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In a medieval town visiting paleolithic sites

From Tour de France 2007 in Sarlat-la-Caneda, France on May 01 '07

LosPalmas travlr has visited 1 place in Sarlat-la-Caneda
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Antonette at breakfast at the Villa des Consul in Serlac.  The walls are thick and heavy limestone which gives a solidity to the place, but is tough on the WiFi.
Antonette at breakfast at the Villa des Consul in Serlac. The walls are thick and heavy limestone which gives a solidity to the place, but is tough on the WiFi.
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Got up early today, more like regular time at home.  I went out for a walk around the medieval town of Sarlat, and it took all of 20 minutes.  Then I went in the alleys and byways and spent another 40 minutes.  The town has been almost completely restored to its medieval state and it is quite an interesting look at the environment of the religious wars in the 17th century. Antonette and Alexandra got up later and by 10 we were out at the Wednesday market across the street.  Wow!  I didn't know there was this muc fois gras in the world. there were many sellers and each would have different types and sizes.  We of course sampled and found they were good. We bought some cheeses (Mordier, Tomme l'Auvergne, Basque Brebis, one gets picky around here) and sausage ( boar, olive, duck and beaufort- also picky) and set off to Lascaux to see the cave paintings.  The rain had been spitting off and on, and further to the north we had some showers. We arrived before the English tour, so we repaired to the picnic tables where we polished off our picnic with great skill.  It didn't rain, but it sas just starting at the tour start time, so e went off on the tour.

Antonette at the entrance to the hotel.  The street is deemed to narrow for driving, but the Caunas experience had us convinced this was a wide street.
Antonette at the entrance to the hotel. The street is deemed to narrow for driving, but the Caunas experience had us convinced this was a wide street.
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The original cave paintings were being inadvertently destroyed by the many visitors, so the French government constructed a replica near by, supposedly, and there is no reason to believe otherwise, an exact duplicate of the original.  The pictures were fascinating.  One gains a new appreciation when the pictures are seen in their original environment.  The pictures are of a variety of sizes from reltively modest to almost actual bison size.  The colours were also interesting, particularly when you think these people were in a cave with only fire light and they still did the colours quite well.  The guide was excellent, and pointed out numerous features which probably would not be noticed, such as the antlers being painted on the rock ridges, rather than closer to real life.  It was a wonderful experience and I would recommend it.  However, it will not take up your whole day, perhaps a couple of hours. We returned to Serlac, with a stop at a little country boulangerie for some dinner bread.  The bread out here in the country is wonderful.  I know that the Paris bread in Monterey is great, but this is even more so. We returned to the city expeditiously where we are taking a bit of a break and preparing for tomorrow and what seems like an arduous drive to Ancon, or Poitiers or Limoge or Orleans.  Decisions will await tonight.  TTFN

Getting out of the rain at the caves of Lascaux.

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