Mom and I had a big day planned for today. We went to Chateau Beynac. They had a parking meter where you could buy time, and I got 90 minutes for 2 euros. The chateau itsef was 8 euros. The toilets were very open. I took a photo. But the chateau was great! I've got a lot of pics I'll post later. It's an old chateau set above a river. You have to drive up some really small winding roads, which seems to be the norm in this area. The chateau grounds were paved with rocks. Not nice paving stones, like inside, but sometimes randomly shaped rocks and stones. It was rather difficult to walk on. The view was amazing, though! I climbed all the way to the top ramparts, but mom stayed downstairs because of her knee. Afterwards, my knee wasn't so good. Outside the chateau was a church, which I started to walk to, but the entire way was downhill on those darn rocks, so I gave up and turned around.
After Beynac we were going to stop for lunch. We stopped at a nearby market for drinks, but the restaurant next door was closed on Mondays. We were going to Castelnaud next, so we headed that way. We saw a foie gras store and stopped in there. We got some foie gras samples, and mom had a wine sample. The lady waiting on us was English, and the husband of the owner was chef at a restaurant in town. The English lady said the best thing to do was just drive and get lost, and see what you find.
We went into Castelnaud and drove the winding roads to the chateau. Parking was 3 euros. This was another place with no toilet seats and only a sink. Le sigh. We walked towards the chateau and found the restaurant where the foie gras' lady's husband works. We ordered hamburgers, because that was easy and relatively cheap. The burgers were huge! Neither of us could finish them. After that we headed towards the chateau. The walkways were all blacktop but it was very hilly. We had gone down, and now had to go up a really steep bit to get to the chateau. Mom and I both decided that maybe we should just take photos from outside. So we went back to the car. Just getting there was a steep walk. A lot of the hills are like the ones near our house. Which are pretty steep!
We'd seen some signs at the roundabouts (there's a ton in France!) and we headed back to follow them. One was to a garden, but when we followed the sign we ended up at someone's house. We found another chateau sign and followed it. The road led along the river and by a private chateau and a church. Eventually we got to the chateau we were looking for.
This chateau was the one that had belonged to Josephine Baker. Parking was free but the entrance was 9.20 euros. The chateau was really neat. You got to go through 3 floors, with costumes and furniture set out, like a museum. It was pretty well done, mom and I both liked it. Unfortunately, you couldn't take pictures. There's a bar and restaurant on site, and the first bathroom we saw with toilet seats, soap, and a hand dryer! We arrived just in time for the bird show. They had some hawks, a number of owls, and a bald eagle! I took some photos. The show was in French, so I could only undertand bits and pieces. At one point they took out a ferret and brought it around so everyone could see it was real. Then they let it run in the yard, and let the hawk lose. I was a little concerned, because I love ferrets. But the guy had said something about ferrets being domesticated animals, and when he released the hawk, it ignored the ferret. Then they sent out a mechanical rabbit and it pounced on that.
We went back to Sarlat after that. We stopped off for some bottled water at the Casino, and headed home. We had leftover korma for supper and then starting planning the rest of the week. One thing I haven't mentioned is dessert. There's a local specialty that we've been having all week. It's a thin crust, with chopped up walnuts, almost like a very thin pecan pie. But on top is a dark chocolate. It's very good, but very rich, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment