Next, we left DeDe to his no-doubt hangover and scooted south to the Dordogne Vallée. A narrow and steep winding road followed the Dordogne River to the town of La Roque-Gageac, which was apparently voted the most beautiful village in France. The rest of the stay here for Whit would become a bit blurry, not from the Rose Wine, but the pollen.
La Roque-Gageac is carved into the cliffs overlooking the river. The hotel was quite charming with a café downstairs and canoeing adventures across the street....
we were best pleased!
After researching the next day's canoe trip, and a local wine tasting we pick-nicked in the park along the river. Whit found some simple entertainment to take her mind away from her average rate of 300 sneezes per minute.
That evening we wandered through the town, admired the houses, and Whit even stopped to smell the roses...
Canoe among the Castles!
The following day, we rented two canoes for a 5 hour/25km canoe adventure along the Dordogne River. Apparently France has not gotten around to regulating the canoe business like we would expect in the states. We paid the rental fee, climbed in a van for a 20 min ride up river, jumped in our canoes with our lifejackets, cooler and snacks and set off. The only formal instruction we got were, "you should stop in Beynac and have beer at the river café"...Roger, got it!
The canoe trip was amazing. There are several castles perched on the cliffs, and each time we came around the next bend in the river, a new castle would appear on the horizon...simply amazing.
We stopped for lunch on an island in the middle of the river.
Whit enjoyed her favorite new concoction..nutella-banana sandwich.
The river was a cool, winding and relaxing way to beat the heat, the pollen and see France from a entirely different perspective:
Not wanting to break any rules, we beached the canoe at Beynac and slipped into the river cafe for a cool beer.
While I took a break, Whit hiked up to the castle overlooking the town. The views she saw from there were breathtaking...
Our postings may be more spuratic for the next two weeks or so, as our friends Matt and Christi are coming on Wednesday and then we will leave on Saturday night for our next adventure: An Eastern Mediterranean Cruise. We are so excited to have our first guests in Strasbourg and to explore Rome, Sicily, Athens, Ephesus, and Crete! We will definitely be posting pics from Matt and Christi's visit and our cruise after we finish the posts from our "Tour de France"! Hope all is well with everybody. We love and miss you all.
No comments:
Post a Comment