June 1 - Gouffres vs. Grottes
All during our stay in the Dordogne, we had been wanting to do a special canoe trip down the river - but the rain conspired to keep us indoors. Today was no different, and we went to visit the Gouffre de Padirac instead - a series of deep underground caverns with crystal clear blue lakes, rivers and waterfalls, not to mention enormous stalagmites and stalactites. Apparently a gouffre is a gorge or chasm, formed by the force of water dripping (which also causes the stalagmites to grow by 3 cm every 100 years or something like that). I'm not a 100% sure on that since the tour guides all spoke Occitan-accented French, which not even Min could fully understand. (See www.gouffre-de-padirac.com.) The tour consisted of descending the 103 metre chasm to the underground river (likened to the mythological River Styx in the Lonely Planet) and then floating down the river with our Occitan river guides to the other side, where we disembarked and hiked around the chasm to see the amazing Rain Lake and other pure, clear waters. Words cannot describe this place and we weren't allowed to take pics, although I snuck one in at the end:
After the Gouffre, it was a quick lunch of strawberries and then on to the Chateau de Castelnau-Bretanoux. Another medieval hilltop fortress - the Dordogne is known for its bastides (fortresses) the way the Loire has its chateau - this one again had impressive architecture and we got a personal tour from the French tour guide thanks to zero other tourists being there when we were. The place had limited interior furnishings - the last person who owned it was an opera singer (Jean Moulierat) who collected many art and furnishings for display. As a result the interior was an eclectic mix of medieval, Renaissance and 19th century furnishings. The highlight though was really the tour guide who tried to speak some english with us, and also answered all of Minora's (extensive) questions on French history, from Eleanor d'Aquitaine to the 100 years war to Jean d'Arc. After so many chateaux and bastides, kings and queens, we couldn't keep the timelines and geography straight!
We spent the rest of the afternoon there, puttering around, getting rained on and taking silly pictures from all sides of the bastide. This was the first time we'd really gotten to go fully around the outside of a castle at our leisure and explore. The surrounding countryside was magnificent too - too bad it wasn't sunny!
That night we went back to Beaulieu and discovered why it was Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne - it's situated right on the river and had the loveliest views! Although it smelled pretty bad. :)
We wanted to eat at Auberge Les Charmilles again but - unbelievably - it was full, so we ate at our hotel instead. Not too shabby, but no routard, either. Still, we went to bed extremely full - as usual - and prayed for sunshine the next day so we could finally go canoeing!!!
After the Gouffre, it was a quick lunch of strawberries and then on to the Chateau de Castelnau-Bretanoux. Another medieval hilltop fortress - the Dordogne is known for its bastides (fortresses) the way the Loire has its chateau - this one again had impressive architecture and we got a personal tour from the French tour guide thanks to zero other tourists being there when we were. The place had limited interior furnishings - the last person who owned it was an opera singer (Jean Moulierat) who collected many art and furnishings for display. As a result the interior was an eclectic mix of medieval, Renaissance and 19th century furnishings. The highlight though was really the tour guide who tried to speak some english with us, and also answered all of Minora's (extensive) questions on French history, from Eleanor d'Aquitaine to the 100 years war to Jean d'Arc. After so many chateaux and bastides, kings and queens, we couldn't keep the timelines and geography straight!
We spent the rest of the afternoon there, puttering around, getting rained on and taking silly pictures from all sides of the bastide. This was the first time we'd really gotten to go fully around the outside of a castle at our leisure and explore. The surrounding countryside was magnificent too - too bad it wasn't sunny!
That night we went back to Beaulieu and discovered why it was Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne - it's situated right on the river and had the loveliest views! Although it smelled pretty bad. :)
We wanted to eat at Auberge Les Charmilles again but - unbelievably - it was full, so we ate at our hotel instead. Not too shabby, but no routard, either. Still, we went to bed extremely full - as usual - and prayed for sunshine the next day so we could finally go canoeing!!!
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