Périgord/Dordogne Valley – Day 6 – Sarlat and Two Sights
Saturday, 24-May-2025
Tags: Travel
Before we start the day, here's a map of Sarlat. Picture credit to The Rough Guide to Dordogne. Our hotel is at #9 near the top on the right. The Saturday market is held in the "old city", all through Place de la Liberté and adjacent streets (just a short walk down Rue Fénelon from our hotel).
Each of these towns has a market day, and Saturday is Sarlat's. The market has all manner of wares – cheese, fish, meat, breads, foie gras, wine, walnuts, truffle and walnut oils, walnuts, fruit, vegetables, clothing, etc. By coincidence, my cousin Rita Carton and her husband Stan Stahl had planned a trip to the same area and we overlapped slightly in Sarlat and our next destination. That morning we met Rita and Stan and their guide, Gabby. Gabby walked us around the market for a couple of hours showing us around and explaining things, etc. We bought some foie gras (canned), cheese and bread for a picnic the next day, and strawberries.
Photos of the market, one of the many stands, and the four of us on the famous geese statue of Sarlat.
After the market, we headed back to our hotel, snacked a bit, and then headed off to two nearby sites along the Dordogne.
Our first stop was La Roque-Gageac, another "beautiful village" of France, with one of its major attractions a troglodyte (dwelling in a cave/cliff overhang) fort high on the cliff. Historians believe that the area has been occupied since prehistoric times. Fortifications were built to defend against invaders from the 12th through the 17th centuries. La Roque-Gageac was a stronghold in both the Hundred Years War and the Wars of Religion. We climbed the dizzying staircase to the top.
Our next stop along the Dordogne was the castle of Beyanc at Beynac-et-Cazenac. From their website: "Visiting Beynac is a five-century crossing of the history of France, following in the footsteps of Richard Coeur de Lion, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Simon de Montfort, and the Hundred Years' War. From the defensive rigor of its 12th-century keep to the Renaissance staircase through the very impressive room of the Baronies of the 15th century, the kitchen of the 13th century, and its exceptional barbican (tower on the approach to the castle), its exceptional state of conservation offers you an unforgettable trip to the heart of the Middle Ages."
We parked at the river and walked all the way up to the Château (long and steep) and toured the whole castle, which was pretty impressive. There was a large exposition on the history of Eleanor of Aquitane and all the political intrigue that went along with it. One of the highlights was a recreation of the room at the top of the castle that Richard the Lionheart stayed in.
View looking up from the river, slightly west of the castle.
The castle.
View from the castle.
Back down, another view from the river, now a little east of the castle.
We headed back to the hotel to relax, and later had dinner at Le Mirandol with Rita and Stan. Eileen had duck, of course.
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Larry and Eileen Samberg
