The Best Trip Ever

My first impression of Sarlat was that I’d made a terrible mistake in choosing it. When we arrived, the traffic was insane, and we spent about an hour inching around the edge of town to where we could park to check into our apartment. I was surprised and a little dismayed to find our apartment right on the main street, although it turns out our huge terrace overlooking the street is private yet a perfect place to watch everything. The apartment is quiet when the doors are closed. When I got up this morning I discovered they’d set up the Saturday market right below us without me hearing a thing!

I still wouldn’t choose Sarlat again, because of the traffic, which must be unbearable in season, and because the number of shops marketing tourist junk is just overwhelming, but the buildings are SO beautiful. I keep imagining how beautiful it would be if I could just edit all of that out.

On our first day, we headed out to explore with no plan in mind and had a great day. A nice late morning drive led us to St. Cyprien for lunch in a café full of local construction workers and traveling motorcyclists, then we visited Beynac, La Roque-Gageac and Domme after lunch. Wow – what spectacular scenery!

We took a tourist boat ride down the river from La Roque-Gageac and enjoyed it. I was skeptical, but once I saw the crew wasn’t dressed as pirates, I decided it would be ok. It was a tranquil one-hour ride, with a recorded commentary in English to match the live commentary in French.

My overall impression of what I’ve seen of the Dordogne so far is that it is beautiful, but almost too manicured and too altered by its success as a tourist destination. Do they really sell all of that canned confit and foie gras?

This morning, the Sarlat market is waiting for me just outside the door!