Scouting week 2

Welcome to our 11th post of the Baby boomers move to France blog. It is Monday, March 31. This happens to be my brother Dan’s birthday. Happy birthday bro.
It is a beautiful sunny day here in Bergerac, France. The fat pigeons just outside are cooing, and it is a little chilly, but temperatures are expected to rise. This week I will share what we saw during the ride to Bergerac and our stops along the way. Then a little of our thoughts about Bergerac and the surrounding areas.

The drive from Sarlat to Bergerac

We drove over to Bergerac on Sunday morning. The weather was perfect, cool but sunny. Our gps was working except I put in the address for the Bergerac airport. Elizabeth saw what was happening and we stopped in a little town outside of Bergerac, found a pub and regrouped. It turned out to be another 10,000 plus steps day. Actually 15000+ steps day. I’m getting ahead of myself though because I need to tell you that the drive to Bergerac follows along the Dordogne River and it is just beautiful. We noticed that the river flows pretty quickly. Along each side of the river are farms getting ready for planting. The trees on the banks are slowly filling in with leaves. Serene is probably the right word to describe it.

About halfway to Bergerac is the town of Beynac et Cazenac. Pretty much known as Beynac. Beynac is a medieval village next to the Dordogne River. The village is classified as one of Les plus beaux villages de France (most beautiful villages in France). It is indeed beautiful. I don’t know much of the history except to say that it was built in the early 12th century and in 1115 Maynard de Beynac gifted the chateau to the sisters at Fontevrault Abbey. During the Hundred Years War, (1337 – 1453) the fortress was in French hands. On the other side of the river, a few kilometers east, is Chateau de Castelnaud, which was occupied by the English. The Dordogne was the dividing line between the French and English during this war. It seems that towns of Beynac and Cazenac merged during that period. The castle (chateau) of Beynac is one of the best preserved in the region. We walked around the town, but skipped the climb up the limestone cliff. We will save that hike for next time. We did stop in a little boulangerie just at the edge of town for a coffee and a Mille feuille (fantastic puff pastry) OMG sooo good. We also picked up a baguette. Gotta have a baguette. We are not looking at Beynac as possible place to put down roots. It is too far from amenities for us. However, it is a place that should not be missed if you are traveling along the Dordogne River.

Beynac castle located along the Dordogne River is a popular place to rent canoes.

Potential cities

Elizabeth made mental notes of the little towns that seemed like good candidates for living and jotted them down as follows:

1. Souillac
2. Lalinde
3. Lascaux
4. Montignac
5. Eymet

The jury is out on Bergerac. I think that Elizabeth and I agree that it is too big for us to live in, but is great to be near. We like Sarlat, but didn’t get excited about living there.

Souillac is a town east of Sarlat that we just drove through, but it looked nice.

Lalinde is a town along the Dordogne River that we passed on the drive to Bergerac and thought that we should take a closer look at it. As luck would have it, we met a couple in a Greek restaurant in Bergerac on Sunday night. They have a place in Lalinde and have loved it for over 20 years. Lalinde is just east of Bergerac and an easy drive so we had a destination for Monday.
On Monday we woke up to another sunny, cool, beautiful day. It is not fair, that the weather has been so damn nice. I think I love France. Lol😘. Anyway, we drove to Lalinde and walked around the town then stopped for lunch in a little sidewalk cafe in a town square. Good food and I had a cup of coffee. It is interesting how when home, I drink my coffee with a creamer, but here I just drink the espresso black and really like it.
While in Lalinde we were looking in an agency window at pictures and information about properties for sale and this nice agent came out and invited us in. We explained that we are not in a position to make an offer on anything. We are just looking at areas and prices to get a handle on a realistic budget. She spent quite a bit of time with us explaining the area and and showing us what homes her company has to offer. She suggested some places to look at given our budget and other wants. We have a lot to do on Tuesday.

A pretty spot along the Dordogne River at Lalinde. The Dordogne River is said to be the cleanest river in the country, maybe in all of Europe. The Perigordians are quite proud of that.

I mentioned Lascaux in last week’s post. We drove around this little town and put it on the list.

Montignac is another pretty town right along the Dordogne River. We walked around and felt comfortable. Maybe a place to spend a little more time in.

Eymet is a town that we have heard so much about. It is roughly a 30 minute drive south of Bergerac. That is our Tuesday project. So tomorrow we will visit Eymet. What we know is that it is a very popular town for people from the UK. The upside is there are a lot of English speaking folks there that can make assimilation a little easier for those of us who are just starting to learn French. I’m interested in this one.

I know this is sounding like a broken record, but we woke on Tuesday morning to another gorgeous day. We went downstairs and in a few steps were sitting in a really nice boulangerie drinking a cafe noir grand and eating this delicious pastry. Pretty soon we were fortified for our drive to Eymet. I had to run back up to the apartment to grab my drivers license. Okay, I didn’t run , mind you it is 3 flights of winding stairs. Once I had the car keys and drivers license we walked down to the free parking lot (less than 10 minutes) and we plugged Eymet into the gps and we were off. By the way, we found that my phone works better with gps than EB’s.
So about the drive: IT WAS THE BEST!! We drove on 2 lane roads, maximum speed 70kph (about 40-45mph) and watched as we passed vineyards on both sides of the road. There were lots of fields freshly plowed or planted too. Some fields with large groves of tall trees of some kind and people planting something and then covering the row with plastic sheeting. We saw horses, cows, and goats too. We are getting into the French countryside. In a few minutes we arrived in Eymet.

We thought we died and went to heaven. Elizabeth said, “This is what I had in mind “. I said, “No wonder why this town is so popular “. I know guys don’t say this, so I’m saying it for Elizabeth, “This town is so cute “. Eymet is on the Dropt River near the southern border of the Dordogne department. It was founded in 1270. It is vibrant and has a good vibe but not too busy. We had lunch in one of several restaurants on the main square and picked up some literature from the tourist center. We walked down to the river and found a nice little park. Unfortunately, Eymet doesn’t have a train station, that means we would definitely need a car. Eymet stays on the list though.

We stopped by another town (I forgot the name) and walked around. Wow, this was nice but way too quiet for us.

Despite all the driving, we still got our 10000+ steps in. Back at the apartment I’m going to have a couple of madeleine cookies then it is time for a little nap, while our laundry is in the machine.

Wednesday morning broke the waking to beautiful weather streak. We got a little rain and overcast skies. We had a cup of coffee in our apartment and enjoyed a couple of madeleines. By the time we finished our showers the rain was gone. The plan for today was to do a bit of research, have lunch, take a walk around Bergerac, then back to the apartment. EB had to fire up her computer and do some work. I did some reading and caught up on some news. The wind had picked up and the chill chased us into the apartment.

Lunch was these massive salads. We have learned lunch is our main meal. Dinner for us here, is some sliced sausage, cheese, a baguette and some wine. By the way, my salad was smoked trout with walnuts, lettuce and tomatoes. EB had a salad with bacon, goat cheese and caramelized walnuts. All is locally sourced.

Our VRBO in Bergerac is really nice. It was recently renovated and is located within walking distance to a boulangerie, pharmacy, city market, restaurants and the river. Thursday morning we will bid farewell to Bergerac. We have enjoyed our time here and improved our French a tiny bit.

I have the gps dialed in for our drive to Auch Thursday. We will stop at a winery on the way of course. They offer a tour and wine tasting. It will be interesting to venture a couple of hours south of the Dordogne River.

Thursday morning was a bit overcast, windy and chilly. We got the car and our luggage squared away and went in our new favorite boulangerie for a coffee and pastry. Then it was off to the Monbazillac chateau and winery. We toured the chateau and then wine tasting room. The history of the chateau is fascinating and I would definitely go back and tour it again. The wine was great. We bought 3 bottles.

Next stop Auch. For some reason the gps didn’t work so we decided to wing it. We had a general idea that all we had to do is head south. We saw a sign for a city, Agen, that I remembered was on the way to Auch so, “follow that sign”. We followed a narrow 2 lane road to the quaint little town of Lauzon where we stopped for lunch. I thought that we were ordering a chicken pizza. My mistake, we got the “plat du jour” which is an entire chicken leg EACH, and French fries. The meal was really good and mine included a salad with smoked salmon. EB’s meal included a nice hot soup. Oh and then dessert that was something like an apple tart. Way too much food. No dinner required now. By the way, the 2 meals, wine and a coffee for me was 35 euros. About $40 USD.

Back in the car and heading south towards Auch. We found a major road and finally saw a sign for Auch. We would get there before 5:00. Except, I have a problem (J’ai une probleme) , we need gps to find the VRBO. We drove into what is the historic area of Auch and found a free parking spot and went on the search for a pub or cafe that has Wi-Fi. They pronounce it weefee. The first place didn’t have it. We were getting a little frustrated then found this Portuguese bodega. Whoohoo they have Wi-Fi. EB used her charm and the guy took her phone and set her up. We ordered 2 beers, sat down and Elizabeth got her gps going. She nailed down the location, which was a 5 minute walk from where we were. We finished our beers, said, “merci and au revoir” and located our VRBO. Another 3 flights of stairs…

Since this post is so long, I will break it up so that I can get a little more detail and pictures included. Thanks for hanging in. So much more to come as we explore Auch and Perigueux.