In addition to great food, charming villages and beautiful chateaux, the Dordogne region is also known for its prehistoric cave art, featuring some of the oldest artworks known to man, dating back 12,000 years! (Think this). There are over half a dozen caves in the region that you can visit. The largest is a reproduction of an original that was being threatened by too many tourists. We would have liked to have seen that one, but decided to see one of the real deal ones instead. The tour was on a small train so we hoped that the kids would be entertained as well. No photos were allowed in the caves so I'll tell you what we saw: Cave bear scratch marks throughout and dozens of cave bear beds for hibernation (those suckers were BIG!). Gives a whole new meaning to "We're going on a bear hunt!" Just glad the kids weren't scared! Apparently the caves were used by bears and early man, but never at the same time (that may not have ended well). The cave art that we saw was mostly depictions of wooly mammoths and horses. They had dark outlines and often some carving, but no color like you can see in other caves. The caves were dug out to make room for tourists to see the art, but the cave men/women? would have been lying on their backs in these confined spaces making their art. What were they doing there? Why were they depicting these animals? What a wondrous world we live in!
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| Exiting the cave back into daylight and the 21st century. |
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| Cave entrance |
Maeve was her normal clingly self, not letting anyone do anything for her except mommy. I'm trying hard to savor this time, but get rather fed up with all of the carrying/stroller pushing/removing her from carseat/bedtime/bathroom stops! She is at her happiest when given sweets (exhibit A below).
We were due some relaxation time back "home" after the busy day out!
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