Saturday 29th April
We woke this morning to rain. It had been raining most of the night. No umbrellas so we hoped that the weather would clear. First stop was a nearby town with a market, but first job was to buy some antihistamines as Rob has got a bad hayfever attack. Then breakfast while we waited for the rain to stop. Wandered through the market and bought cheese, of course, strawberries, and couscous. We'd hoped for paella but were too late - note to self, buy the paella first.
 |
| Markets are so boring! Are we done yet? |
Where to next? A nearby village labelled as one of the most beautiful villages in France, Rocamadour. We had no idea what was there, but this one blew us away. We were driving along this narrow, winding road down into a valley and through a gorge, and came around the corner to the sight of the village built on to the side of the gorge. This was just - oh wow! The photos probably don't really show how impressive this place was. The sad thing is it is very commercialised - lots of shops selling lots of touristy stuff, and high prices for food and drink. Lots of people there today, in spite of the rain, and possibly because Monday is a public holiday, so a long weekend. Not a place to buy a house if you aren't fit and don't like stairs. Thankfully for tourists they have a series of two elevators to take you from the top of the village to the bottom, and back.
 |
| This was what we saw as we were driving down to the village. Wow! |
 |
| We just had to try a bit of this. It's pretty pricey though. |
 |
| This one joined us at the restaurant for lunch. |
A great day - and the couscous for dinner was good. And the cheese and strawberries also yum. We've also bought an umbrella but hopefully the rain will stop.
So, how do we find these villages? We have several books listing lots of villages, including a michelin guide published each year (and free at tourism offices) so we visit some in the areas we are staying. They don't all turn out to be worth a visit, but it gives us half a plan.
I remember this village from last year’s Tour de France. I looked amazing from the helicopter shots.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember it but I don't remember a lot of stuff. I'll have a look at the map of the town and see wher it might have gone. There is quite often a lot of painted stuff on the roads.
DeleteI looked it up and you're right Annie. They came in from a different direction, but same town. We will be travelling some of the planned roads for this year's TdF over the next few weeks.
Delete