Périgord/Dordogne Valley – Day 5 – Sarlat and Domme
Friday, 23-May-2025
Tags: Travel
We packed up, checked out, headed east again, and arrived at Sarlat about 1 pm.
Map of the Dordogne and Vézère Valleys. We will be visiting Domme, La Roque-Gigeac, Beynac castle, Castelnaud castle over the next couple of days.
We were able to check in to La Couleuvrine and bring our stuff up and have some lunch we brought with us in the room. La Couleuvrine is built in a 15th century rampart tower and adjoining building. we got to stay in the tower! The hotel had a private, gated parking lot about a 5-10 minute walk away, which we used while in Sarlat.
La Couleuvrine and our room.
After lunch, we drove down to Domme. From "les-plus-beaux-villages-de-france" website: A dozen kilometers south of Sarlat, Domme is probably one of the most beautiful bastides in the southwest and one of the jewels of the Périgord Noir. In 1280, while French and English competed in Aquitaine and built these fortified "new cities" to establish their political and economic power, King Philip III the Bold (of France) perceived the strategic interest of what was then only the "plateau of Domme" and built the bastide there.
Layout of Domme.
We parked, walked up the hill, and entered the village. We walked around the town, through some of the main and side streets. Pictured are the Porte des Tours (our entrance gate), Porte de la Combe (another gate), the 13th century old Town Hall (Hôtel de Ville) now used for marriages and special events, the new Town Hall (Mairie), and to the 17th century covered market place (Place de la Halle).
It turns out that "Domme is home to the fantastic world of the largest cave in Périgord Noir, with its colonnades, stalactites, and stalagmites. An underground gem, the entrance to the cave is beneath the 17th-century covered market." – from the perigord.com website. We happened to be just in time for the 3 pm tour. The tour of the caves was pretty cool although it was entirely in French. We had a sheet that hit the high points in English. The cave walk was 45 minutes. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but here's one we found on the web.
The cave exited up to the heart of the cliff, where we could enjoy one of the finest views in the Dordogne valley.
After the cave walk, we did a bit more sightseeing and then walked back to the parking lot and drove back to Sarlat. We stopped in a Carrefour and bought some snacks and went back to our room to have snacks and the rest of the white wine from Wednesday's dinner. After relaxing for a while, we went to a small store front Asian restaurant for an easy dinner – Le Petit Saigon. After dinner, we stopped at the hotel and then went for a walk through the Medieval section of Sarlat with its hotels, restaurants, and historic sites. We stopped at one of the restaurants in Place de la Liberté and ordered a piece of walnut cake and coffee for dessert. We then took a roundabout walk back to our hotel.
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Larry and Eileen Samberg
