Map of the Dordogne. (For best view, enlarge and move image to view sections of it)
Map of Sarlat-la-Caneda (For best view, enlarge and move image to view sections of it)
The market starts early on a cloudy, May Saturday, and streches along the Rue de Rebublique from the Place de la Petite Riguade to Place du XIV Juillet. View from our room in the Hotel de la Madeleine.
Market entrance.
Bad weather does not discourage the shoppers.
Everybody goes to town on Market Day.
Flowers, fruit, and vegetbles (and umbrellas) add color to a dreary day.
Strawberries have replace vinaculture as the biggest cash crop in the Perigord Noir.
Wanna buy a duck?
Street musicians entertain; no one listens.
Stalls replace cars in the municipal parking lot.
Candy Man
Artificial flowers compete with fresh cut flowers.
The potter's stand.
Saturday Market Day is the big day for weddings in Sarlat.
To the reception.
This 60's era Simca V8 is decorated for a bridal couple's getaway.
A typical Sarlat scene
Modern lace, medieval windows.
One of the oldest houses in Sarlat.
Red tiles and honey colored stone are typical features of Sarlat's architecture.
Inside the cathedral.
The pulpit.
Some color in the dark.
Roses are in bloom everywhere.
Behind the Cathderal.
Cathedral window. The right side of the sill is made from a flat stone was apparently found laying in a field when the cathederal was built. Paleontogists have determined that it was originally a neolithic tool used to grind points on weapons as evidenced by the several gooves worn it.
Lantern of the Dead.
Little house by the cathedral.
Returning from market.
A quiet lane.
In front of the municipal building.
Hotel de la Madeleine as seen across the Square du 8 Mai 1945.
Election 2007.
En route to Rocamadour, we passed the Chateau Belcastel perched upon a cliff.
It was May and poppies were in flower.
Poppy.
Foie gras on the hoof (or is it web?): Geese in a field across the road from the overlook of the chateau.
Rocamadour was (is?) a pilgrimage site along the pilgrimage road to Santiago de Campostela in Spain. An order of monks was established to tend to pilgims. This is a view of their chapel, perched on a cliff abover the Alzou River, the first view of Rocamadour when approaching from the area above the river valley.
A Station of the Cross, number 13, I believe, at the top of the cliff. The devout start at the foot of the cliff and visi the stations in order, finishing at the top. We did it the easy way, from top to bottom.
Elaine on the descent. the town of Rocamadour is in the background.
About half way down the cliff is a court yard in front of the Chapel of Notre Dame, which contains the Black Madonna (Apparently one of many Black Madonnas found throughout Europe).
Inside the Chapel of Notre Dame.
The Black Madonna.
The Sword of Roland. On the Frankish retreat from Spain after a defeat at the hands of the Moors, the hero Roland retreated through Roacamadour. In frustration at losing, he threw his sword at the cliff face where it stuck and remains to this day (Wink, wink).
View from the top.
The valley of the Alzou looking down on the town.
The vallet from the terrace of the Reataurant Beau Site.
Rocamadour stretches along the side of the cliff above the river.
View of the Cite Religieuse as seen from the town.
Leaving Rocamadour: the view from farther down the rim of the valley.
Returning to Sarlat; Soullac and the Eglise Sainte-Marie.
The altar.
Flowers on the altar.
Carved pillar depicting the torrment of sinners. No art for art's sake in the 12th century.
ASoullac street.
The French National Museum of Prehistory is located in Les Eyzies de Tayac, the village where the first recognized Cro Magnon skeleton was found. It contains Paleolithic artifact discoverd in the area.
The museum is a modern building, built into the side of a cliff face and incorporated into the chateau (more of a fortification than a full castle) that existed there for centuries. Roses bloom along the battlements of the chateau.
On the cliff face behind the museum can seen the entrances of caves in which paleolithic people sheltered (The entrances have apparently been enlarged and shaped in recent times). Access was apparently gained by inserting ples into the smaller holes cut into the cliff face.
View from the battlement. The Village of Les Eyzies stretches along the foot of the cliff on the banks of the Vezere.
This tacky sculpture of a troglodyte stands upon the chateau battlements.
A Garden in the village.
Chateau on the road to Lascaux.
Inside the fortified Chappelle du St. Genies. Fortified churches are found throughout this area where there was a religious foundation, but no chateau to protect the populace during times of religious strife. This part of France had a large Huguenot population, and after the St. Bartholomews Day massacre, became a battleground for Huguenot survival in France.
The village of St. Genies.
Wall and roofs of St. Genie.
St. Genies.
Church square in St. Genies.
St. Armand is a fortified Romanesque abbey church in Coly. Local Huguenots took refuge here in 1575. They were besieged by the Seneschal of Perigord and two thousand troops for six days before the army broke through the wall
Window above the altar.
Romanesque carvings.
One can only guess.
Town square in Coly.
Roofs of Coly. The "shingles" are really flat stones.
The main thorouhfare of Coly.
View of the abbey church.
Approach to the abbey church.
Local entertainment
French line dance.
New use for empty wine bottles.
High steppers.
VE Day 2007
Presenting the colors.
Ceremony in the rain.
Square du 8 Mai, 1945. The wall is a monument to French sevicemen from Sarlat killed in the war and Jews of Sarlat who were deported by the Vichy regime.
Perigueux was the Roman city of Vesone. The Vesunna Museum, a modern building, is built at the site of an archeological excavation of a Roman villa. Seen above is the excavation, which the museum encloses. Rcovered pieces of the villa have been reassembled, with the missing portions filled in with modern construction.
Capitals of Roman columns found in the Perigueux area.
Roman rings.
Tower from the old Roman wall on the museum grounds.
Museum grounds. The buildings to the right were build over the centuries incorporating the old wall into their structures.
St. Front Cathedral seen from the banks of the Isle River. Advance word had preceeded me to Perigueux so they had time to drape the steeple in protective construction netting. Over the years I have been met with this same treatment wherever I've gone in Europe (The Arc de Triomphe and the York Minster readily come to mind).
The medival Chapter Mill down by the Isle.
Thursday is a market day in Perigueuex. This is the food and flower market by the cathedral.
The clothing market is several blocks away on a large square.
Food and flower market.
The Mataguerre Tower is a remnant of the 14th Century city wall
The Cathedral steeple.
A quiet square.
Beynac and its chateau from the Dordogne River.
The chateau was known as Satan's Ark because of the cruelty of its lords.
Beynac seen from down river.
Below Beynac, more chateaux perch upon the bluffs.
This chateau, a short distance downstream from Beynac is the vacation cottage of a family from Texas.
Boats (bateaux) like this one once carried the area's products down stream to market in Bordeau. Tractor-trailers now serve that purpose and the bateaux have been converted into carrying sightseers. Twin Honda 75hp outboards have replaced wind and poles as the main propulsion.
A circuitous road winds up to the top of the cliff to the chateau's dongon.
Tha chateau.
A small village sits on the cliff top in front of the chateau.
Along with private resicences, the village is made up of shops catering to the tourist business.
The valley of the Dordogne stretches out below the chateau.
From the chateau, three other chateaux are visible downstream. The one in the lower right belongs to the Texans. The chateau in the upper left once belonged to Josephine Baker, the American dancer popular in France in the 1920's.
Upstream from the chateau, another chateau or two are visible.
In the guard room.
The great hall of the chateau.
The chapel windows.
Kithcen of the chateau where feasts were prepared. No microwave here.
An ancient cottage in the chateau settlement. The roof is shingled with flat stone, once usual roofing material in the region.
Beynac seen from the public parking lot.
The roofs of Beynac.
Domme was established in the 12th Century as a bastide (fortified settlement) by Philip III (The Rash). At the time, the English were in Aquitaine, which had been acquired by the English Crown as the dowery of Eleanor. This is the parish church.
The streets of Domme are rather quiet when no tourists are around.
Domme extends up a high hill. The tower in the near distance is the town hall.
The Dordogne Valley seen from Domme. The river side of the hill upon which the town was built is a steep cliff like those seen in the distance. The sight was selcted because it was easy to fortify. It was thought that cliff was unscalable and that side was not fortified. During the War of Religion, 30 Huguenot soldiers climbed the cliff at night, opened the gates, and let in the Huhuenot army laying sieged to the town.
A pleasant street in Domme.
Architectural detail.
