Today’s another long drive to the same area so again we’re up at 6 and on the road by 7. We’re headed to Sarlat (short for Sarlat-de-Canéda). This city is a popular destination which has repeatedly been talked up on travel shows and in magazines and tour companies. Today is their outdoor market, which should be fun. Also, we have signed up for a foodie walking tour.
In Sarlat we find a parking space and an outdoor place for coffee. Closer to tour time we stand at the appointed location and soon meet our fellow tour participants. Two are from Oregon and two from Australia. The Aussie are here for a while and have some money and a car, that’s about it. They don’t have hotel reservations, but rather find places to stay as they go along. How brave!
Eventually we meet our guide, Ben. He confides in us that he was surprised that his company asked him to do a foodie tour (given lack of any experience with food or connection to food). He was soft spoken but OK. He tried.
We walk around Sarlat and Ben tells us stuff about the city and the architecture. We get to sample some of the things the region’s famous for: goose liver, pork rillettes, local liquor. Another place we tasted pork loin and many walnut products. Between tastings we walked around and heard about the buildings and their design and use. We learn that the rocks used for the roofs can easily get up to a ton per square meter. Yikes!
Apparently quite a few tour companies have unloaded many bus-loads of passengers. No matter where our group tried to pause to hear about something, a large tour group would be passing through. It is uncomfortably crowded. The market is seemingly geared towards tourists and not locals. Not as much fun. As the day wears on the sun gets warmer and warmer. Sarlat, on this day, is not our favorite place in the Dordogne.
One amusing incident involved a metal sculpture of three life-size geese. The geese are looking around and positioned where kids can climb on board. We see parents asking their kids to climb on for a picture. A young son obediently clambers aboard for a photo, protesting over the goose's temperature. After they are gone we touch the metal and immediately pull our fingers back due to the heat. We can’t imagine what that poor kid’s legs look like.
Our next stop is Beynac (aka Beynac-et-Cazenec). This is the town where the movie Chocolate (with Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp) was filmed. It is charming, but also warm. And it’s only May! We hike up one side of the town (steep hill with no businesses, open or otherwise) and back down the other side.
We find a place and have lunch. It is on a fairly busy road where, again, the restaurant (with some tables) is on one side of the road and more tables are on the other. The servers are constantly darting back and forth, avoiding cars and trucks, just barely. We can tell that most of the other patrons are, like us, foreign tourists. We’re not able to blend with the locals here.
The drive home is long but air conditioned. We stop for groceries and again pick out houses that we’d happily accept if given to us.
We had put in a call to Pascal earlier in the day about the oven/stove. He eventually calls and later shows up. He apologizes for not getting our message sooner. He explained that he leaves his phone somewhere it doesn’t get any signal. Not wise. He tells us the swap out will be quick and easy. The tank is right next to the stove, in a cabinet, and the tank is about 1/2 the size of a propane tank back in the states. He swaps it out with minimal fuss and we’re back in business.
As has become our custom, we swim in the pool, drink wine, and a tasty Mediterranean dinner is prepared by Karen and Ron. Tomorrow will be our last time driving all the way to the Sarlat area for one last exploration day. At least the weather should be cooler.
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