Dordogne Days

After a big day of travel on Saturday we kept things pretty close to the campground on day 1 , with a visit to the Jardins de Marqueyssac and the local bastide town of Domme. The gardens, which are a national historical monument, are part of a private estate that dates back to the 17th century. They sit nearly 200m above The Dordogne River, providing spectacular panoramic views of the river valley (including other Chateaux). The gardens, and the Chateau they are associated with, fell into disrepair in the second half of the 20th century, and were only restored and reopened to the public in 1997. Our only disappointment is that we went to the gardens with a fully laden picnic (including obligatory baguettes hanging out of our bags) only to be told that we couldn’t eat in the gardens! After lunch (eaten in the picnic area outside the gardens) we headed to the bastide (or fortified) town of Domme. Set on a promontory high above the Dordogne it retains most of its 13th century ramparts and is certainly very pretty...as is everything around here (it seemed to be the word of the day; “pretty village”, “pretty river”, “pretty road”). It’s quite a change from the Mediterranean/Catalan (and vineyard) scenery we’ve had for the last 3 months. Much greener, more rural and, in some ways, more typically classic French.

Day 2 we got even closer to The Dordgone with a canoe trip down the river – H in one with Amy and Sarah, and me in the other with Caitlin. Not sure who got the best of that arrangement! Was a fantastic way to spend a morning, paddling down the slow moving river past high limestone cliffs, old riverside villages and under 3 stone bridges (one of which you can see in this photo).