to 16th centuries. We spent most of our time in the medieval section of town and explored the narrow streets and all the shops along the way. The place has several quaint squares where the locals and tourists alike hang out, drink coffee and watch each other. Where Saint Emilion has lots of wine shops, Perigueux has lots of Fois Gras shops as this region is where all the Goose farms are located.

Rita worshipping to the Shopping Gods at Vesuna Temple

Barriere Castle Ruins

High end Fois Gras Shop

Rita practicing her shopping skills in the narrow lanes of medieval Perigueux

Saint Emilion

The first time I heard of Saint Emilion wine was from Martin Walter who managed to secure his TBC contract by supplying Saint Emilion wine to many of us within the TBC Marketing Department. We had to buy it by the case and the only way to get it over to Canada was when either Martin or I brought two bottles at a time to Canada with us. I am sure he still has quite a bit of the wine that needs to be delivered. Martin will be representing TBC for quite some time.
Saint Emilion is a beautiful ancient city with all the buildings made of the same ochre limestone and “roman” arched tile roofs. No other materials can be used within the town. The Brits made Saint Emilion a power wine region and many visit to pick up their wine direct from the wineries. This is excellent news for those of us who do not speak French as most of the locals speak English. However, the place is not cheap. The restaurants and café’s are excellent but expensive.

Unfortunately, the weather was not great. It was warm (24c) but overcast and the pictures do not do the place justice.

The new Tom Tom worked great and got us there and back without any problems. Because we are so far in the country, we have to travel mostly on what I would describe as country back roads. It’s really the best way to see the countryside and it is really fun to drive the winding, narrow roads. Fox, you would really enjoy taking your bike out for a ride here. Just have to watch out for the occasional tractor on the road doing about 30kmh.

After we got back home it was getting late so I made a fire and Rita created a wonderful tapas dinner from foods we picked up at the local village. The Saint Emilion wine was very good. However, I still remain a big fan of our Okanagan wines.

Geoff and Rita on top of Chateau du Roy

One of the many wine shops in Saint Emilion

Evening Fire with Rita

Hello - this is Rita speaking....

Thought it’s time to hear from me…..and it will not be about history, churches, old buildings and ancient cities – but it’s about us, Geoff and Rita and our trip.
After a fabulous time in Majorca (which was my request) with wonderful sunshine, nothing much to do but our little exercise routine (which by the way has fallen apart since - in lieu of ….well… churches, old buildings and ancient cities), we are in beautiful France. I am not sure why I was thinking a “refresher” in French last fall would help me to “refresh” my memory from more than 30 years ago??? Really, what was I thinking? It all looked and sounded so doable in class but reality is certainly different. When I muster up my courage to ask anyone “if they speak French”? , they reply with a chuckle…yes, of course and a little English too! OK, at least I am asking nicely…Geoff goes right into it: English???? But we are getting around, most people do speak English, at least I can pick up some words, can make a bit of sense of the menus or some of the street signs. I am a bit disappointed by the culinary side so far, maybe we have not been in the right places OR I believe this is more likely, the French do have their main meal at lunchtime. Lunch – that’s not happening for us, we eat a late breakfast, because we get up late and by the time we are hungry, they are done serving lunch and I AM STARVING for the rest of the day….!!! Most days we shared a Sandwich-Baguette and have a café. Since it’s late in the season, most restaurants aren’t even open for dinner….soooooooo mostly we open up Rita’s kitchen. That’s fine as long as I am being fed between breakfast and 8pm. I have learned my lesson (after 10 years with Geoff) and carry granola bars and apples. But when passing all these wonderful Patisseries, Boulangeries, Charcuteries- I should live on apples???? Something’s wrong with that picture – but I am thinking (or does Geoff do some magic brainwork??) …no workout, no gym, how can I justify all this good stuff - so, I stuff myself with another granola bar and shut up!! When we do pick up groceries, it’s a great variety of fruit, cheeses, pates, cold cuts, olives and salad – so it’s all good.
Before I left Vancouver I was a little unsure how it would be to travel for such a long time (remember my luggage restrictions!!!) But I guess the decision to stay a week in most places was a good one. So far, we really lucked out with our choices, all provided what we needed and we could make a little home each time. When I did the research, my main criteria were washing machines (again luggage restrictions), if we ever do this again, we will add the following to the list: Internet and Satellite TV. Funny, some places had TV in their listing, but it’s local TV and we have been without news for a stretch of a week or more. So that will be added to “experience”.
So, all in all – it’s great in Geoff and Rita’s world. So far I only had one incident when I started screaming….”someone, please HELLLLPPPPP, TBC people, please take Geoff back”, but it passed as you can see and read and we will move on with our wonderful and exciting trip. There will be many more churches, old buildings and ancient cities, Geoff will be totally in his element, will take millions of pictures (while I will patiently) he will forget to eat or feed me ….but when do you see a 60 year old behaving like a 18 year old (his happy smile makes it worthwhile!)….it’s fun and we are both happy!

Anyway…thanks for listening to “Rita’s speaking corner”!

Rita the Navigator

Unbelievable. Our #@$%& Tom Tom GPS system packed it in after only one month of operation. It had successfully seen us home from Le Mans to the Chateau. In the morning we packed and got ready for our trip to the Bordeaux region. Went to turn the Tom Tom on so we could input our coordinates for the journey ahead and nothing happened. It would not turn on. We thought it might have a low battery and so charged it up over breakfast. But it would still not start up. This was very frustrating as we are traveling off the beaten track to get to our accommodation. We started our journey and of course, I started in the wrong direction. Finally figured it out and managed to get onto the major highway, in the right direction. We did have directions from the owners of the Chalet we were staying at in a small village called Chenaud. Rita did an excellent job of interpreting the directions until the last 10 kms. For some reason the directions became vaguer the more remote we got. We ended up taking a couple of wrong routes, but eventually found the right road and the Chateau. We actually arrived without throwing any punches as each other, which is quite miraculous as we were both trying to navigate and each of us had our turn at being wrong.

The Chateau is lovely and so is our bungalow. The bungalow was originally built as a barn in the late 1700’s and finally ended up as a coal storage shed. The new owners brought the property in 2001 and spent 4 years renovating the entire place and they have done a stunning job. Kept the historic look and feel but put in all the new contraptions that we love so much. Pictures below.

The next morning we headed for Bordeaux 60 kms away to try and find another Tom Tom. We actually found our way to the city but took the long way. Had no idea where we were going and so just followed the signs to Centre Ville (City Centre), parked the car and started to walk. Within 15 minutes we had stumbled across an electronics store called DARTY and they had GPS systems, including Tom Tom. Unfortunately they did not have our model and so we ended up getting the best they had which included 21 European country maps but not North America. The cost was 478 Euros (about $720 Cdn). This was very expensive as we had paid $450 for the better model with more features in Canada - but that one does not work!!!! We made our way back to our little bungalow (correctly this time) and are charging up the new Tom Tom for tomorrow’s trip to Saint Emilion.

The main building. We are in the converted barn out of sight on the right.

Our bedroom.Rita making dinner in the ultra modern kitchen

24 Hours at Le Mans

Ok, we actually spent 4 hours in Le Mans touring around the old city but we should have booked 24 hours as this is an unbelievable place if you like history and fast cars. We spent a little over 4 hours driving there and back but it was definitely worth it.

Sorry Richard and Seddy, we did not have time to go and see the Le Mans racetrack or the car museum. They are located a bit out of town and were a low priority somewhere behind Rita’s shopping time.

Le Mans is a very old city which can track its origins back over 7,000 years. The Romans arrived in 57 BC and expanded the city. In 280 they built a massive wall and towers, many of which are still standing. The wall and towers are one of the best preserved in the entire ancient Roman Empire. You can still see the friezes of geometric patterns that run through the walls. The old city within the walls is home to over 100 half-timbered houses that are all slowly being restored.

This next bit is for mainly for my son Jay, who imports Plantagenet brand wine from Australia. Le Mans is the Royal Plantagenet City. In 1128 the marriage of Geoffrey V (the Handsome) to the daughter of the English King Henry 1 began the Plantagenet dynasty. Geoffrey was nicknamed Plantagenet after the genet plant (broom in English) found in the surrounding Le Mans countryside. Legend has it that the nickname comes from Geoffrey’s habit of decorating his hat with broom flowers (genet) when he went hunting. In other words, he “planted genet” in his hat.

Enough history, here come the pictures.

Old City Wall and Towers. Notice the homes added to the Wall and Tower structure several centures later.

Tower and Wall. Notice the geometric patters on the walls and tower that are still visable from 280. Also, the walls and towers were built without foundations and they are not only supporting themselves but other buildings attached to them.

Row Houses built in the 1400's which have been restored and painted with their original

Virgin Chapel within Saint Julien Cathedral

Rita and Roman Wall. She is holding up as good as the wall!!!