Daylight savings time ended in France at 2:00 AM this morning. I neglected to reset my watch and have been an hour off all day. Mom prefers to remind me that I have been a bit off since she first met me.

Today is our last full day in Sarlat, so we will wrap up a few loose ends that we wished to see while here. First is the Gardens of Marqueyssac. The Gardens are associated with a Chateau, but the real attractions are the gardens and their view of the surrounding countryside. The gardens are perched on the top of a several hundred meter high hill alongside the Dordogne River, the major river flowing through the Dordogne Valley. The garden’s walking paths offer great views of the river and a number of magnificent chateaus on nearby hilltops (one of which is our second destination this afternoon.)

During our walk we ran into Richard and Sally from Nottingham England for the second day on a row. They are a delightful couple we met yesterday at Maison Forte de Reignac. We had a nice chat with them there and we continued our chats today as we strolled along the paths at the Gardens of Marqueyssac. It turns out that Richard and I have a lot in common with our work in the IT industry.

Chateau de Castelnaud was our last destination today. The chateau was initially built in the 1200s and after falling into disrepair has been repaired and opened to the public. As with the Gardens of Marqueyssac, in our opinion it’s main claim to fame is its views of the Dordogne River and Valley and the other chateaus in the area. The climbs up the Chateau’s steps were a bit much for Jan, so we limited our visit to the lower areas of the Chateau. Even with this limitation, our visit was thought provoking. In addition to their exhibits of daily life in a chateau of that era, the chateau offered an extensive display of armaments used in the 13th – 16th centuries and videos characterizing the evolution of chateau or castle design as the tools of war evolved over the same time frame.

Saturday is open air market day in Sarlat. We walked around town amongst the market vendors. Jan made a few purchases. The scene is not unlike a market day in the US with many small vendors exhibiting their wares under small shelters. The main difference is that the main streets of the town are turned into pedestrian walkways with vendor shelters along both sides of the streets. We stopped for a coffee in one of the squares and watched several larger vendors break down their displays of food products. There must not be a French FDA as food handling was quite casual and cooked chickens etc appear to be transported unrefrigerated. We have noticed this elsewhere in France as well.

During the afternoon we took one of our signature cross country rides (via GPS guidance over shortest route with unhurried pace) to a close by area (20km) with several cliff dwellings. We did not know what to expect at our destination, but the countryside we rode through was beautiful. It was similar to the mountains of north Georgia. We drove through many small isolated communities of a half dozen buildings or so and assumed they were family farms. At each enclave the grounds were neat and well groomed, and the buildings were generally well maintained. Fields were neatly tilled as if in preparation for next spring’s crops. The main exception was fields of sunflower plants. Dead plants were left on the fields with flower heads intact. We assume this is to allow the seeds to dry before they are harvested. The sunflower fields must be beautiful when the plants are in full bloom.

Roque Sainte Christophe Fort et Cite Troglodytiques

A cliff face that has allegedly been occupied for over 55,000 years. We could not get close to the cliff face as they were in the process of filming some sort of documentary. It was easy to see why the cliff location was picked by early residents of the area. The cliff offered shelter and defense and the nearby Vezere River provided water.

Maison Forte de Reignac

A fort and residence built into sheltered areas in a cliff face. It has allegedly been occupied for over 15,000 years. I entered expecting a hokey exhibit similar to Rock City in Chattanooga but was pleasantly surprised to find a well done and thought provoking exhibit of life as it must have been over the centuries at this location. We enjoyed our trek through it.

Vezere River and Valley

The Vézère is a 211 km long river in southwestern France. It is an important tributary to the Dordogne River. Its source is in the northwestern part of the elevated plateau known as the Massif Central. It flows to the southwest.

The Vézère Valley is famed for its prehistoric cave systems, containing numerous cave paintings and hominid remains. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) collectively designated these a World Heritage Site in 1979.

One of my favorite sayings is “sometimes even blind pigs find acorns”. I now know how they feel when they find one.

Our overnight location tonight – Rocamadour – was picked purely due to its geographic position. It is a comfortable four hour drive from Creissels and on a line from Creissels and our Dordogne Region destination Sarlat-la-Caneda which I had already picked. I didn’t spend a lot of time looking into the town itself. I expected us to hit town, get a good night’s sleep, and hit the road early. The hotel’s rating was on the low side, which worried me, but it’s location trumped the rating.

It turned out that the town of Rocamadour was the “wow” moment of the trip to date. Our first view of it was a glimpse of what appeared to be a hill town sculpted in relief into the side of a cliff face. As we got closer it turned into a town, and our GPS took us up its winding approach road and through one of its (very) narrow town portals (close-our-car-mirrors narrow a la our earlier experience with Tony and Diane in Cetona). Jan had a worried look on her face and I wasn’t sure what was in store but we trusted our GPS and headed down the two donkey wide road. She (the GPS) stopped us at a three donkey wide spot in the road and said “you are at your destination”. Now what? We spotted the hotel and Jan guided me off the road as far as possible so we could unload the bags and I could carry them up to our third floor room (no elevator, hence the hotel’s rating). Parking at the hotel was not prudent if we wanted an unscathed rental car, so I drove it down to the parking lot in the valley below, then hiked back up to the hotel. By the time I rejoined Jan I felt like I had hiked Mt LeConte again!

The rest of our evening was very nice. We had a nice glass of local red wine at the hotel and then walked about the town looking into store windows (Jan) and exploring interesting nooks and crannies (me). We found a casual brasserie for dinner, and ate at a patio table that overlooked the valley below and the Church of Santa Maria a hundred meters above.

But wait, as TV pitchman Billy Mays used to say in his infomercials, there is more!! This morning on our way to Sarlat la Caneda we visited the Grotte des Merveilles, a cave close to Rocamadour which contains a number of cave drawings made by cro-magnon residents of the area 25,000 years ago. Mom and I joined a tour (in French with English subtitles) of the cave and learned lots about caves in general and the art of early man. It was fascinating. Photos were not allowed, but we will carry the mental images with us for years.

Aix is a beautiful city worthy of being on any European itinerary. Another day here would be nice but it is time to move on to our next destination Creissels. Our accommodations there are in a 12th century castle. Mom hopes they have updated plumbing.

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Our drive through the Cevennes National Park and the Cevennes Mountains was the highlight of our day. The scenery reminded us of the US western high plains with its mixture of rocky terrain and smaller trees, only much lusher.

We got into an argument with our GPS – she wanted us to take a side road that was not wide enough for two cars to pass (actually I made a wrong turn and she tried to make me look manly by quickly adjusting her route to reflect my error) but Jan put her foot down so we retraced our steps and continued on the original route.

Our lunch stop was at a small restaurant in the outskirts of Quissac.

We stayed at Chateau de Creissels which operates in a castle in the beautiful city of Creissels. As was mentioned earlier, the castle was reputedly built in the 12th century. Parts of the castle burned in the 18th century, and the guest rooms – which were quite modern – were built in the section that burned. Dinner was served in what must have been the castle’s wine cellar or cold storage room. The structure was similar to the wine cask storage areas we saw in Multepulciano – it was underground and shaped like a Quonset hut but made of brick. It must have been a challenge to construct as the castle is perched on a stone base.

While Mom was resting before dinner, my camera and I walked around Creissels in search of interesting shots. We found a number of streams flowing through the city through a combination of natural stream beds and waterfalls interspersed with small stone aqueducts. I asked the hotel staff about the aqueducts and was told they were constructed in the 8th century. They were quite nonchalant about it, similar to us telling someone about a house in Atlanta built in the ’30s.

The cliffs around Creissels and Millau seem to have quite an active community of paragliders. Two or three cliffs were in regular use during my walk, and at one point I could see four paragliders soaring around one of the cliffs.

The Millau Viaduct, located within view from our hotel, is a beautiful modern suspension bridge. Each of its six plus support towers is taller than the Eiffel Tower. The bridge was built in the past ten years, and Mom and I suspect that it’s construction and the influx of construction crews and technology may have contributed to the city of Millau’s interesting mix of old and new architecture. We really enjoyed walking around Millau before we left town Thursday morning.

We spent last night in Marseille, and instead of a second night there, we moved on to Aix-en-Provence this morning. It is early afternoon and we are preparing to leave the hotel and head into Old Town for the afternoon.

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It is evening now and we are back at the hotel resting our feet. We enjoyed a delightful afternoon randomly wandering about the streets of the old city. The entryway into the old city is marked by the Fontaine de la Rotonde, a beautiful fountain built around 1860.

Fontaine de la Rotonde periodically springs into life. The fountain is fed by springs under the city of Aix.

Other highlights of our walk included Eglise du Saint-Esprit (Church of the Holy Spirit), stops for coffee, and people watching. Aix is a university town full of a diverse population of young people. It was fun watching them interacting with each other and enjoying the mild fall afternoon. Regardless of age, the people here were stylishly dressed. If their styles are predictors of US styles, expect to see short skirts, dressy shorts, and colorful scarves next year.

Jan taking a break while I take a few photos.

Interestingly enough, we did not see any other US tourists during our walks. I expected to see quite a few as we did in Italy.

Everyone we have met in Aix has been welcoming and helpful. For example, on our way back to the hotel this afternoon, we stopped for a few moments to consult our map and make sure we were making the right turn. Very shortly a young French couple came up to us and asked if we were lost or needed help.

Language has not been an issue. Most we have approached know enough English to answer our questions, and if they don’t, the Google Translator iPhone app is our friend. Thank you Google!!

Departed Pisa

We stopped at Arenzano, Italy for lunch. Arenzano is a small coastal town just north of Genoa. We ate at a trattoria beside the Mediterranean Sea. The view was nice even though the day is cloudy.

The drive from Pisa to Marseille winds along the coast and through the mountains of Italy. Views of Italian hill cities and occasionally the Sea are spectacular. As we approached the French border the landscape started to moderate toward a north GA / western NC type landscape with rolling and more widely spaced mountains as opposed to the more abrupt peaks and valleys of the Alps.

Driving in Marseille is a challenge. Too many cars and scooters. We are staying at a hotel close to the Harbor. Hotel staff has been very hospitable but the harbor area turns out to be a haven for tourists and not the kind of place we would normally pick. We picked it because we have not been here and it appeared to give us a central base of operations in Provence. We will decide today whether to stay a second night or move up the road to Aix.

Marina di Pisa

This morning we drove to the Marina di Pisa to see the coastline. On the way back I missed a turn and we ended up on a nice street that ran alongside the Arno river. There were nice old buildings on both sides of the river – and few tourists. A different view of Pisa.

As we were driving along the Arno, we saw an unusual church on the opposite side of the river but could not identify it on the fly. This afternoon after I left the Duomo I spent a few minutes researching it. It turns out that it is the Santa Maria Della Spira church. A small church built in the 1200s and reputed to be one of the best examples of Gothic architecture in Italy. I was able to find it but after ten unsuccessful trips around the block trying to find a parking space had to give up.

Our host has recommended his favorite “locals only” restaurant for tonight – Trattoria Da Nedo. We are Looking forward to it.

I am now heading back to Piazza del Duomo to tour the Baptistery and Cathedral. Too many tourists there, but the architecture is marvelous. Jan is staying home this afternoon to nurse her cold.

The Pisa Duomo or Cathedral. It is as beautiful inside as it is outside. The photo was taken from the upper level of the Baptistery. The Cathedral’s Bell Tower or Campanile (aka the Leaning tower of Pisa) can be seen in the background.  As an aside, I had trouble with the leveling of all photos that included the tower.  I must have subconsciously tried to straighten the tower when composing the shots.  They will be fixed when I return home.

Departed Montepulciano
Drove to Pisa
Lunch at a small pizzeria. Staff was very friendly.
Minor issue with locating correct residence in a multi-family building. The issue was quickly resolved.
Met Rosy and Sinclair. Sinclair (African Grey Parrot) is a character.

Tonight we visited the Piazza del Duomo for a short time and then had a quick dinner at at small pizzeria close to Paizza del Duomo. We will probably return there tomorrow and tour several of the church buildings.