Sarlat la Canéda - The Périgord

After a 4 hour drive from Eus, we arrived in Sarlat-la-Caneda located in the Périgord region. At first site, Sarlat looked like an average French town with typical shops and restaurants. It's not until we decided to go venture out into the medieval downtown that we realized just what a cool and unique little town it was. Narrow streets, one after another, made us feel as though we had gone back in time 700 years or so. The region of Périgord is known for foie gras, and there were vendors selling it everywhere - hence the bronze sculpture of geese near the town square. Sarlat is definitely a great destination for foodies who enjoy a good foie gras (Yay for Alex; yick for Jen).

click to enlarge

The next day, we had a very lazy morning enjoying fresh pastries and coffee. Our hotel terrace was right over the day's market, which prompted us to go out and check out the stands as soon as we finished breakfast. The amount of cheeses, meats and (amazingly) fresh fruits and vegetable was impressive. Also of note was the size of the door that opened to reveal the indoor produce market - notice the black spot to the lower left of the door - that's Jen, and it gives a good perspective of the actual scale of the enormous door!

click to enlarge

After perusing the morning market, we decided to drive north to go check out a couple of the region's tourist attractions: La Maison Forte de Reignac and La Roque St Christophe. Along the way we were amazed at how beautiful the Perigord really is.

click to enlarge

First we visited La Maison Forte de Reignac, which dates back to the 1300's. From the outside it looks like an old country house built at the base of a huge rock; however, once you enter you can see that the house was actually built INTO the rocks. It's sprawled out over three levels, and it includes bedrooms, dining, salon/living rooms, kitchens, and even a dungeon.

click to enlarge

Next we visited La Roque St Christophe, which is the site of a village that was built into the natural cavity in the rock - basically a big, 2km-long shelf. The site dates back 55,000 years, and in its heydey, as many as 1,000 inhabited the vilage....craaazzzeeeeeeee:

click to enlarge

The next day, on our way out of the region, we decided to stop by Font de Gaume, the last pre-historic cave with polychromatic drawings still open to the public (the most popular cave, Lascaux, is no longer accessible to the public other than a reproduction that has been created and is located near the actual cave).
During a four hundred feet hike into the tight rock cavity, we witnessed some amazing ~14,000 year old drawings of bison, horses and others. Although we originally were somewhat reluctant and not very interested to see these caves, standing there in person to witness the work proved to be one of the great experiences of our trip.