SARLAT OR SPAIN?
“I want to go away for my birthday”, Alison declared.
Fantastic, somewhere warm?
Why do you want to go to Sarlat?
“There’s a great Christmas market and we’ve never been!”
But its cold, wet and damp!
“It’ll be lovely!”
It’ll be closed!
“But I’d like to go to The Dordogne“
Why? What about somewhere warm to top up our tans?
“I want to go to Sarlat!”
OK!
So, we booked an apartment and looked forward to a weekend away in Sarlat.
Everyday we checked the weather forecast, RAIN!
HEADING FOR THE RAIN…..
The day arrived, 7th December 2023, we packed up the car and grabbed our pillows (and mattress topper), and headed off in the Volvo towards the rain.
Leaving behind our lovely sunny skies in Tarn, we headed towards Sarlat. We passed through some lovely little villages and towns including Lisle sur Tarn, Caussade and Cahors……we will discover these places more in the future, they all look worth a visit!
After driving for around 3 hours, we arrived in Sarlat.
It was damp!
We found our lodgings pretty easily. A studio apartment with lots of room, a vaulted shower, which we think had been a steam room in the past, a comfortable bed, well equipped kitchen, washing machine in a cupboard and mincing toilet! We hate mincing toilets!
The reason we picked this flat was the parking. It has private parking to the rear of the building and it’s an easy walk to the centre of the old town.
We booked the apartment through Gites de France and it is on Boulevard Nessmann.
Upon arrival, Niyada met us, the property manager. She was very helpful and gave us lots of recommendations of places to go and see.
It wasn’t raining!
We quickly unpacked the car, put on some warm clothes and headed out to see the town. WOW!! It was beautiful!
Sarlat la Canéda is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France. The region known as the Périgord Noir (the Black Périgord) is where the town of Sarlat is located, as opposed to the Green Périgord, the White Périgord, and the Purple Périgord.
Sarlat is a medieval town that developed around a large Benedictine abbey of Carolingian origin. The medieval Sarlat Cathedral is dedicated to Saint Sacerdos. Sarlat has remained preserved and is one of the French towns most representative of 14th century France. It owes its current status on France’s Tentative List for future nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage site to the enthusiasm of writer, resistance fighter and politician André Malraux, who, as Minister of Culture (1960-1969), restored the town and many other sites of historic significance throughout France.
The centre of the old town consists of impeccably restored stone buildings and and has a wonderful market in Place de la Liberté on Saturday and Wednesday mornings.
The Old médiéval town of Sarlat is really something else; it feels like being on a film set. Filmmakers have shot a few films here, including Les Miserables and Revenge of the Musketeers.
The town is built around Cathedral Saint-Sacerdos, which used to be the church of Sarlat Abbey. Over the years, bits have been added on, resulting in a melange of various eras.
Sarlat has more historical buildings per square foot than anywhere else in France; indeed, there’s a fact to be proud of!
We enjoyed wandering around and Janine found her dream shop, a little boutique selling everything animal print! A few moments after perusing, a beautiful leather bag was selected and wrapped for Christmas.
We decided not to go to the Christmas market until the evening, so that we could see it at its best, all pretty and lit up.
We headed back to the flat and waited for dark.
SOGGY CHURROS
Around 18h we ventured out as the Christmas market ended at 20h on the Thursday evening. We planned to have a wander, pick something up to eat, have a drink in a twee bar somewhere and go home fed and watered…Ohhhhh were we watered!
The heavens opened! We had grabbed a Vin Chaud that got so much rain in it, it ended up being a watery Vin Froid! Dashing to the covered ice rink, we sheltered from the rain. We always enjoy watching people Ice Skating…
Next dash was to the food square. Alison can’t resist a spud so off she went to queue in the rain for a jacket potato. For the first time in her life, Janine sacrificed dinner!
The torrential rain rudely cut our evening short. As we passed a stall, we grabbed Churros. By the time we got back to the square, the bag had disintegrated and now we just had cold, limp, wet churros. They were dumped!
Back up the hill we marched to our apartment to dry off. How we wished the steam room was still in operation! Luckily there were plenty of radiators to dry our soaked clothing.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
After a good nights sleep, we woke to clearer skies and Alisons Birthday!
What a lucky girl she was! Breakfast in bed was delivered.
“What is it?”
Its porridge!
“Ohhhhh thanks……I think”
How ungrateful.
Quick shower and off we went on a magical mystery tour.
Our first stop was Domme. A few days before our trip, we learned about Domme when someone mentioned it on the internet. Domme was 13 km from Sarlat and was closed! We learned that Dordogne is closed in winter. It really seemed to be true!
Domme is a beautiful Medieval Bastide village, one of the Beaux Villages of France. It was founded as a stronghold by Philip the Bold, King Philip III, in 1281. Perched on top of a hill, it offers far-reaching views of the beautiful countryside. In 1346 the English captured Domme. During the 100 year war the village changed rule several times before in 1437, it finally fell under French rule. During the 100-year war, the villagers mostly kept their village unscathed, and today it stands as a beautifully preserved destination, well worth a visit.
From the viewpoint at Domme, we could see a village in the distance that appeared carved into the rock face.The sun was shining on it, it looked magical.
Lets go there!
Off we headed in the wrong direction!
We quickly realised that the sun was shining in the opposite direction so turned around.
A few minutes later, we had crossed the bridge over the Dordogne River and headed to La Roque Gageac, not even a bar on the river front was open! Whats going on? There were quite a few tourists around with it being a Spanish holiday but nope, nada!
On we drove looking for life. Even a boulangerie to pick up a birthday treat…..
“LEFT NOW”….an open patisserie, YAY!
We parked up and ran in with great trepidation. This could either be the best or the worst cake shop ever. It’s the only thing open for miles, so it should be busy or there’s nobody around, it could all be stale!
It all looked bloody marvellous! What should we choose?
We couldn’t decide so we picked a Fougasse and 2 cakes EACH! Including Alison’s favourite….Paris Brest!
It was a special day after all.
We drove back to the car park at La Roque Gageac and were surprised to find it was a pay and display! We decided to be rebels and not pay.
Our Fougasse were beautiful. Our cake was even better! Alison ate her Chocolate brownie and Janine a cake called Cote d’Ivoire, they were splendid!
Since we were stuffed, we saved half a fougasse each and a cake for later, just in case the Indian restaurant we had booked wasn’t good…
The patisserie was called Maison Carre, Castelnaud la Chapelle 24250. Make a stop there if you’re passing, well worth the effort.
KEEP CALM AND CURRY ON…….
After a busy day wandering and driving, we went home to get ready for the evening entertainment, a concert at the Christmas market and dinner at the local Indian restaurant, Alisons favourite. It was so cold out, we decided to sacrifice the concert and just go straight to the restaurant. It was just gone 19h and empty.
“We have a reservation.”
Take a seat
“Any seat?”
Yes.
There was no atmosphere, no music, no people! This was not the birthday celebration we were hoping for!
We ordered our usual favourites, Poppadoms, Chicken Korma, Veggie Madras, pilau rice and a garlic naan, pretty standard fare, cant go wrong…….
How wrong could we have been.
The poppadoms should have been a warning! They were out of a packet and burnt! BAD START.
Next arrived the main dishes.
It was all a bit strange. The Korma didn’t resemble a Korma in any way shape or form. It didn’t taste bad and the chicken was good quality but it was far from a Korma. The Madras was bland! No heat, little flavour, no point! Don’t get us started on the rice! It was the right colour, well nearly, but had tinned veg in it…… Whhhhhaaaaaaa !!!!
We left pretty swiftish and seeing as it was raining again, headed home.
Thank heavens for leftover fougasse and cake!
We’re not going to name the restaurant, there’s only one in Sarlat!
We’d decided we were going to get up early and visit the Saturday market in town. It’s a well-known market and spreads throughout the town from the main square. It wasn’t raining!
We didn’t get up early. Looking at the clock it was already 9.30! We dressed quickly and trotted off down the hill. What a fantastic sight to see the market from up the hill. Canopies erected all over the place to protect the stalls from sun and rain (it was coming)……
We were soaked again minutes later. We grabbed a baguette and almost ran up the hill back to our place.
“I’m not going out again in this!”
Nope, neither am I
We passed a very pleasant day doing nothing much.
Next morning and the rain had stopped. We packed up the car and headed home.
We’d had a great weekend visiting a new place.
On the way home, passing through Caussade, we spotted an open Boulangerie. Around the block we went. We were hungry, we’d only had leftovers the day before for dinner and no breakfast.
Une baguette aux 2 bles s’il vous plait…..
Had we just discovered another fantastic bakery? The baguette was sublime. A bit of chew but not too crusty and a tasty bite! We’ve become bread connoisseurs over the last 20 odd years living in France.
Try Boulangerie Pâtisserie Aurelien & Alexia, 36 Bd Didier Rey, Caussade if you’re passing.
SUMMARY
We did love Dordogne. Don’t think we’d go again in winter but definitely outside of the mad tourist season, maybe spring or autumn.
December 7-10 2023, Sarlat La Caneda. Mainly wet, damp with a bit of clear sky. Minimum temperature around 5 degrees, max 12 degrees. Accommodation booked through Gites De France, 11 Boulevard Nessmann. No frills but a great location, free parking, clean and warm.
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