Domme and Farewell to the Dordogne

One final day to soak up the Dordogne goodness! On the agenda, a visit to the neighboring town of Domme, which sits prominently at the top of a cliff, overlooking the river valley. I was really excited to see the views, but like all of the other mornings that week, the valley was completely fogged in, even as skies above shone brightly. So we wandered the streets of the village, reputed to be one of the prettiest in France, played around the old windmill, found a great playground and had a picnic lunch in the town square surrounded by their small market. I snuck away to see if the fog was lifting, and sure enough it was! I stood watching the fog slowly vanish and the most amazing views come into sight. Really magical! The kids came to see it and then we played a while longer at the playground before heading home for rest time. 

At the top of the village, fog covering the valley. 

Views down there somewhere??

 

Fog lifting! 

Starting to make out our town (the exposed cliffs at 1 o'clock.

 

Photo by Jude

Playing Doctor

That afternoon, while our kids were resting back home, Nana and Pops drove further East to Rocamadour, another clifftop village, home to many religious buildings. They had a great time strolling, shopping and eating their way through the town.

Back at the ranch, Pete and I enjoyed some outside reading time and then when the kids were awake, we ventured into town in search of the tropical gardens. We found the bamboo forrest, which was a great place for the kids to run around and explore. There was a really cozy looking beer bar inside.

 

 

 

And a return to the pizza place for some al fresco dinning with sunset view to cap off our time in La Roque-Gageac.

Sarlat Market, Wine Tasting and the Indescribable St. Cyprien: A 9th wedding anniversary extravaganza!

A highlight of any visit to France is visiting a town's weekly market. Many in the Dordogne region are seasonal so we missed a lot of summer ones and were too early for the truffle markets, which begin in the winter months (tear!). We made it to the market in Sarlat-la-Caneda on Wednesday though, Pete and my 9th anniversary. It had all of the cheese, baked goods and samples that I dreamed of. The kids enjoyed dressing up like knights in the visitor centre, eating, playing with the geese statue, and the long time spent at the castle themed playground with another picnic lunch in the public gardens.

 

A LOT of foie gras! 

Warm milk for my non-chocolate lover

And real hot chocolate for the ladies!

And beer, of course, for Pete!

Vacation life is hard!

In the afternoon, Pete and I took off to celebrate our anniversary with a trip to Bergerac, home to numerous vineyards. We went to Chateau de Monbazillac, a collective vineyard. The typical wine of the region is a sweet white wine: Monbazillac, naturally. We ventured into downtown Bergerac to go to the Maison des vines to sample more wine, but sadly it was closed for construction. There were some charming homes there, though. 

 

 

Earlier in the week, on our drive to the Rouffignac cave, we passed through St. Cyprien, a small town, which was lined for miles by hand made flowers over the roads. It was an incredible sight and we knew we wanted to return to savor it. After some research, I learned that St. Cyprien was chosen as the village in the Dordogne to host the 99th Felibree, an annual celebration held during the summer. 300,000 paper and plastic flowers were created and hung over 7kms of town roads. It was beautiful beyond words!

Pete caught me in awe!  

 

He was impressed, too!

 

 

 

The beautiful day ended with tucking our kids into bed and driving to Sarlat for a special anniversary dinner. It is so wonderful to have built-in babysitters on these trips! Thanks, Nana and Pops! And happy 9 year, love!