I loved Sarlat so much, I decided to skip Saturday’s optional trip to Rocamadouer so I could experience the market and spend an unstructured day in this delightful medieval town.
On our first day, we had a guided tour during which we learned Sarlat was founded in the 800’s by Benedictine monks who chose the location because of its water supply.
Back in those days the church was all powerful, so the abbot ruled the city until he was accidentally killed by one of the monks. He had the misfortune to be standing right behind the actual target, who ducked at exactly the right minute. Then this war happened, that war happened, the rich got richer…and here we are today, viewing a statue that looks a whole lot like Mick Jagger. (Actually that’s not exactly what the guide said, but it’s about all I remember.)
In addition to being market day, Saturday is also the day that you can take a glass elevator to the top of what was once a cathedral, but has since been repurposed into an indoor market.
We weren’t able to get out of the glass elevator, but that’s okay because we still had a panoramic view. We saw a whole lot of rooftops and the nearby church — yes another one, close by, because a town can never have too many churches.
One of our days in Sarlat was spent visiting the nearby Lascaux Caves. The original cave, which dates back more than 25,000 years, was closed off because carbon dioxide from tourists’ breath was endangering the cave paintings. Instead, replicas have been built, and Lascaux 4, the one we toured, has been faithfully reproduced BUT, it is even better, because of the added museum which has a multimedia show.
Our guide explained that these artists were thought to use sticks with horsehairs for paint brushes, moss as sponges, and tubes from which they spit pigment —a precursor of spray paint?
We had a delightful lunch in Uzerche, where Laetitia took this group photo.
We also visited Commarque Castle, which is slowly being restored by the son of the former mayor, who was killed when the son was a year old because of the mayor’s activities with the resistance.
Although much of the castle is in ruins, you can still climb up and visit the restored section, so of course, I did.
Time to move on. Next stop, Carcassone.
Destination NOW 