Getting there is half the fun - The REAL Lascaux.

I have to admit to being surprised to see a really hoar frost this morning. It was cold out thar! Worse yet, was all the fog! We had planned to go to the REAL Lascaux, today. Why not! We found one of the other ones, lets try for the real thing.
Cats were fed and a breakfast of scrambled eggs with lardons on toast with half a tomato each meant we wouldn't be looking for food early along the way.
The moon is still out at 8am, and it is still quite dark. I have the lights on, on the lanai, to feed the cats by.

 Yes, that is MINUS 1.3C . Why was I surprised?

 The ice patterns on the pond were gorgeous, this morning.

 How about this one?

 As you can see, it is quite...'crispy'...out there. The sun was trying to come through the fog.

 The decision was made, in light of the freeze, to leave around 11am. I don't like driving with the possibility of Black Ice on the less travelled roads we tend to frequent. We weren't sure we wouldn't be taking some of those today...and we were right, lol.
This is what it looked like, first thing. I turned out of the driveway onto the main road ahead of a couple of trucks who kept my pace fairly fast, which I didn't like too much. They did eventually back off on one of the hills out of town, but that is where the fog got denser still. The views around here are glorious, especially from the top of the hill overlooking the town. Not today, however, and we felt that the whole day was spent in FOG! A great pity, that, but that's what you get for being winter tourists, I'm afraid. There are HUGE pluses though...hardly any other tourists! whoopppeee! The other down side is that you have to be prepared that wherever you are going, will be closed or keeping WINTER hours. We find this a lot.

 We crossed into Perigord Noir (Perigord Black...there is Vert and Blanc=green and white, also). This area is known for it's nut trees - walnuts and hazelnuts, to mention two. We also saw Persimmons in a home orchard. It is also MOST famous for it's Foie Gras. There are Fois Gras factories and stores entirely devoted to the delicacy, which most don't mind eating, but the methods by which the goose liver is obtained are quite controversial. I wont go into any distressing details. You can look those up for yourself, if you don't already know. Have I eaten it? Yes. Delicious, but I feel less inclined to do so now.

 As you do when driving at or near 90kph on a fog bound French road...you spy a great shadow in the distance, and on a hill. WHAT IS THAT!!!??? WOW!

 Chateau de Hautefort is simply stunning. The size is one thing, but the layout, which we discovered later, is incredible. The village of Hautefort backs (literally) onto the chateau ramparts, as do many like it. The Chateau and Gardens are still in the Dordogne. We aren't in the Perigord, yet.
It was reconstructed in the 17th century and embellished with a Garden a la Francaise (after the French Style). In 1853 the landscape Architect, Count Choulot redesigned the gardens, adding a landscaped garden, geometric flower gardens, topiary gardens imitating the domes of the Chateau, and a long tunnel of greenery. Next to the formal gardens is a hill with an Italian Garden with winding shaded paths. Notable trees in the park include Magnolia Grandiflora and Cedar of Lebanon. The gardens are listed by the Committee of Parks and Gardens of the Ministry of Culture of France, as one of the Notable Gardens of France. Thanks to Wikipedia for that information.
If you want more, please copy and past the following URL 
http://www.chateau-hautefort.com/en/histoire/
This is REALLY interesting information, and this is clearly a jewel of the south west of France. Thank goodness for wealthy people who have the means to rescue these glorious artifacts.
Make sure to read about the people who shaped this Chateau. Those who were born there and those who inherited it, were responsible for building it and those whose lives were formed in and around these amazing walls.

Per usual, in winter, the chateau wasn't open to the public. Closed doors were rather formidable, but they didn't stop us walking through the village behind. I regretted leaving my gloves and hat behind, once more. It didn't get above 2C all day, with the temperature mostly hovering around 0C. and -1-2C at times when we went down into valleys. The wind was cold, first thing...not that 11am is early.

 We turned right at the fork in the road and proceeded to the parking lot outside these formidable walls. How amazing are they! Almost guaranteed to keep anyone out. We discovered the portal through which we would later drive, but decided this time to walk around the Ramparts.

 One would normally enter the chateau gardens through the gate at the end, up there.

 You can see the well pruned topiaries and hedges just poking their heads above the walls.

 Yes, this made us laugh, but it was the Baron Henri de Bastard who rescued this Chateau from ruin. Well named!

 This Chateau is on a high rock promontory, as so many are. The views from here must be stunning, but no such luck for us today. We had to be content with near views, no matter that they were a little dull and sad. Walking through the portal that took us towards the village on the other side of the Ramparts (the walls on the left). Some pretty old buildings here.
As the chateau dates back to the year 1000, which is rather mind bogling, to begin with, I doubt that any of the houses here are that old. Some may well date back to the middle Ages, however.

 This is a 19th Century milking shed. Hmm....Yes, you can see that, right?

 Looking back at the portal we came through, around the corner of the Ramparts with these lovely little corner pieces which I forget the name of. Sheesh...old age!

 Moving forward, we were delighted to find the town square, which isn't square. It would be very pretty in summer, however. The view would be stunning, and we realized this as we went down that way at the end of our visit to this remarkable place. Don't you love the well with the fancy hat, at left in front of the red awning'd café.

 Instead of going down the hill towards the square, we kept going along the Ramparts, looking for more of the Chateau to view. We were given enough glimpses to keep us going. Some of the homes have been renovated and made quite modern. Gosh, I can imagine the summer crowd being horrid, here. The parking lots are huge! Which tells you something about it's popularity. If you get down this way, put it on your list!

 Ahhh.. a glimpse of a tower, of which there are many. The Ramparts make up the rear wall of many homes and gardens.

 We caught glimpses down the hill also. This one is the square. You can just see the top of the well.

 Oh look! Another tower! yay!

 Looking down again, and enjoying the back yards of the locals.

 Yep! That's another tower. At least this one we can see more of.

 This yard quite took my fancy:)

 Up and up we walked. This was an excellent morning workout, but the cold was mind numbing. Seriously...WHY did I let him convince me to leave my gloves and hat behind??

 Surprise! These cyclamen were thriving in the little planter.

 As we walked further around the Chateau and came to the front looking downhill, we came across this. I don't know what this building is, and I cant seem to find any information on it. The formal garden didn't look like it was part of the Chateau. With the French flag (tricolor) flying outside the front entry it looked like it might be the Mairie of the town of Hautefort.

 Turning around from the above view, you see this! Isn't she grand? All those plane trees must look lovely in summer.

 By now we had walked almost entirely around the ramparts. It was freezing, and though we walked at a sharp clip, we were only wearing jeans, and reminded that we needed warmer clothing~ seriously!

 Looking back from whence we came, walking all the way around. At least we got our daily exercise!:)

 There is still a lot of color around, fortunately. Lovely!

 I took these photos off the notice board at the parking lot. The formal gardens. Glorious!

 The Chateau from the air.

 Back in the car, the heater on blast furnace, we were out of here and on our way to our destination. This time we drove through the same portal, and turned right down into the square.

 We turned left where that white car is, and then had to turn hard right. This necessitated me doing a back up job, and then going forward. Hairpin bend, it was.

The trip down the winding hill with hairpin bends was relatively slow. Damp and tree lined, I didn't have anyone following me, so I could take the time to take photos, on the way down. Typical Perigordian homes 

Looking back up the hill to the Chateau.

The houses as you go down the hill out of the town.

 Yes, lots of hairpin bends! The hill is taller than we estimated and couldn't have anticipated because of the fog.

 You can see the road we just came down, and this Cross is right on the corner, which is also a crossroads. Crosses at cross roads are fairly typical and sometimes very rudimentary and sometimes very ornate.

 The road ahead. Stunning foliage.

 Now almost at the bottom of the hill, we can look back at the Chateau from the rear.

 We took the Touristique Route, and this cross was opposite the tourist road as we joined the main road... at the crossroads.

 What a lovely home! Rather partial to those little round turrets. They often house stairwells.:)

 Are we there yet? So hard to tell, and there are no indicators as to where we might be. We have trouble seeing anything more than half a mile away. What we do see, is that this is a valley and there are tall hills on both sides. Some of those hills have lovely large farm houses and barns on them, and we wonder at the views on a lovely day, especially in summer. Others are just plain houses.

 Waz had looked on the map, last night, and ascertained that he shouldn't put the word "Lascaux' into the GPS, because it would take us back to the same place we went yesterday. So, he found that the name he needed was Montignac. As you can see from the signpost, the name Lascaux 11 is right there! yay! We are in the right place. Love the sign La Mule Blanche. The white mule!:)

 This area looked newer, better kept and therefore more prosperous. I guess the number of tourists coming to this region, and Lascaux in particular, bring plenty of money. The shops were well kept, in particular.

 We came into the old town of Montignac. This is a really old place. It is a medieval town on the Vezere River. (Vay zaire). We parked on this street, and saw the arms of the cherry picker thing (the red thing) putting up Christmas Decorations.

 Having parked, we noted that it was now 12.30, and if we were to get food, it should be here. We walked around the centre ville, the old town, which really is! OLD!

 We later drove over that bridge on our way out. This is the Vezere river.

 This restaurant is no doubt very busy, alongside the river, in summer.

 Opposite where we were standing. Pretty.

 We didn't find out what the Ramparts protected, unfortunately.

 The weekly market was packing up. All done by 12 noon. These are the fishmongers.

 As usual, Waz walked ahead of me...Im the slow poke taking photos:)

 We were disappointed to see this newer church in the town square. It just didn't fit there, somehow. Not pretty.

 Other places were, though. That vine over the door has a secret...see below.

 Up there in front of the window is a ball of suet, put out for the birds. I watched as this pretty one pecked at it.

 Old? That colombage has been nicely refinished.

 The edifice on the hill was curious, but we didn't have time to go up there and find it.

 The merchants putting their wares away, from the weekly market. There is a boulangerie behind that yellow van, and we went in there, after deciding that a fish and chips meal at the restaurant for 15 euros was more than we wanted to spend...each.

 The menu was extensive...taking up all of those blackboards. Being a tourist town, we felt the prices were a bit too much...even in winter. We didn't even want to afford a cup of Grand crème at 4 euros each! wow! Normally around 2 euros.

 At the Boulangerie we bought me a pain chocolat, and him a croissant plein. We then moved to the window where they had the special treatment. ...hmmm...so many choices, and if were eating dessert for lunch, then choose carefully.  No Americains, or filled baguettes, so dessert was the ONLY option, of course. For 11euros we bought two croissants and four pretty pastries. Not bad!
I cant show you the first ones we ate in the car....along with the croissants, but I had an éclair filled with Noisette cream (hazelnut), and Waz ate a tarte meringue citron....basically lemon meringue pie. small!

We had two leftover for whenever!
Fortified with sugar, we drove towards the Lascaux building, through new Lotissment (lot iss mong) or subdivisions. They lack much character, but younger French people like newer. It is only the weird Brits and Kiwis and Aussies who like old buildings! esp. to renovate.

This is something else, isn't it?
The actual caves are in the vicinity but you aren't allowed to visit them. Experts continue to work on the artifacts and excavation of the caves, but they have documented so much that has been found.  It is quite fantastic.
Well, per  usual we were not in time for the English tour, which was to be at 4pm, and we needed to be on the way home well before that.

We finally found a parking lot, after going around and around. Plenty of bus parking, but we have had experience in parking in those dedicated places, before.

 Looking back towards the middle of the old town.

 What an incredible piece of architecture. I guess the only way to house these artifacts is in a super modern building. Nothing else would do.

 The café prices were awful...as in HIGH! Sky HIGH!, so we decided not to go in there for a coffee. We would go home for our cuppa.

 We visited the gift shop, of course. The bathroom also. Funny story about that!
I went into the ladies...the main light wasn't on, but the toilet light was. I planted my handbag and went to sit down, not having thoroughly investigated the descent to the facility. Upon sitting, I literally plonked down ...almost fell down onto the really short (off the floor) toilet seat. WHAT? Who is this for? Kids? It was so low that I seriously wondered how I was going to get up! I have knees that dont like that kind of thing and so I had to literally creep up the walls with my  hands on left and right walls, until I was standing again.
The light came on as I moved out to wash my hands, and I checked out the other toilet stalls, thinking I had been in the kids ones....I think I had! Trust me, in my haste. Big chuckles.
I am adding this comment post publication, because now that I have approval, I can:
As always, we meet the nicest people on our trips. I had heard the American accents as we went to the ticket counter to enquire about tour times. When we found that the last English speaking tour would be at 4pm, we decided to leave. I approached this American couple and asked if they were, or perhaps Canadian...just because we don't like to offend anyone! ha!
Wendy and Bob told us their lovely story and made us green with envy when they said they spend 3 months in their lovely home (we got to see photos!!) near Sarlat, spend Christmas in NY with their family, and THEN they get to go down to Panama for the rest of the winter, where they own a lock-up-and-leave condo. What a well thought-out life! Sounds like something we would want to do! Minus the NY, of course:) Make our middle stop NZ.
They told us about a friend of theirs near Sarlat who is a Kiwi lady, and it was suggested we contact her...all done, now! This is indeed a small world, as I believe that the kiwi lady MAY be the person who used to own a French oriented store we frequented in Auckland. We were show photos of her, but as you know, after 5-6 yrs it is really challenging to remember people you don't know well, or have met in passing. She was usually behind the counter of the store we always bought our triple milled French Soap from. We will see. I will keep you posted on this, as it progresses>
Thank you Wendy for reminding me that we meet the best people when we are away from 'home'.


Upon exiting the parking lot, it took a big decision as to which sign we would follow.  A road led up hill. I imagined that the view would be spectacular from up there.

This is at the top. A restaurant.

 We followed the sign to the Gisement, which is a 'deposit' (literally) but not sure what the deposit of Regourdou is. We didn't see it! On further research it appears to be another archeological site, but when I look at photos, having googled it, there are plenty of bears featuring in there. You might google it too, if you are interested. There were no obvious signs as to what it might be...perhaps due to the fog?

 Ok.. back the way we came.
Down this hill! which was one way only, at one point.Uphill had the right of way, and fortunately for us, there was a shoulder we could somewhat pull over onto, if there was oncoming traffic.

 We followed the stone wall all the way down the road and spied somewhere else to take a look at.
Aubas. This old town on the Vizere River, has a significant Plain Tree, which is estimated to be over 300 years old.

 We went there to look at the crumbling ruin of the church. We found the tree, and the tent for the Christmas market, or the Marche de Noel, set in the town square, alongside the river.

 The spire in the background doesn't tell the whole story, but we couldn't see the rest of the church from anywhere in the town, only from the main road, unfortunately.

 The market tent.

 This house is significant for some reason, but we were cold, so didn't stop to find out. So many houses are shuttered at this time of year.

Voila! The Church. Well, some of it. We still hadn't seen the ruin.

 We had to cross the Vezere River somewhere, and this looked as good a place as any. Single lane bridge!

 Not traffic coming or going, so I was fine stopping in the middle, right?

 We were on our way home. 3pm. See the market tents in the middle of this small town, on the way? Christmas markets springing up everywhere.

 The fog got worse the more we climbed out of the valley. I could hardly see ahead.

 Coming back to the Limousin was amazing. As we crested the hill, the view and the fog opened up, and we were greeted by sunshine. Amazing how the blue sky lifts the spirits. We are sorry that the day was spent in cold and fog, but we went, even if we didn't get to see the Cave paintings and learn all there is to be learned, there. Next time! And in season.

 We were almost out of petrol, so we stopped just down the road at the Intermarche gas station. Waz put 37 euros worth into the tank. This is the only station in town that will accept our payment. We have had this experience in France before. At least we know where to get a fill up, now.

I checked out the vege garden, on return, and found that the brussels sprouts are doing ok despite the snow and ice. Good job! They are winter veges, so I expect them to do ok.

The cats all appeared when we opened the back door, and went a bit crazy. This is Elsa trying to get to the suet cake.

 Scruffles and Elsa had a bit of fun charging around.

 As we still had two desserts to eat...and we weren't keeping them for dessert, but decided they would make a nice addition to the cup of tea, at 3.30pm, we hoed in .
Waz's meringue with hazelnut cream was chewy and delicious.

I warmed my nut caramel tarte which wasn't a smart idea, because the caramel was all runny now. I also added a big spoonful of crème fraiche. Divine.

An early dinner was on the cards, and having fed the monsters, I set about preparing the duck breast. Same cut as last one, but this time I made a sauce of red delicious apples and blackberry liquor...a knob of butter, a little brown sugar, and voila! delicious bed for the duck, and drizzled with the left over syrup.

 No greens graced our plates this evening, but those carrots were so sweet and lovely.

 The potatoes from last night were browned in the duck fat. Perfect!

And THAT my friends, is THAT.

We are only missing Scruffles, as I finish this, so I will go out and practice my falsetto one more time tonight in the hope that she will come. She came in at the last moment last night.

Bye for now. No plans for tomorrow...perhaps find some way to post some gifts back to the USA.? We have found the Post Office! Yay!
Night night!