We'll never get tired of this

Thursday 24th April 

One of the highlights of this trip - and all our other trips to France. Carrieres de lumieres - quarries of light. This time the feature was Claude Monet with the support act Henri Rousseau. It still blows my mind to see the artwork projected on the quarry walls and be immersed in the pictures and sound. I'll let the photos do the talking.

Odette enjoyed the show too.

Henri Rousseau.

Last time we were here the parking meters were having issues - would not accept my cards, and would not accept cash. Eventually it did accept my AU visa card. This time I won - first card worked. 

Looking back to the village of les Baux de Provence.

This is fairly typical of the rocky countryside in this area.

We'd decided on a shorter day with lunch, grocery shopping and laundry on the way back to the hotel. Lunch - at a relais we spotted as we tore past. U-turn and back we went. Groceries - a supermarket along the way, and bonus, lavarie in the car park. Wonder if we'll ever see these in Australia? Maybe not, as most homes have a laundry. 

It's been a while since we took Odette out for lunch.

Lunch at a roadside relais.
Fish and a meringue and ice cream dessert.

Laundry in supermarket car park
- alongside the car wash in the car park. 

Another dot on the map

 Wednesday 23rd April

Today we have moved on down into Provence. A long day on the road, but, again, mostly good wider roads and not too much traffic. 

Stopped briefly for coffee on the way - sitting outside it was very breezy and quite cool. We decided to stop and have a look around the village of Uzes. Rob and I were convinced we had been to this village before and we both had the same picture in our heads. But, no, when we got there it was not the village we were thinking of (it was Eze which is down on the coast near Nice). We wandered through the old medieval part of town and browsed the food market (Wednesday - market day). The Chateau in the centre of town has been owned by the same family for 1000 years.

The Chateau at Uzes.

A few shots around the village.

Lots of seafood choice at the market
- mussels are really cheap. On the menu soon!

We arrived at our accommodation around 4pm. It's been a challenge sometimes to find a place but this time I did a good job. We are staying at a golf resort in an apartment. It is 2 bedrooms though the second bedroom is very small. We have a full kitchen so doing our own meals. And Rob has a TV (forgot at the camping place) so he can channel surf all the french stations. We are here for 5 nights so a little bit of a breather before we start heading north again.

Out for lunch.

We're not in Victoria any more, Toto.

Tuesday 22nd April 

A travel day today, headed east towards Provence. The roads travelled today were great - no hint of the potholed roads in Victoria. Most of the way was on motorways (not our normal roads we use) but we were able to cover the distance quickly and smoothly with no breathing in every time a car came the other way. 

We stopped briefly in Rodez for fuel - both car and people. We've had some issues with our cards not working at some fuel stops so we are mindful now of finding servos with attendants. 

Travelled via the viaduct at Millau - which is supposedly the highest bridge in the world. In looking for a good photo spot we came across a lovely village on a cliff face (Peyrde) at the edge of the Tarn River, then leaving Peyrde via the very very low class road, up the mountain and along the ridge, we came across an even better photo spot.

The village of Peyrde - built on a cliff.
Apparently pretty spectacular in the rain
as the rain runs down in to the river.

Millau viaduct - we have seen docos on TV about this bridge.
We didn't go across it as it wasn't going where we wanted - and it requires a toll!

And now we are at a place called Barjac - not my best accommodation pick. It is 10k up into the hills from a main road - road ends about 200m beyond where we are (not a quick trip to the shops for bread and milk). Unfortunately, steps down to the bedroom and bathroom. Lovely house, fairly new and modern - we will cope but not my preferred accommodation.  

This was actually a very peaceful place to stay. If I arrived with all my food needs I could really relax here. There was a small terrace getting just a little bit of warmth from the sun. The people who own it are farmers - he was off to milk after we arrived. Apparently 2 days ago they had snow here - glad we missed that though it would have been really pretty. 

Le Loft - the upper village.

View from the terrace.

Rooster - symbol of France.

And we found a friend - he wasn't sure,  but the tail was wagging.

Pacques - Easter

 Monday 21st April

Today is the main Easter celebration day in France. We were unsure what we would find open today, but headed off hopeful we would at least find food. 

They have had a lot of rain here over the past 2 days and the Dordogne river is now flooded. Water, water, everywhere! No canoeing on the river today. We allowed Dora to decide the route for the day - she loves all the little narrow roads, up hill and down dale. Thankfully the roads were very quiet today. No idea of exactly which way she took us, but we did eventually arrive at Domme.

First stop was the village of Domme - 17th century walled village perched on a hill (as they do). As per usual, coffee and crepes before we started wandering the village. Spectacular views from the remparts looking down over the Dordogne River. We did a quick walk of the village (not as cold today), then browsed the tourist shops. Plenty of ways to part with my money, but we've still got 10 weeks to go. 

The Dordogne River - flooded after 2 days of rain.

Coat of arms of Domme.

Are these helebores? I'm clueless about plants.

Kerry and I freezing our butts off.

Another cutie.

Rob got his car fix - a touring group of porsches.

Off to Monpazier which we visited on a previous trip, and I was hopeful of finding the wool shop open. No such luck - Easter and a lot of places were closed. We did visit the jewellery shop which we visited last trip. Not a lot else open but we did find a place for lunch.

We decided we would buy a pizza on the way home to heat up for dinner (no supermarkets open). Rob spotted a place so we stopped there. It had the look and feel of an old fashioned country pub, and I think the owner has been making pizzas there since Noah was a boy. By the time he heated the oven, made the dough, and cooked the pizza, our 5 min stop turned in to half an hour. Pizza was okish - the chooks enjoyed the leftovers.

Rocamadour - rocking it.

 Sunday 20th April

Rain appeared to have gone this morning, but very cold. Coats and beanies out for our trip to Rocamadour. Where we are staying was only 20k away so a short drive. We were hoping we were coming in to the village the way we did last time, but no, we were on a less scenic approach. So we drove down through the village and up the other side where the good views were.

Having been here before we knew the ropes for parking and access to the lower levels of the village. The first level was the church and sanctuarie where we popped in on Easter Sunday mass.

The lower level was all the tourist shops. We got caught again with just a small morsel of nougat costing 40€ - it is 69€ per kg, and it is heavy stuff. We will eat it sparingly over the next few weeks and try not to leave it in a hotel like we did last trip.

Isn't this just spectacular.

Nowhere near as crowded as our previous visit.
The cold and the rain has kept people away.

We had a lovely lunch in Rocamadour - brochette de boeuf (shaslicks) and Rob had duck. 

Leaving Rocamadour the rain started. We were headed for a laundromat in a nearby town (couldn't find it) but the next nearby town we found one in the carpark at Aldi, and washing done.

To market, to market.

 Saturday 19th April 

On the road early this morning with a plan to get to Sarlat la Caneda for the Saturday market. We decided not to stop along the way, but to have breakfast on arrival. It ws motorway most of the way with speed limit of 130 (or a little but more). Not my cup of tea- especially as it rained most of the way. A little bit of a Cooks tour of Sarlat when we picked the wrong option for going in to the town, but we eventually found the parking we were aiming for.

We managed to pick up our free 2025 copy of the michelin guide to beautiful villages in France - we have picked one up each year and always find other places to visit that we have not seen before.

Great market with lots of food and 'stuff' to buy. Not overly busy today probably due to the rain and the cold. We came home with cheese, ham, pate, olives - dinner. Lunch was a bowl of French onion soup which was lovely.

Sarlat in the rain.

Dog of the day - lots to choose from at the market -
not the place for our Meg I don't think.

Plenty of pate to be found here - the local food.

Very quiet when we first arrived.
I got the sense that there weren't as many stalls as there has been in the past
(we have visited this market on each trip to France).

On to our next stop - a place called Camping les Paillotes (straw huts). A slight oops with the satnav first took us to the wrong village, but no drama, we were only a few k away. When we arrived here (in bucketing rain) the owners invited us in for coffee. They had their son and his family there and were celebrating the grandsons 13th birthday. They were very happy to have us there (their first Australians), and for a very small fee they upgraded our cabin. We are here for 3 nights - a little bit of a rest though we have plans for each day.