Dinans on the Road

Friday through Thursday, May 24 through 30

Ever since we spent time in Sarlat 7 years ago, we have talked about renting a house or an apartment here for a month. We really liked this medieval city, with its honey-colored stone, its market, and its charming pedestrian streets.

Though we didn’t stay for a month, we did rent an apartment for a week. I especially wanted to be inside the medieval heart of the town, which narrows one’s options. However, we found a 2-bedroom/2-bath apartment just right for the four of us. It was located on a small square tucked in off one of the busy market streets—Cours des Fontaines. Easy access to the market and restaurants. The cathedral was only a block away.

I love the sound of church bells, and Sarlat’s cathedral bells chime on the hour alright but also chime enthusiastically and at some length twice a day. On Ascension Thursday morning, we had chiming that lasted over 10 minutes.

Cathedral St-Sacerdos, begun in the 12th century and completed in the 16th to 17th centuries.

We went up the lift at the covered market. It rises to the top, and the glass enclosure goes beyond the obvious building structure so that you are surrounded by the views and open air above—an exhilarating way to see the medieval city.

Maison de la Boetie, an interesting combination building. It was built in 1525, with Renaissance style on the upper two floors.

A timbered building in the heart of the old city.

The Place du Marche aux Oies, where geese were traditionally sold. If there is one product you can count on finding in Sarlat, it is foie gras. There are numerous specialty shops and many vendors at the weekly markets offering both duck and goose foie gras.

We especially enjoyed walking through the Presidial neighborhood. It sits uphill from the main square and has narrow, curving streets.

For our final night in Sarlat and our final night with Jill and Randy, we splurged with dinner at Le Presidial, a lovely old property in this pretty neighborhood. We ate outside on a balmy evening—a very nice way to wrap up our time in this very special place.

Friday, May 24, through Thursday, May 30

Sarlat is known for being a very good market town. When we stayed here in 2012, we got to see both the Wednesday and Saturday markets, the two days markets are held each week.

Not long before we left for France this year, I saw a Facebook post by Cameron Hewitt, one of Rick Steves’ primary guidebook writers and a good blogger to follow. He was listing the top 10 markets in Europe. It was a countdown from #10 to #1. Sarlat garnered the #1 spot. That’s some serious street cred.

Saturday Market in Sarlat—It’s larger and includes purveyors of goods, such as soaps and clothing, not just food items.

Wednesday Market—Seemed to be just as crowded, though there were lots fewer vendors.

But we hit the jackpot, if seeing markets is your wish. Not only were we there for the two regular weekly markets, but we got a special bonus. On Thursday, France (or at least this part of France) was celebrating Ascension Thursday. Many people had a 4-day weekend. In Sarlat that translated to having the market on Thursday and Friday as well. That meant we were almost in a state of perpetual marketdom while we were there.

Ah, but the Ascension holiday brought something extra. Animals. Lots of animals. Penned animals. Many kinds of chickens, which meant we had competing roosters waking us early those last two days. Rabbits, donkeys, goats, ducks and geese, horses and cows. The pens were set up on Wednesday. The animals arrived early Thursday morning. Most of the horses and cows got a reprieve Thursday night, but the rest spent the night in their cages.

To say this is a popular event would be making a fairly mild statement. People arrived in droves, and families were heavily represented. Our apartment was located on a small, interior square. It had been designated a children’s space. We had chickens, pigeons, and rabbits in cages. But we also had a face painting station and tables and materials set up for art projects.

I love markets, and it was a lucky thing to be able to see this special event, but this was right on the edge of there being too much of a good thing.

Friday, May 24

On our way to Sarlat (our home for the next week), we stopped for a quick stroll through the old town district of Bergerac. Jerry and I had seen it briefly in 2012 and had always wanted to spend more than the 15 minutes it was allotted on our tour. While this was not an exhaustive exploration, we were glad to get to wander through it and see more than we had previously. We were glad, too, that Jill and Randy would see it.

One quickly thinks of Cyrano de Bergerac, and we did bump into him a couple times. What had struck us before was the unusual form of timbering, called fish bone. The reason for the term is evident when you see the buildings.

Wednesday and Thursday, May 22 and 23

We checked out of our hotel and went to the train station. Jill and Randy had hired a car to transport us and our gear. A very nice Mercedes van, a form of transport to which we could happily become accustomed. We picked up a new car, one a bit better sized to handle four people and their bags, and headed to St-Emilion.

Though we (Jerry and I) had just recently spent time in wine country, we wanted to let Jill and Randy see at least one wine region. St-Emilion, the city, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. And St-Emilion, the wine region, is particularly scenic. It’s also quite close to Bordeaux and somewhat on the way to our next destination.

In 2012, once our Road Scholar tour was over, we had taken a train from Bordeaux to Biarritz. We had picked up a car and spent about 10 days exploring French Basque Country and Gascony. To finish off that trip, we had decided to spend our last two nights in a lodging in a vineyard. Just sounds romantic and relaxing, don’t you think? We spent those two nights at the Chateau de Mole in Puisseguin, one of the St-Emilion satellite wine districts.

Puisseguin and the Chateau de Mole was where we headed again.

We had forgotten just how beautiful the St-Emilion wine country is. Lovely contoured hills and lush green vistas. Thanks to some inconveniently placed road construction, we had a very scenic trek to our hotel in Puisseguin.

After checking in, we sat out on the terrace for awhile at our hotel, getting some fresh air and catching up on our emails, etc. In one of those funny, serendipitous moments, we got an email from Cellar Door, our usual source of wine in Portland, with a special offer on a Puisseguin wine. What in the world are the chances of that happening?! We thought it a sign for sure and promptly ordered some of the wine. The next morning, we happened to drive by the winery and stopped to take a quick look. That, too, was a serendipitous sighting. This wine has some seriously good vibes going for it.

We had an idyllic dinner our first night. A balmy evening, seated on the terrace of an old presbytery, at the foot of a very old church. The food was very good. It gets dark quite late here, but eventually we were bathed in a pink glow from the sunset. Then, in typical French fashion, the church and several other buildings around us became illuminated as the evening darkened—adding yet another layer of charm.

On Thursday, we spent time in St-Emilion itself. We visited the cathedral and admired the view from the main square. After Jill and Randy and we completed our separate explorations, we met for some iced tea and a chance to do some people watching on the square.

We took a scenic vineyard drive back to our hotel, stopping to enjoy the views from a particularly nicely situated chateau.

When we had checked in the day before, we had requested a wine tasting at Chateau de Mole for this afternoon. We were taken out to the edge of the vineyard, then the fermentation room and the aging cellar. We then tasted three wines, each representing different levels of their wine—a lighter style wine meant to be drunk young; a typical wine of the Puisseguin area; and a special, reserve wine.

We had another lovely dinner, this evening at a restaurant Jerry and I had deemed to be the best meal of our 2012 trip, Le Clos Mirande. It was a nice finish to our short stay.

As we left on Friday, we soaked in all the pretty views we could.