Saturday, October 03, 2009

Sarlat & beyond...

From one of our last trips we remembered the Saturday market in Sarlat. All the markets are appealing but this one is particularly large & varied (probably because it's also a tourist town).
1) Somehow I managed to quickly take a couple of pictures of the market where there was a lull in shoppers (no reflexion on the vendors in the photo I can assure you).
2) Meat "vans" complete with butchers not only come to the markets but also visit on a weekly basis most of the little hamlets in France. Rita said the one that comes to them looks like this. (If Rambo, our old RV, wasn't so rusty I'd think we might look at converting it.)
3) A bateau on the Dordogne River. (Don't even think about it, John!)
4) The village of La Roque-Gageac where we had lunch. It's squeezed in and up the cliffs by the river leaving just enough room for the road.
5) Looking up between two buildings you might be able to see one of the paths that goes up the side of the mountain. In case you're interested, there's also a clothesline strung across the first patio. And, yes, real people live here, not mountain goats.
6) Are you sure we're on the right road, John?!
7) Strawberries being grown hydroponically. These are the small, ever bearing French strawberries that are a larger version of our wild ones. The best strawberries you ever hope to eat. You can buy them all summer long, even into the fall and, yes, we bought some and ate them all.
8) The Grottes de Cougnac (caves) near Gourdon are filled with stalactites and some prehistoric cave paintings made by Cro-Magnon man (the paintings, not the stalactites). In fact if you want to see cave paintings, this is the region of France to visit as there are several caves open to the public where you can view them. Those of our group that went on the tour said it was very interesting. Pat, John & I (we just weren't in a Cro-Magnon mood) enjoyed a cool drink at the cafe instead.
9) This is an odd photo but perhaps you can make it out. Our car has a huge sunroof (upper part of the photo). This shot shows the road (far too narrow) we were on out the front window (bottom part of photo) with the cliffs on the side and at times overhanging the (far too narrow) road. The 3 folks in the way back were especially cozy since it's actually designed to seat only 2. They were also very happy when we finally got on a wider, straighter road and even happier when we finally arrived home.

We understand Judy's cousin in Arizona just might have caught a glimpse of a red Corvette zipping by.
Posted by Picasa