 |
| The Dordogne River valley |
For a change of pace, we decided to hop in the car and head east, following along the Dordogne river. In a way this was like taking a big step back in time -- we left the highway and big cities behind us in exchange for countryside and picturesque villages.
Our first stop was Bergerac (yes, of Cyrano fame). Cyrano's nose figures prominently in all the signage and business names around the town.
The towns in this area are among the prettiest in France. Villages sprang up over the millenia along the river's steep banks; sometimes the villages seem to climb up the cliff faces themselves.
 |
| Beynac-et-Cazenac |
 |
| La Roque-Gageac |
We stopped at the gardens of Chateau Marqueyssac. We had expected to see gardens full of flowers, but instead it was mostly boxwood hedges that had been manicured into fantastic shapes. There was a labyrinth somewhere on the property, but we couldn't figure out how to get into it, let alone how to get out of it.
 |
| Marqueyssac |
We had only given ourselves two days to explore the area and we tried to pack a lot of sightseeing into a short amount of time. Several castles were on the menu (the region has about 1500 of them), and by the end of the first day I think Kevin was pretty much "castled out".
 |
| Chateau de Monbazillac |
 |
| Chateau de Castlenaud - at least this one had a trebuchet |
No comments:
Post a Comment