Trip Report Part 2-Hills and Castles-Dordogne

Day 1

The morning after our Portugal adventure ended, we caught the 6:15am EasyJet flight from Porto to Bordeaux. I don’t know if this is common for all EasyJet flights, but we didn’t use a jetway to board, instead we walked from the terminal onto the tarmac and then up portable stairs into the plane. It was no big deal for me, but it was dark and raining which makes Carla grumpy after she had got up at 4am to do her hair. Other than that, it was a short, easy flight and we disembarked onto the Tarmac in Bordeaux in the sunshine. This was going to be our only day in Bordeaux and so we didn’t want to waste time. Since we’d be heading back to the airport to pick up our rental car tomorrow we decided to stay at the Sheraton Airport which is a brand new hotel that is walkable from the airport. The hotel was willing to hold our luggage until we could check in later and so we dropped it up and took Tram A for the half hour ride into the historic part of the city.

We were impressed with Bordeaux and surprised it doesn’t get a mention in the RS guidebooks. I wonder if that will change as RS has mentioned several times in blogs that he’s on the search for new-less touristed places in Europe. Bordeaux is worth a minimum of two rushed days, plus it’s a great location for some day trips to wineries in the area. The original plan was to take a walking tour put on by the Bordeaux tourism office, but sadly, the English tour is only at10:30 and we didn’t make it in time. It’s still a great city to wander and the most memorable part of the day was the Museum of Aquitine https://www.musee-aquitaine-bordeaux.fr/en. We spent about 3 hours there despite most of the signage being in French only with spotty use of English in some areas. Google translate came in handy as the museum was fascinating, with exhibitions about the region from Neanderthal time to the 1900’s. Our favourites were the extensive exhibits dealing with the Roman times as well as the period around the hundred years war when England and France were in constant conflict. If we were in Bordeaux for more than a day we would have spent more time at the museum. Two very high thumbs up for the museum. *free lockers are provided and we were required to check my small backpack.

We seriously considered staying in the historic area into the evening but the early flight that morning wore on us and after a quick meal we were back at the hotel for the night by 6pm. I can’t recall the name of the restaurant but a unique thing we’d never seen before was a QR code on the table to pay your bill. Our waitress didn’t speak English but through gestures she was able to communicate that’s how we were to pay after we had waved her over to get our bill. As mentioned, the hotel is beautiful and more “Carla style” than the older boutique style hotels that I prefer. And while I highly recommend the Sheraton if you need to be near the airport, there isn’t a lot that is walkable from there, including restaurants. We will be back in Bordeaux someday and will find somewhere in the city.

Day 2

We picked up our car from Avis at the airport and headed toward Beynac with some stops along the way. This was my first time driving in a country with non-English signs and it threw me a bit at first, but overall Bordeaux is an easy city to drive in. We used the car’s GPS but as we’d learn, there was no way to override its instructions. This resulted in it taking the shortest route timewise, but not necessarily the smartest route as we discovered that evening when I looked at Google Maps. Our first stop was Saint Emilion, and the GPS took us off the highway and onto narrow, twisty rural roads which can increase the heart rate of driver and passenger. A week later on the way back to Bordeaux through Saint Emilion, the GPS chose a much more convenient route which makes me wonder what it was thinking at times just to save 2 or 3 minutes.

Looking at my notes from that day, I wrote that St. Emilion was scenic, but nothing historically interesting. I guess this happens when you try to combine too many stops into one day and rush through. We’d end up staying here overnight on our way back to Bordeaux and my opinion changed. It’s worth a stay. It’s mainly known for the wineries in the area and is extremely popular as a tour bus stop. It was early October when we were there, and it was still busy during the day. It used to be a walled city with a moat and was divided into upper and lower towns with a steep path to the lower town with plenty of wine shops instead of traditional souvenir shops.

Worth a comment was a pizza restaurant that I can’t remember the name of but it’s in the main square across from the church tower. We shared a pizza with pumpkin sauce instead of tomato sauce. I bring it up because up to now I’ve had 3 memorable meals in France-2 on this trip and one in 2019, and all were Italian. If I add that my favourite meal in Portugal was Italian, and later during an overnight stay in Barcelona before our flight home, was also Italian, I start to see a pattern. Also unique in this restaurant is that you have to walk through the kitchen to get to a staircase to get to the washrooms.

Bergerac was our next stop, and this is where we really started questioning the saneness of our GPS as it took us through narrow, twisty roads with plenty of blind corners. I’m glad I turned down the hard sell from the Avis rep to upgrade to a larger car. In fact, I would have taken a smaller car. Interesting stereotype from the rep. She said she suggested the upgrade because most Americans have too much luggage to fit into a smaller car.

Anyway, Bergerac was a beautiful city to wander to see the timbered buildings, but we only spent a couple of hours as we were anxious to get to Beynac.

Day 3

When I first announced to the world-or at least to this Forum that the Dordogne was on my must-see list and I wanted to stay in Beynac, there was polite, cautious advice that it is a small village and perhaps somewhere larger might be a better idea. It was a point well taken and considered, and while usually I’m a fan of big cities over rural life, wild horses weren’t going to drag me away from a stay here. Sometimes you’ve just got to do what you want to do and learn from the experience….and this experience confirmed to trust my gut. Beynac has a population of about 500, it closes early, restaurants and services are limited, and we loved it. On our RS tour in 2019, the bus dropped us off at the top near the castle and we walked downhill along one of Beynac’s few roads and met the bus at the river, hopped on the bus and left. This time we stayed for 4 nights with no regrets.

We stayed at La Source https://www.la-source-beynac-et-cazenac.com/ which is listed as a B&B, but breakfast isn’t served. It’s a 5-bedroom house where you rent your bedroom, but the rest of the house is shared public space. The kitchen is fully furnished, and each room is assigned with its own fridge in the kitchen or pantry. There is no owner or staff on site; the owners are a couple who live in Australia and the staff consists of a stay-at-home mom who is on-call. She texted me via WhatsApp asking me to let her know what time I’d be arriving, and when I texted when I got there, she told me to meet her at the tourist office. As we sat in our car waiting, she pulled up, honked her horn and told me to follow her, and we drove to the house about 2 minutes away. After a quick tour she was off and told me to call if we needed anything. We were told that there were 3 women staying there but they were checking out the next morning and we’d have the place to ourselves for the rest of our stay. The cost was worth every penny at an average of €181/night. We didn’t cook, but we made good use of the fridge and kitchen for breakfast and snacks/drinks. What a bonus to have the place to ourselves after that first night.

I’d been excited by Beynac Castle for months and it didn’t disappoint. It’s most famous resident in its history was Richard the Lion Heart who occupied it from time to time while the region was English territory. The two castles also changed hands multiple times between England and France during the 100 years war. The audio guide that you can download via QR code does a very good job explaining the history of the castle. Fun fact that since it was built as a defensive fortress it originally had no ground level doors and had to be accessed via ladders. In my opinion it’s a must-see for anyone visiting the region. The plan from there was to walk to Castelnaud which you can see from Beynac. We thought we’d be able to walk along a path on the river, however at one point you have to take a wide detour to the road, so we turned back and drove over. I didn’t think Castelnaud was as spectacular as Castle Beynac but it was interesting and had exhibits showing the tools of war in its heyday.

*I had read comments on this forum that Castelnaud offers very little food and drinks and so be prepared, however things must have changed because we counted three restaurants/cafes within site of the castle walls and also a couple of souvenir shops that offered drinks and snacks.

Day 4

If I thought yesterday was everything I had hoped, we were just getting started. We were up at the crack of dawn to get to a farmer’s field below Castelnaud for a hot air balloon ride. There are plenty of companies to choose from and we have no complaints about our choice. https://www.perigord-dordogne-montgolfieres.com/en/ Cost was €205/pp and worth every penny for the 1.5 hour flight. There are 12 people per balloon, and we had 2 balloons in our group. I’d recommend that if you book, to choose a date early in your stay in case it has to be rescheduled. There was an American couple in our group of 24 who had had their ride from two days ago cancelled because of weather but were lucky enough to squeeze it in this morning. They were also the only other English speakers, everyone else was French. Only two balloon staff spoke English and so we were taken aside during the preflight safety instructions and given the rundown in English. In fact, during this entire trip, we ran into very few English-speaking tourists. The vast majority were French with some Dutch and German as well. And not once were we asked if we were from America, most assumed we were from the UK.

We were at the balloon before sunrise and the grass was wet with dew and our feet were soaked. I’d recommend you bring waterproof shoes with you. We were nervous about cold feet once we took off and we’d also bundled up thinking it was going to be cold; and we were warned that the temperature would be 2-3 degrees cooler in the balloon than ground temperature, but we were warm and comfortable for the ride. It was foggy when we took off after sunrise, and to see Castelnaud and Beynac Castles peaking out of the fog as we rose above is indescribable. It was one of the most scenic moments I’ve ever experienced. Our pilot said it was a perfect ballooning day and at top height we were above 1300 metres with a top speed of 14kmh, and the day was so clear once the fog broke that we could see the Pyrenees mountains 250km away. It wasn’t cheap, but worth the money for the memories, and it’s something we’ll look at doing again in another location.

Next on the list was another castle. We drove to the ruins of Commarque Castle this afternoon. I wanted to see it because it was part of an Amazing Race episode a few years ago. It’s not easy to get to. One of the things I remember about that episode of Amazing Race is how often the contestants got lost. You’re not allowed to use a GPS and you rely on a paper map, which I would not recommend as your sole source of information in this area in general. Not that GPS is a perfect solution either. The Dordogne is very rural with narrow roads, hills and blind corners, and the GPS was trying to get us to take roads that clearly had signs that said we couldn’t turn onto. We experienced this numerous times on this trip including at Castelnaud and Beynac Castles. You have to watch for signage carefully and not put blind faith in a map or GPS. And narrow roads….some roads may have a dividing line down the middle saying it’s two lanes, perhaps if I was riding a horse. With a car, I often had to drive down the middle of the road; line or not.

We eventually made it to Commarque and I have a warning to the mobility challenged, the parking lot is about a 15-minute walk from the castle, and the ruins are hilly with no paved paths. It’s not a blockbuster must-see site. I’d compare it to Urquhart Castle in Scotland but much less scenic. One of the interesting sites is the caverns below the castle in the face of the cliff that the castle is built into. It’s estimated these caverns had been occupied since 14,000BC and remained as homes up until the 16th century by the poorest of society. This is one of the better blogs I read about Commarque. https://www.deepheartoffrance.com/visit-commarque-an-incredible-ruined-castle-with-prehistoric-roots/

Day 5

“Every day can’t be a castle day”, said Carla. We’d leave the castles behind this trip and eventually head to Font de Gaume for some cave paintings this afternoon. But first we headed to the market in St Cyprien about 10km from Beynac. This is the same market that is more famously known on this forum that hits Sarlat on another day. On Sunday all the vendors make their way to St Cyprien. We’d been eating well but snacked more than full meals. Most of the restaurants we found were unappealing to us with a lot of duck or Foi Grois or goose gizzard, and we tended to skip. We expected this so it was no surprise or disappointment; If I can quote an ex-girlfriend, “It’s not you, it’s me.” There was a bakery a few minutes’ walk from our house and every morning I’d walk there for fresh croissants loaded with almonds and Nutella. We’d add that to our daily breakfast of yogurt, fruit and granola that we bought from the local store. Only one evening did we go to a restaurant and the food was OK, but nothing worth mentioning. We were content on picnic style meals. I do wish though that this market would have been open when we first arrived. We bought some bricks of cheese that were incredible. My favourite was one that had black garlic running through it; it had veins that made it look kind of like blue cheese. The other highlight was a cheese that was black because it was made with charcoal from walnut trees. It was also incredible. There was also an expat from England who had opened up a Microbrewery there and so I bought a few bottles of stout from him. So, fruit, crackers, cheese, wine and beer was our typical daily evening meal.

We had a timed ticket for Font de Gaume for the English tour at 3:10 and so later in the morning we made the 30-minute drive to Les Eyzes which is the village nearby the cave. The intent was to visit the prehistory museum prior to the cave. Unfortunately, the museum was closed from 12:30-2:00 and we missed it. As much as we tried, Les Eyzes is too small to kill 3 hours waiting for our cave tickets and we wished we had planned better. It was the beginning of the off-season in the region and more and more businesses were closing or reducing hours. I guess we could have gone back to the museum right at 2:00 but we thought it would be too rushed. Luckily the Museum of Aquitine in Bordeaux had an excellent pre-history section so maybe we didn’t miss anything.

Font de Gaume was much better than expected with actual paintings from 17,000 years ago done by homo sapiens. Some charcoal drawings have been discovered that have been sent in for carbon dating that may be 45,000 years old and done by Neandrathal but results aren’t back yet. There has been debates on this forum regarding the reproductions at Lascaux vs. the real paintings at Font de Gaume. I’ve always championed Lascaux as being worthwhile to see and I stand by that, but I have to admit there was something surreal about seeing actual paintings. To preserve the paintings, tours are limited to the caves, and it can be a tough ticket to get. There is no rhyme or reason for when advance tickets go on sale, so my advice is to check daily. I’d mentioned that we hardly came across any other English-speaking tourists on this trip and I think that all 10 of us were gathered today in one spot including the American couple that we’d met yesterday for the hot air balloon ride.

It's a 400-metre uphill walk to the cave where the guide meets you. It was hard at times to make out the paintings even when the guide shone her light on them, but overall, still worth the visit. The highlight may have been though when the guide was talking about Neanderthals and one of the Americans suggested that she was talking about politicians, and the guide shot right back in her very reserved and formal English to “please not insult the Neanderthals.”

Day 6

With disappointment we left Beynac early this morning with a plan to meander to Rocamadour. First stop was the hilltop village of Domme which was easy to find. We got there at about 9am and the place was deserted except for a couple of store owners opening for the day. We ended up staying for a couple of hours as it was very pretty. It’s a walled town and the views of the valley as we walked the perimeter were spectacular. It was built in the 13th century as a defense against the English and it spent a century being swapped back and forth during the Hundred Years War. Like most of these locations, the village was built on top of a steep hill for defense purposes, and it makes me wonder how effective the defenses were if these villages were swapped back and forth so many times.

Since we spent more time than anticipated here, we decided the next stop would be Rocamadour which would be our home base for the next two nights. It was not a fun drive, and I started to wonder if our GPS lead us astray again with the shortest route instead of the easiest route as we went through several switchback roads, blind corners and to make it more fun, some heavy rain at times making visibility tough. But later, when I was looking at Google Maps it appears there was no simple route. This was the only day of driving that I didn’t enjoy.

We had booked 2 nights at La Belevedre https://www.hotel-le-belvedere.fr/en/. The address on the website is just the postal code for the town and I couldn’t plug it into the GPS. If I was smarter than I really am I would have used Google Maps for this leg, but instead I naively figured nothing could go wrong. I plugged “Rocamadour” into the GPS and off we went. It took us to a narrow road with a narrower arch to drive through on the same level as the churches in the cliffside which I could barely squeeze through without scraping my mirrors. It was a dead end, and I suspect I’m one of many to be led to this spot as there was a designated parking spot only used to turn around to get out, which I did, but not before the arch was blocked by another car that took the same directions.

We ended up parking on a road beside a park at ground level below the main tourist street which is about 500 steps below the churches. About this time last year, I posted a question and mentioned that we were thinking about Rocamadour and there were some polite comments that it’s better as a day trip. I was so convinced by these comments that I wrote on the thread that we had changed our minds and would visit but not stay. I found those comments while writing this TR and now I’m wondering what happened that we ended up staying here. Maybe it’s because the website for our hotel was so impressive. It shows spectacular views (they were), and the rooms looked nice. But nobody told us that we’d be sharing the room with an extended family of black flies. I went up to the lobby to complain and ask for a different room, but noticed the whole hotel had a problem. According to a news report I found that this was a real problem in the region this year and not just this hotel but count me in as one of the many that wonder why France doesn’t invest in some screens. Based on the well below average meal we had at the hotel’s restaurant that evening I’m surprised the flies hadn’t chipped in to by the chef a screen door.

In any case we’re here for two nights. After we checked in we took short walk back to the top level of Rocamadour, admired the views and never went back into town for the rest of the stay. I’m glad we saw it, but a few hours was enough.

Day 7

We had bought tickets in advance for Gouffre de Padriac which is a cave with an underground river that empties into the Dordogne River. https://www.gouffre-de-padirac.com/ which was an easy 20-minute drive from the hotel. We were still challenged by narrow roads, but most were straight with minimal hills. This is a cave with no paintings to be found, but it was really fun. There are three elevators you can take to get to the base of the cave 103 metres below the service, but even with those elevators there are still some steps you can’t avoid, and the ground can be uneven and slippery. There are also about 150 steps further in within the must-see “Grand Dome.”

We had a timed ticket but there weren’t many people. One worker told us that they close for the season in early November until March. We found this common for the whole week that hours were either reduced or closing for Spring. We didn’t bother with the elevators and walked down 70+ steps. From there you take a short boat ride. It’s kind of like Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland where you line up and then take a 20-person boat deeper into the cave (but no pirates here). We were given our own boat and guide since we were the only English-speaking people here at this time. The boat goes about 1km deeper into the cave and then you’re let out to explore the Grand Dome. Since only one of the guides spoke English and it wasn’t crowded, she said she’d wait for us for the ride back. I took a lot of photos, but it can’t do it justice as your deep underground in these caverns with vaulted ceilings, listening to the rush of water. I think we spent about 2 hours inside before coming back to the surface. I can’t recommend it enough.

For the first time, I needed gas. We hadn’t seen a lot of stations on this trip and so we headed to a small city called Alvignac which seemed to have a few. Good thing. At the first place we stopped the gas pump wouldn’t accept my credit card and the cashier had locked up and gone for lunch. It was common this time of year that small businesses closed for lunch. We even found some small-town restaurants were closed at lunch but would open from 2:00-4:00 and then close and reopen from 7:00-9:00. We found a 2nd gas station that was connected to a large grocery store, and I didn’t have to worry if there was a cashier or not because the pump accepted my card.

After getting back to Rocamadour we just hung out and wandered, and eventually settled on the hotel’s outdoor patio, surfing the internet and prioritizing what to see during our last few days. Surprisingly the black flies remained inside and left us alone.

Day 8

It wasn’t until yesterday that we determined where our home for our final night would be. We seriously considered Bordeaux again, but our time would be limited for a city that size and so we decided on St. Emilion again. But first we had to narrow down our stops along the way. We started with a half hour drive to Collange et Rouge, which like Domme was deserted when we got there around 9am. Unlike the rest of what we saw in the Dordogne with homes built from pale shades of Limestone, this town has/had a red limestone quarry nearby and the homes are made from this brilliant rust coloured stone. I highly recommend a stop here if for nothing else than the stark different look to everything we’d seen so far. Fun fact, about the only building in Collange that isn’t made from the red limestone is the tourism office, I guess they missed the memo. Tourist season must be over because for our entire 90-minute walk we so no other tourists, very few locals and barely any businesses open. Rude tourists must be an issue at times because we came across signs on a couple of homes with roofs that almost came down to the ground telling tourists that it’s a private home and don’t climb onto the roof for photos. It reminded me of a homeowner I spoke to in San Francisco on Lombard Street who said it was an ongoing problem of tourists climbing the fences and even onto balconies of private homes for photos.

Next stop after a wonderful toll highway drive where we had multiple wide lanes, and no blind corners was Chateau de Hautefort. It was the type of chateau that we’d seen in the Loire Valley in 2019. I’m betting in the summer this would have been a better visit as the gardens are nice but likely spectacular when the flowers were blooming. The interior was as expected, to show off the riches of the times, but the highlight for us was a wing of rooms that are used as film studios at times and are kept that way. Often, Hautefort has been used as a stand-in for Versailles for film shoots. But the only movie I remember seeing that was filmed here was ‘Ever After’ starring Drew Barrymore and Anjelica Huston.

People aren’t kidding when they write about the cost of toll roads in France. We drove about 125km on toll roads today and paid €25. I never had any issue with my credit card and was able to tap in and out at every toll booth. We arrived in St Emilion at about 3pm and once again the GPS tried to lead us down a one-way street to our hotel. Once we figured it out, we drove through the arches of a medieval wall, down a narrow medieval street eventually getting to our hotel which had parking. https://logisdesremparts.com/eng/ It was a bit dated with small rooms, but it’s right in town, friendly staff and a free breakfast.

We came back to St. Emilion for the views because in day 2, I mentioned that our original opinion was that there was nothing historically interesting here. I guess we weren’t looking hard enough. Sadly, we didn’t get here in time for the English version of the historical tour that goes underground as the original church was built into the cliff. The ‘new’ church from the 12th century looks like any old church until you look closer. On the walls, and in the cloisters, you can see how it used to look when it was painted. There are still faint traces of pastel pinks and greens. The town is currently building a new museum that follows the town’s history from the original winemakers-the Romans, to the monks that made wine a big business a thousand years later.

Day 9

After a final walk through St Emilion we drove back to the Bordeaux airport to drop off our car and take our EasyJet flight to Barcelona where we’d fly home via WestJet tomorrow. I wasn’t particularly pleased with the drop-off process as there was no signage of where to leave the car. There were multiple employees around outside the Avis office but no direction from them of where to park, so I parked beside them and started getting my luggage out. Finally, one came over as we’re walking away from the car and told me I needed to park it. I asked where and he gestured to the parking lot and said anywhere. Even then, nobody came to inspect the car, so I took photos from every possible angle. I mentioned this to the person inside that I handed the keys to, and he just shrugged. I have no idea if this was an indifferent rental location or if this is the way it’s done here.

It was a quick 1-hour flight to Barcelona and then a 10-minute cab ride to our hotel Playa Grande by Tropical https://playagrande.cat/en/ which is an adults only resort along the beach well outside of the Barcelona tourist zone. Cost was only €150 which was a steal, and I imagine it’s likely more than double that in the tourist season. The front desk person was already complaining that it was too cold (it was 21C when we checked in) and that’s why it was so cheap and empty. A couple of oddities; the hallway floors to the rooms are made with plexiglass with sand underneath, which was a very cool effect, and in our room the shower was in the middle of the room, and it was clear glass. I suspect they should change the description of the resort from adults only to couples only. While we saved on the room, our bar and restaurant bill that evening easily surpassed that, but the food was outstanding (Italian again). If your intention is just to rest and relax, I’d recommend this hotel, but if your goal is tourism and see the sites it’s probably not the right choice as its about a half hour cab ride into old Barcelona or over an hour by bus. Since we booked it with no intention of sightseeing it was perfect.

Day 10
After a long morning walk on the beach and an incredibly expensive breakfast we caught a cab to the airport to head home. I should point out that the taxis to and from the airport were prompt, polite and honest. We paid what was on the meter with no issues. I’d say it’s the best taxi experience we’ve ever had…anywhere.

Takeaways from this trip:

• The Dordogne was everything I’d hoped it would be. I’m not surprised as the 10-year-old boy in me got his fill of castles and caves.
• A lot of uneven surfaces and hills on this trip. Plenty of steps in the castles,and the walk in the towns up to the castles. I’m talking about you Beynac and Castelnaud.
• It’s very rural, and besides the narrow, twisty roads, we occasionally got caught behind a tractor and would have to patiently wait.
• Don’t trust GPS or Google Maps and watch out for ‘do not enter’ signs. I’m not sure if a paper map would be helpful in this region either though.
• It’s the first European adventure I’ve been on that we couldn’t rely on English. We got by, but the majority of shopkeepers and waiters were unilingual. However, they were still always smiling and ready to help, and if not, there was usually a smiling local face nearby that could come to our rescue. Even in Bordeaux both of our servers spoke only French.
• Everyone was very friendly. It reminded me of the down-home rural prairies type of friendliness that I experience at home.
• Restaurants had limited hours this time of year as most of the tourists had left. Of whom was still there, most were French with some German, and based on the height of some couples, perhaps Dutch. The only Americans we ran into this entire trip was that same couple on the hot air balloon and the next day there were 8 Americans and us at Font de Gaume.
• Think carefully of your expectations when you choose a location to stay. We loved Beynac, but it is small with limited services, and I understand why Sarlat is recommended, but for us it was perfect.

For part 1 of the Portugal leg of the Trip Report click here https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/trip-report-part-1-hills-and-castles-portugal

This sounds like an absolutely wonderful trip, and your relating of it is filled with appreciation and good humor. Thanks for sharing, Allan ! It makes me want to head back down that way — the one time I have been was also in October, and we absolutely loved it then, too. The hot-air balloon ride sounds truly magical.

We stayed in La Roque Gageac. One morning we drove to St. Cirq Lapopie and decided to stop at Rocamadour on the way back to our hotel. It was out of the way, but it seemed like a place we would like. I'm pretty sure we were using Maps.me at that time, but the route was so convoluted, I was worried we were driving on private roads or someone's driveway. We were on gravel at one point. We did make it to Rocamadour. We thought the views from farther away like above and overlooking the river bend were quite lovely. We did walk from the bottom to the top. "The Rock" was crowded with tourist groups going in and out of souvenir shops, it wasn't our favorite city in the area. I'm pretty sure that I put my thoughts on Rocamadour in some sort of trip report, or provided a response to a query on this forum.

And, we had already experienced some convoluted routing a few days earlier around Bergerac in route to a winery we had an appointment at. Again, the routing was strange and at one point, I'm pretty sure we drove through a farm. We were on a narrow "road", and when we encountered a farmhouse and other buildings, there were boots, a wagon and other items on the "road". In retrospect, I'm pretty sure it was a rather long driveway through private property. Yet, when we got to the winery and told them about the route, they really didn't have any reaction and didn't offer another route.

I don't recall such bizarre routing directions anywhere else in France, or Europe, actually. Well, there was a horse path in Luxembourg.

I’m glad your trip worked out so well Allan. It sounds wonderful (except the black flies). Thanks for posting!

Allan, what a great report. We loved Bordeaux, and agree with you about the Aquitaine Museum - simply fabulous.

I do have some more comments, but can't get to them tonight. I'll check back in in a couple of days; I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the excellent report. One of the things I love about your posts is how much of your personality shines through.

I was worried we were driving on private roads or someone's driveway.

It never got to that extreme for us, but it wouldn't have surprised me. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be on those roads in the height of tourist season.

Excellent trip report! Love the details shared. Dordogne here I come.

Allan! What a terrific TR! You guys really had a wonderful time!

I loved Bordeaux and laughed at your comment: "a unique thing we’d never seen before was a QR code on the table to pay your bill."

I was there in Oct 2021 sort of at the end of the pandemic. It was the first place where they had QR codes on the table to use instead of paper menus due to the cleansing they were still doing on things at that time. I had a cell phone but had not signed up for an international phone plan so no data and could not access the menu. I just chose a random item from the chalkboard menu. It was at that very moment that I realized data was a MUST for future travels! Interesting their QR codes have evolved into a payment method.

Next thing to put on your "to-do" list is Fontevraud Abbey where Richard Lionheart is buried...along with his Mom, Alienor d'Aquitaine and Dad, Henry II. Fabulous.

Thanks so much for spending the time to write up both parts of your trip and post them. I have enjoyed traveling along with you!

I’m glad your trip worked out so well Allan. It sounds wonderful.

We still consider ourselves European newbies compared to some on this Forum as this is our 8th trip since 2014. If I were to rank them, the Dordogne is #2 after only SE England in 2022.

Thank you for the great trip report. Your report made me think of some a terrible road we were sent on by Google maps or Michelin in Provence in 2019. One road was very narrow and became extremely rocky. We couldn't turn around, so we managed to get through it with the car, and us, intact. But it was nerve-wracking.

Don’t trust GPS or Google Maps

Warning to future drivers:

In the Dordogne, and in many other rural areas, getting off the road because of GPS directions is common.
Don’t trust this stupid machine that will take you down dirt roads or make you go through a small village unnecessarily because it wrongly believes that you will arrive at your destination 1 minute early.

Directions to villages, towns and sites are very well indicated by road signs like here:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/pmVMUnJPLh879eocA

Follow these directions. Forget the GPS!

In fact I am quite surprised that anyone needs to follow GPS instructions given the amount of road signs installed everywhere and at most road junctions.

The vast majority of roads that connect towns, villages and sites in the Dordogne are departmental roads with a number that starts with a D, on a yellow background, like the D706 and the D66 in the Streetview above.

There are even more signs on this road 1/2 mile further:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/F7jKseuu74JJnGxs7

So follow these departmental roads. If the GPS suddenly wants to make you leave these departmental roads on your itinerary, don't believe it. There is a good chance that it is a mistake.

That being said, being stuck in a dead end in a small village or on a road that ends in a field of sunflowers creates memories to tell.

And when it happens to me during a trip abroad I find it rather funny... :))

Allan, this is wonderful! The Dordogne region of France is high on my list of future travel destinations and this was so helpful to read. You made me feel like I was traveling along right with you.

I am curious about why you loved staying in Beynac, an admittedly very small place with little services. Was it just the town itself? Or was it because it was small and uncrowded? I don't like crowds so I'm always willing to hunt for places that are really really off the beaten path, and it sounds like this was it for you.

Mardee,

I wouldn't call Beynac a "really" off the beaten path place.
In fact all the surroundings of Sarlat within a 15 km radius, where Beynac is and also La Roque-Gageac to name a few, are not off the beaten path compared to the whole Dordogne valley, even if Beynac can seem quiet compared to Sarlat which is a hell invaded by tourists in summer.

I have represented this area by a little gray square in the map below:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1OdPOg8AgsNn0Jlv1cNHkujaWv9p_Jpc&usp=sharing

If you are looking for "really really of the beaten path" you should avoid this area, and you will have tons of other places just as good, if not better

Thanks, JoLui! I'm not quite ready to start planning but I'm bookmarking this and saving it for when I do make it there.

Mardee, Beynac is so different than what I'd normally want, but the combination of an incredibly beautiful small town, the castle on the hill and having that whole house to ourselves was a perfect combination. And JoLui is right, Beynac is close to a lot. There is a small grocery store in town, plus St Cyprien was 10 minutes away with a large grocery store and that market I wrote about.

A thorough and helpful report. Ironically, regarding whether Rick should mention Bordeaux in his guidebooks, he regularly has — to say that Bordeaux must mean boredom in French. When Rick doesn’t like a place, he really doesn’t like it and doesn’t pull his punches. He has equal disdain for Geneva. If, as appears to be the case, Bordeaux is improving as a tourist destination (or perhaps never was quite as bad as Rick found it to be) then maybe he’ll give it another chance and modify his opinion. Sometimes he does that, Bratislava being an example as he’s warmed to it over time.

I do have some more comments, but can't get to them tonight. I'll
check back in in a couple of days; I just wanted to let you know how
much I enjoyed the excellent report. One of the things I love about
your posts is how much of your personality shines through.

Jane, your comments are always appreciated, especially when they boost my ego.

Directions to villages, towns and sites are very well indicated by
road signs like here:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/pmVMUnJPLh879eocA

Good advice and we started learning that near the end of the trip, but the number of individual road signs as shown in your link is something I'm not used to. It was a challenge to get used to when you're a newbie in the region. And often we'd come around a blind corner to an intersection with all these signs and we'd miss seeing what we needed as we drove by, or signs hidden behind tree branches. I'm sure we'll do better next time now that we're used to it.

It's true that the Streetview I chose is a bad example with these leaves that hide part of the signs.

But I could have taken worse as an example

https://maville.com/photosmvi/2021/01/18/P24454129D4459852G.jpg

It is written that you enter this rural village at your own risk because of the children playing in the streets, the tractors driven by farmers who work to feed the population and the herds of cows or sheep that are not always locked in the fields

:))

Wonderful report, Allan

The Dordogne really is a wonderful region and you reminded me of the fun we had cycling through the area last year. We made it to some of the same sights (Bergerac, Font de Gaume, Les Eyzies, Beynac) and some different ones (Chateau Milandes, Belves, La Rocque Gageac). Your trip into Gouffre de Padriac and your balloon ride were totally beyond our experience and it seems that they were wonderful experiences.

Your reference to Richard the Lionhearted made me think of Alienor of Acquitaine, just as it made Pam think of her and her tomb on Abbaye Fonteverauud, alongside Henry II (her second husband), as well as their son, Richard.

She is a fascinating figure. She promoted music and poetry in her court in Acquitaine Her first husband was Louis VII of France. The two went off on the Crusades together and she was a more formidable military figure than he. After they returned to France, she became increasingly unhappy with the marriage and persuaded the Pope to grant an annulment … so she could then marry Henry II of England and unite her own lands in Acquitane with his extensive holdings in northern France (and England) - at the expense of Louis VII.

Too little of her remarkable life is presented either at the Museum of Acquitaine that you visited in Bordeaux (which is a very fine place to spend a couple of hours as you mentioned), or at Abbaye Fontveraud in the Loire Valley.

Too little of her remarkable life is presented either at the Museum of
Acquitaine

Now that I think of it, a lot of what we learned of her was by Google while we were at the museum.

If you are interested in history, and "stories", there is the incredible story of Antoine de Tounens, an adventurer living in Tourtoirac a few kilometers north of Lascaux who left his native Dordogne to go to South America and proclaimed himself king of Patagonia and Araucania.

His grave can be seen in the Tourtoirac cemetery.
On the road that passes in front of the cemetery there is a sign indicating “tomb of the king of Araucania”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Or%C3%A9lie-Antoine_de_Tounens

https://publications-prairial.fr/textures/index.php?id=426&lang=en

In Tourtoirac there is a museum dedicated to him as well as a street named after him.

Allan, everything sounds wonderful! And Beynac sounds very intriguing. I'm definitely saving this information.