Sunday, August 30, 2009

Honeymoon journal #6:

Today, we slept in again until about 9:30. After a quick breakfast, we went to Castelnaud - a little village that sits along the Dordogne River and has a huge castle from the Middle Ages that sits atop the hill. The whole town is basically nestled into the side of a hill.

So, since I've killed the engine in our car a few times while climbing the windy hills (this happened on our drive to Sarlat...), I was too scared to drive up the road to the castle. Instead, we parked down below near the river and then walked up to the castle. It ended up being a great decision because the side streets were tiny and about as wide as a small European car, and they were made with little stones.

It was fun to hike up those roads and see the little houses and yards and gardens of the locals. The castle itself was very cool and gave us some nice views of the area.



















Taking in the views of the Dordogne River and the surrounding countryside














Eric standing in front of the Dordogne River and the village of Beynac



After our castle tour, we sat by the river and ate lunch. Then we drove a few km to the Jardins de Marqueyssac - which were considered overhanging gardens because they, too, were situated up on a cliff. They were impressive! Definitely worth the money and the trip! We got a good workout hiking around the gardens (it was more like a park), and then we were rewarded with spectacular views of the area, the river, surrounding villages, etc.

Here are some pictures from the gardens...










































































Then it was time to drive back to our house - we took a different route so I could avoid some of the crazy steep hills on the way home. :) We hung out at home (our cottage) for an hour or so and then headed into Le Bugue to find dinner. At 6:30, we were turned away from a restaurant because they don't start serving until 7 pm. So we wandered down the street and went into a shop that sold foie gras and wine. The shop worker was so nice - when he found out we hadn't ever had foie gras, he offered us a sample on some bread. Then when we asked if there are any specific wines that are good with it, he opened up a bottle and poured us samples of that! We tried foie gras de canard (duck) and d'oie (goose) and a white wine called Rosette to go with it. We ended up buying some foie gras and 2 bottles of wine. We were able to communicate completely in French - although I know my language skills aren't as good as they used to be.

Then it was time for dinner at Oscar Brasserie. We got to sit on a patio overlooking the Vezere River. The food was ok (this was the night I accidentally ordered a hamburger, and I thought I was going to get some type of steak...oops), but it was just nice to eat out and have such a lovely view. Plus, the whole meal only cost 27 Euros, and we got an appetizer, entrees, 1/4L of wine, coffee and dessert! We love it here!

Now, we're just home at the cottage relaxing and drinking some of the wine we bought.