Category: Dordogne

561 Village-Hopping in the Dordogne and Beyond A Travelers Guide with Jackie Barnes (Aug 31)

[00:00:15] Introduction and Theme of the Trip

Annie Sargent: This is Join Us in France, episode 561, cinq cent soixante et un.

Annie Sargent: Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent and Join Us in France is the podcast where we take a conversational journey through the beauty, culture, and flavors of France.

[00:00:30] Today on the podcast

Annie Sargent: Today, I bring you a conversation with Jackie Barnes about her enchanting visit to the Dordogne.

Annie Sargent: She went village hopping, and not just the Dordogne, she went further as well.

Annie Sargent: I think, you know, if you’re dreaming of cobblestone streets and medieval castles and wonderful local cuisine, you’re going to enjoy this episode.

[00:00:51] Podcast supporters

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Annie Sargent: You book my itinerary consults, take my Voicemap tours, ride shotgun in my electric car, come to the boot camp, or slip me a few euros on Patreon, and I love you for it.

Annie Sargent: Want to keep me going and skip the ads? There’s a link for that in the show notes as well. And for everything else, head to joinusinfrance.com/boutique, where you can purchase any of my products or services.

[00:01:25] Magazine segment

Annie Sargent: For the magazine part of the podcast, after my chat with Jackie today, I’ll discuss the Weekend du Patrimoine, or Heritage Days, and how you can make the most of it if you’re in Paris or in France.

Annie Sargent: If you’d like to find all the links that we discussed and the full episode transcript for this episode, you’ll find everything on the page that lists all the episodes by month. It’s at joinusinfrance.com/episodes.

Annie Sargent: And if you’d like a handy summary of the conversation with all the useful links, subscribe to the newsletter at joinusinfrance.com/newsletter. It is the best way to stay in the loop.

[00:02:17] Annie and Jackie Barnes

Annie Sargent: Bonjour, Jackie Barnes, and welcome to Join Us in France.

Jackie Barnes: Thank you.

Annie Sargent: How wonderful to talk to you today about your experiences in the Plus Beaux Villages de France. It was kind of the theme of your trip, wasn’t it?

Jackie Barnes: Yes.

[00:02:31] Planning the Journey

Jackie Barnes: I had gotten a book on the most beautiful villages, and it had a map in it. And I researched them and figured out an area that I could hit a bunch of them, and that’s what my husband and I did.

Annie Sargent: All right. And so when was this trip?

Jackie Barnes: This trip was in March and April of 2022.

Annie Sargent: Oh, so it’s been a while.

Jackie Barnes: It’s been a while.

Annie Sargent: But you know what? The Plus Beaux Villages don’t change that much.

Jackie Barnes: Well, that’s kind of what I was thinking. You know, when you’ve been around since the 13th, 14th, 15th century, ah, there’s probably not a whole lot of change.

Annie Sargent: Okay. So what made you choose this? Is this because you had been to France a million times and you didn’t know what else to do?

Jackie Barnes: Well, I had been to Paris twice, and I loved it. I love planning driving vacations. And my husband and I have traveled a lot of the world and most of the United States. And I love planning car trips where you stay a few nights, and so that’s what we did. I positioned ourselves in four different places, so we could see the most Beaux Villages per minute.

Annie Sargent: Right. Right. Yeah. A lot of parts of France have some, but they’re kind of far and few between, whereas in the areas where you went, the Aveyron and the Dordogne, there are a lot of them.

Jackie Barnes: Yeah. That’s why I picked that because I saw the pictures, and I have a friend who writes French, or France walking guides. And I love walking in France. And she had a walking route from Martel to, well, it started in Martel and ended in Martel, and it goes on the GR trails. I asked her like what was her favorite towns, and so I had an idea of where I wanted to go as well.

Annie Sargent: Oh, maybe you can tell us the name of one of her books or something, so I can put a link to it in the show notes.

Jackie Barnes: Well, hers is Ilovewalkinginfrance.com, and sells walking guidebooks, just PDFs and they’re fantastic. She is such a great person. She lives in Australia, and we just found each other on the internet because of our love of travel.

Annie Sargent: Yeah. Yeah. And I have to say that, I mean, nothing wrong with what she’s doing, because I don’t know it and it’s probably great, but there’s also a website that does this sort of thing. It’s called Komoot, and it’s a European company that lists very good walks and cycling paths and things like that.

Jackie Barnes: Oh, okay.

Annie Sargent: And the advantage of a website is that it’s constantly updated because people submit photos and opinions, and submit tips about this particular trail. To me, one of the most difficult things about going to a trail orbike ride or something is finding the trailhead. Like sometimes it’s not obvious, is it?

Jackie Barnes: No, I agree. No, and she, every vacation she takes from Australia, usually once a year, involves her walking either the same GR to update her guidebooks or

Jackie Barnes: new ones that she wants to do.

Annie Sargent: That’s fantastic.

Jackie Barnes: It is pretty cool.

Annie Sargent: That’s great. That’s great.

[00:05:33] Driving in France

Annie Sargent: Okay. So you had chosen this part of France. One other tidbit to get out of the way, did you find it … So you like driving vacations in general, is it very different in France than in other parts of the world where you’ve done this?

Jackie Barnes: I think, well, because you’re driving on the same side of the road as we do in the United States, and so that is not an issue. We’ve driven all over Spain. The only time that we … you know, it was Ireland on the opposite side of the road that… But really, my GPS worked well on my phone and I use T-Mobile, I didn’t have to get a separate GPS and it only took us off the beaten track once or twice. We usually stay in Airbnbs, and so I carry an extra bag that has my spices and my foil and my plastic bags and containers to heat things up in. It’s the only bag we check. So if it got lost, oh well.

Jackie Barnes: But otherwise we just travel with carry-on in a backpack and we’re ready to go. And we’re usually gone for, you know, three, four weeks at a time.

Annie Sargent: Wow. That’s fantastic. If you use Airbnbs, then obviously you probably have a place to wash your clothes most places.

Jackie Barnes: Yes. I look for that at least halfway through a trip so that, you know …

Annie Sargent: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Another good possibility, that I think is developing more and more in France, but you wouldn’t find them in a Plus Beaux Villages, would be aparthotel. ‘Apart’ is the beginning of apartament, but it’s the hotel that’s kind of like an apartment because you have a common kitchen and you have a … Well, actually maybe it’s just a laundry that’s common, but you have a small kitchen in your area. You have a little desk, you have more than a hotel room.

Annie Sargent: And it’s not fancy, but for people who want to cook their own meals and want to do their own laundry… I mean, we also have laundromats in France as well, so…

Jackie Barnes: Yes. Well, and sometimes going to the laundromat, I meet some of the best people. You meet locals and you meet other tourists, and so I don’t mind doing that. On this particular trip we stayed, and so we were four nights in each place, so we really got a chance, I mean, it’s like obviously it’s not forever, but four nights is a really nice… You have three full days to do things and not have to move your things.

Annie Sargent: Yeah.

[00:07:57] Exploring Sarlat and Surroundings

Annie Sargent: That’s really good, if you had asked me before you went, I might have told you, “Oh, that might be a long time to go in,” but if you have several beautiful villages around where you’re staying… So did you typically stay in one of the Plus Beaux Villages?

Jackie Barnes: Yes. The first one that we stayed in was Sarlat. And well, we took the train from Paris down to,from Austerlitz to Brive-la-Gard? Gailliard?

Annie Sargent: Brive-la-Gaillarde.

Jackie Barnes: Thank you. And then we rented a car from there. And then we drove to Sarlat, and so that day we… it was actually snowing in the end of March. I know. We have beautiful pictures. There’s nobody in Sarlat. We stayed in a great Airbnb called Apartment Le Cardinal, and it was on a little tiny square, and it was really, really a great place to stay.

Jackie Barnes: There were only a few restaurants open in town, so our host told us where to go eat dinner. It had a small kitchen. The next day was market day, so I went to the market and bought, oh, strawberries from the strawberry lady. Like, there’s nothing like the strawberry lady, and cheeses. And I saw this huge thing of bread, and I thought, “We can’t eat all that bread.” And they will cut how much you want. And I was like, “This is, like, the best.”

Jackie Barnes: So anyway, we stayed in Sarlat for four nights and from there we took day trips. So the first day we were just in Sarlat, because that was kind of our travel day. And then we went out to our first Beaux Village, which was La Roque Gagiac?

Annie Sargent: La Roque Gageac.

Jackie Barnes: Okay, Gageac, thank you. And so that we went in the morning and, oh, it was beautiful. The wisteria was blooming even though it had snowed the day before, overlooking the Dordogne River, and it was a steep climb up, and we really, really wanted to canoe that day, but it was still pretty cold.

Jackie Barnes: So, they were renting canoes, but we were like, “Nah, we’re not going to do that.” But we were coming back to the area later, so we knew that maybe if the weather was better, we could return. Which we did. And so we hiked up to the top, overlooked the river, and again, there were hardly any people, because that’s what’s nice about traveling in March. Weather doesn’t bother me, you know? I’d rather travel with less people and bundle up. That just… it’s just the way I travel. And so yeah, so we did that, and then we went to Domme, or D-O-M-M-E.

Annie Sargent: Domme, yes.

[00:10:29]  The Knights Templar

Jackie Barnes: We went to Domme, after we went to La Roque, and again, high cliff overlooking the Dordogne River. And that’s where we saw the graffiti from the Knights Templar, and that was really cool. They were just carved in the walls, and the people in the town were really nice to point out where it was. There were a few restaurants open, and there were a few more people because it was the afternoon, so it had warmed up a little bit. So we had a nice lunch overlooking the river. We did not sit outside. I would have liked to have, but that was not in the cards.

Jackie Barnes: But the Knights Templar stuff, that’s in Domme, the Knights Templar were, they were actually imprisoned there. So I thought that was kind of interesting, and anyway, that dates back to 1307. Sorry, that would be my… I’m a teacher, I was a teacher, so I like to provide information.

Jackie Barnes: And that was pretty much our whole day.

[00:11:22] Strawberries in March in Paris

Annie Sargent: Hang on, hang on, I got to stop you for just a second, because the strawberries… Okay, so I was just in Paris, and one of the things I did is, I wanted to do something special for my patrons, and so I did a special walk that I’m not going to do a VoiceMap of, I just wanted to walk it and give them details of where I went and all of that.

Annie Sargent: And that included a couple offoodie streets, Rue des Martyrs, Rue Cadet being two of them. And they are very close together. And on Rue des Martyrs, because it’s a very popular… I mean, it’s a very famous street in Paris, I actually saw strawberries for €40 a flat, which I was apoplectic. So this was the first half of March, where… I don’t know where they were getting the strawberries from, because it’s not strawberry season yet, right? And so, just be careful, when you hear about fabulous strawberries in France, if it’s off season, they’re not going to be that great at any price.

Jackie Barnes: I have no idea, this lady was just selling them by the pint…. and my friend who writes the guidebooks had said… I posted a picture, she goes, “Oh, my gosh, you met the strawberry lady at the market.” I said, “Yes.” And they were red all the way through, and they weren’t big. They were just a regular-sized strawberry, and they were so delicious.

Jackie Barnes: And I try when I plan, I look to see when these towns are going to have market days, because I do enjoy cooking, and I like to go to the… We’re more likely to eat lunch out than… and then eat dinner in if I can go to a market. so anyway, the strawberries were amazing, and that was the end of March, beginning of April. I don’t care if they’re hot house, it didn’t matter. They were delicious.

Annie Sargent: Well, she probably has a greenhouse, because it would have been too… But if she grows them herself, then they come back every year, and she’s babied her strawberries because she can make a living out of that, and that’s great. But I mean, don’t pay ridiculous prices, is what I’m trying to say.

Jackie Barnes: Oh, no. No, I think they were maybe like euro for a pint, or four euro.

Annie Sargent: Exactly. So this was 2022. By now, it’s a little more. Like, maybe six or seven euros for a pint. But never 40. That is not right.

Jackie Barnes: No, that’s ridiculous.

Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah. So anyway, that’s just what I… what I wanted to interject. A lot of these places have wonderful markets, and some of them are very popular, like the one in Sarlat. I discussed with one guy about the price of his foie gras, because it was very high. And I was just like, ” Are you just trying to sell your foie gras to visitors, because I’m never going to buy it at that price.” And he just shrugged and, “Ah, whatever.” Yeah, well, you know, it’s…

Annie Sargent: French people are very price sensitive is what I’m saying. And sometimes visitors are not price sensitive enough. For our own pocketbooks, I’m like, “Please don’t go paying, you know, outrageous prices for things, because then we can’t afford them when we go after you.”

Jackie Barnes: Right. That actually is a really, really good point.

Jackie Barnes: Because sometimes as a tourist, you’re not sure. I mean, I know what I pay at home for chicken, and so I tend to cook a lot of chicken when I’m on the road, it’s just easy, because it comes in parts. Like, if I buy hamburger meat or something, then I have to say, “Oh, how much is that and how many kilograms?” I’m like, “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know,” Because of course we use pounds. You know, a lot of it, I just buy vegetables. I guess I’m not overpaying, because I never went like, “Oh, wow, that’s ridiculous.”

Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that’s… You can totally buy things that… without being ripped off. But some places …

Jackie Barnes: Right. No, but that is good to know. I’ve been in places where I go, “Well, I guess we’re having…” Well, I always carry peanut butter and jelly with me just in case. And I go, “Well, guess what we’re having for dinner tonight?” My husband will laugh. He goes, “Oh, peanut butter and jelly again?” I’m like, “Yes, yes.” On a croissant.

Annie Sargent: Yeah, on a croissant, it’s not so bad.

Jackie Barnes: Oh, it was the best. It was the best.

[00:15:24] Visiting Chateau Milandes and Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

Jackie Barnes: But it was nice. When we went out the next day, we went to Château des Milandes, Josephine Baker estate. Oh, my gosh, the gardens there were great. I loved the whole story. It was well documented, and so I knew what was going on.

Annie Sargent: That’s a particularly good one. I mean, honestly, Château des Milandes is not to be missed, because it’s kind of old and dusty the way the museum is done, but it’s very well done. You see a lot of photos of her and her kids and her performances and her dresses and all of that. And also her participation in the French Resistance is also outlined. She was just an outstanding person. So, I think that one is not to be missed.

Annie Sargent: And they also have a bird show.

Jackie Barnes: Yeah, I agree, and the garden was great.

Annie Sargent: Right, the garden’s beautiful, and the bird show is fun.

Annie Sargent:

Jackie Barnes: They were not doing the birds that day.

Jackie Barnes: We were just a little bit off season, but I had read the reviews on it, and it sounded really good.

Annie Sargent: Yeah, they don’t do them every day, and some of these birds, they don’t want to work when it’s cold.

Jackie Barnes: That’s so funny.

[00:16:33]  Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

Jackie Barnes: So then in the afternoon, we went to Castelnaud-la-Chapelle?

Annie Sargent: Yes, Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, yes.

Jackie Barnes: We saw all the cool weapons. We saw the trebuchet being launched. So if you had kids, or your husband really likes armory stuff and weapons, or you like armory stuff and weapons, that was… The view was spectacular, and I would recommend going there just because it was really… It was well done.

Jackie Barnes: And what was cool about that is… what I had read about it was that it had fallen into disrepair, they were actually using it as a stone quarry until, I guess, about the ’60s or something. I think it was about the ’60s. They decided they could make it a historical place, and so they stopped ripping it down and they restored it, and I was glad they did. It was worth going to see.

Annie Sargent: Yeah, and it is one where definitely they emphasize the weaponry and the war machines, and so if you want to see that, the Castelnau is excellent.

Annie Sargent: Sometimes they do, like, whole fairs with kind of tournaments, jousting, things like that.

Jackie Barnes: Oh, cool.

Annie Sargent: But it’s only on specific days when they know they’re going to have a big turnout, on school holidays, or vacation times or whatever.

Jackie Barnes: Yes. No, we saw school groups there, but they were there basically to watch the trebuchet launch, you know, the things that they were launching. You know, I mean, I’d like anything so that’s…

Annie Sargent: As a teacher, you probably noticed school groups in lots of different places.

Jackie Barnes: Yes, very much so.

Annie Sargent: French kids are lucky. We get taken to a lot of cool stuff with school.

Jackie Barnes: Yes. They really, really are lucky. I look and go, “Oh, I wish, I wish.”

[00:18:12] Cycling Adventures on Voie Verte from Sarlat

Jackie Barnes: And then, another thing we did from Sarlat that I loved and would recommend, was we rented electric bikes. We were probably the only idiots out there riding. We bought garden gloves because our hands were so cold. We didn’t bring mittens with us. But it’s a flat trail, the Voie Verte.

Annie Sargent: La Voie Verte. So there’s a million of Voie Verte, I’m not sure which one you took. It was from Sarlat?

Jackie Barnes: Yes, it was from Sarlat to… oh gosh… Cazoules, C-A-Z-O-U-L-E-S.

Annie Sargent: Cazoules. Okay. Well, I’ll look for it.I’ll try and find it and put in the show notes.

Jackie Barnes: Okay. It’s a 29-kilometer one. We did half because we were cold. And so we stopped in Rouffouillac?!

Annie Sargent: Rouffouillac?

Jackie Barnes: Yeah, Rouffouillac, and we ate lunch at their restaurant. They had a fire going in the fireplace and… But the electric bikes, we rented through Liberty Cycle and they’re little… They have a kiosk set up for people to rent the bikes, but we were probably the only ones stupid enough to ride bikes. So the guy just delivered them to us, met us, and then gave us his phone number and said, “Call me when you’re done and we’ll come pick the bikes up.” And we said, “Well, okay.”

Annie Sargent: Nice.

Jackie Barnes: It was nice. We stopped in a town and got some coffee and then rode as far as we wanted. They go through a… it’s an old rail line, and so you go through a really long train tunnel. So that was cool.

Jackie Barnes: And the walnut trees were starting to blossom. And it’s flat. And on electric bikes, you know, it was like, “Okay, fine, we went nine miles each way,” or what is it? 15 kilometers each way. And it wasn’t exhausting at all, you know. You just… Oh, and you stop and took pictures, you know, stopped in little towns. And so that was… I would recommend that from Sarlat.

Annie Sargent: These Voie Verte are absolutely a gem. We didn’t have them when I was growing up in France, we didn’t have them as a kid. I love that we have those things. And most towns in France, you can ask if there’s a Voie Verte…

Jackie Barnes: Mm-hmm.

Annie Sargent: … and it’s going to be the place where people go for either walking, riding, walking their dogs. On a Sunday afternoon, you see whole families. Andthey might not be going very far, but they will just take an afternoon stroll, you know, a 5K or something. And it’s just a very fun part of French life that city people don’t experience as much. I mean, they can go to parks…

Jackie Barnes: Right. Right.

Annie Sargent: … but we have these places that will take us somewhere, to another village or to another town or something. And often it’s on old railways, which we have a lot of in France.

Jackie Barnes: Yes. Yes. Well, and actually, in Texas, they’ve started doing that too with some of their old rail lines, and it’s called Rails to Trails. You bring your bike and you can cycle from a town out to a state park and back. I think everyone’s trying to figure out, “What do we do with these leftover railways?”

Annie Sargent: Yes, yes, yes, yes. And very often, you will have… somewhere, somebody can give you a map that will show you where the restaurants are, where the bathrooms are, where you can refill water, things like that. Usually, the local tourist office can tell you. If you’re going to be on there long enough, you should find out these things. For 15 kilometers, probably you can just wing it.

[00:21:28] You Can Ask for a Doggy Bag in France

Jackie Barnes: Yes. Yeah. Well, that we were like, “Okay, we’re going to have lunch and we’re going to eat at this restaurant,” because it’s the first one that we saw that was open.

Jackie Barnes: And they gave us the biggest meal I have ever had. And my husband, like, was… I’m like, “Honey, I think we have more courses.” And they just kept bringing it. And I’m like, “Ugh.” But it was delicious. And we took some of it home and had it for dinner, so no big deal. Because I carried… I know this is bad. I carry a plastic bag with me, because I know some restaurants, they… I don’t know. Is this true or not? They don’t like to give you a takeaway?

Annie Sargent: Okay, so this has changed.

Jackie Barnes: Okay.

Jackie Barnes: Again, because French people are very much anti-gaspillage, anti-gaspi is what we say between us. They just say, “Well, it would make more sense to give people their leftovers.” And so some places they don’t have, like, styrofoam boxes or whatever but they’ll wrap it up in some foil for you, and you can take it home that way. It’s getting more and more common. Well, I just… I took home one of the last courses to come was some meat, and I just took a plastic bag out of my purse and my backpack, and I just put it in there because I was like, “I can’t eat one more thing, but I want to know what dessert is,” because I was going to eat that. So we had some leftover meat for dinner, but it was a fun day.

Annie Sargent: That’s great. That’s fantastic.

(Mid-roll ad spot)

[00:22:47] Language Barriers and Cultural Experiences

Annie Sargent: Did you run into any problems because you don’t speak French from your own admission? Was it difficult? Because these are rural places.

Jackie Barnes: Okay, my husband speaks basic French. He can read it really well and if you speak really slowly, he may be able to, but my favorite one is we went into a restaurant and he wanted to say, “I have a great hunger,” and so he saidsomething: “Oh, I have”, let’s see, faim, and but, “I have a big hunger,” but he said, “I have a big wife,” femme.

Jackie Barnes: And the lady looked at him and looked at me like, “Aren’t you mad that he’s calling you big?” And she walked away kind of huffy, so I said, “What did you say to her?”

Jackie Barnes: He goes, “I don’t know. Let me look it up real quick.” So we pulled up Google Translate, and just said, and he goes, “Oh, my gosh. I just said I have a big wife.” Or a big woman.

Annie Sargent: Faim et femme. It’s almost the same, but not quite, is it? That’s funny.

Jackie Barnes: Right. Exactly. But anyway, no, I have found… I think I’m a pretty good traveler. I have found that I never say, “That’s not how we do it.” You know? I try really, really hard to enjoy the culture that I’m in. If it’s a slow-paced town, and I really do like those small towns, I try really hard to just be slow-paced, and go and see and do, and be polite, and know the please, thank you, excuse me. Like, know those basic words before I go anyplace. And also, if you smile and pantomime, you can get just about everything.

Jackie Barnes: Yeah.

Jackie Barnes: I’m, like, really good with using my hands, and pointing to things. And I’ll use Google Translate if I really, like, if I’m checking into an Airbnb or whatever, and I really need to know something specific. I’ll just pull out the Google Translate.

Annie Sargent: Yeah, I can tell how you would get along. I mean, you’re a smiley, friendly person, and that’s what it takes, really.

Jackie Barnes: I try. I don’t even have to try. I pretty much, that’s my, you know…

Annie Sargent: That’s who you are.

Jackie Barnes: … they’re like, you know, “Come on, man.” I’m like, “No, no. Let’s not be down,” you know? All our luggage was stolen in Italy on day three of a 20-day trip, eight women. Yeah, that was hard. And we just, you know, we figured it out.

Jackie Barnes: But anyway, the next village we went to was, is it Cahors or Cahors?

Annie Sargent: Cahors.

Jackie Barnes: Cahors. Oh, I was really wrong.

Annie Sargent: Cahors.

[00:25:12] Exploring Cahors and Malbec Wine

Jackie Barnes: And Cahors is not a Beaux Villages because it has too many people.

Annie Sargent: Yeah. It’s a big, it’s a city,

Jackie Barnes: Yeah. It really is. And so, but it was a great jumping off point,it’s the birthplace of Malbec, which I love Malbec wine. That’s one of my favorites. And I didn’t know that that was actually where Malbec, it’s not from South America. And so I was very surprised the vines went to South America from Cahors. So I thought that was cool.

[00:25:37] Font-de-Gaume Cave Paintings

Jackie Barnes: But we stopped on the way to Cahors, we stopped at Grotte de Font-de-Gaume. It’s the cave with the cave paintings.

Annie Sargent: Yeah. Font-de-Gaume. …

Annie Sargent: Okay. Yes.

Annie Sargent: But hang on, that’s, that’s in the

Jackie Barnes: Dordogne, that’s in Les Eyzies.

Jackie Barnes: That was on the way from… We drove on the way from Sarlat to Cahors.

Annie Sargent: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it’s a little bit out of the way. Okay.

Jackie Barnes: Yes. And so we went there and they just happened to have two tickets left because their online ticketing wasn’t working. And so it was in French. I didn’t care. I just wanted to see the cave paintings. They only let 78 people in, 13 at a time. So definitely you have to have your tickets ahead of time. I enjoyed it. I like, you know, all of that prehistoric stuff.

Annie Sargent: Yeah. So, Font-de-Gaume is a bit tricky to visit because they used to have big problems with this reservation system.

Annie Sargent: They’ve made a little better, I think. I wrote a blog post about how to get tickets to Font-de-Gaume. If you go to joinusinfrance.com, there’s a tab that says blog, and one of the blog posts is specifically about how to get tickets to Font-de-Gaume. I don’t remember all the details, so I’m not going to say something wrong here, but…

Jackie Barnes: I just said, “Hey, you know, let’s just go in and see,” because we couldn’t get the online tickets and somebody had either canceled or not showed up in time. And so I just said, “Well, let’s go. I don’t care it’s in French.”

[00:26:58] Hiking from Bouzies to Saint-Cirq-Lapopie

Jackie Barnes: So the next day in Cahors, we did one of my favorite, favorite things, which was the hike from Bouzies?

Annie Sargent: Bouzies.

Jackie Barnes: To Saint-Cirq-Lau- La Popie?

Annie Sargent: Yeah. Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. Yes.

Jackie Barnes: It’s a 10 kilometers round trip, 6.2 miles. It’s flat until you hit the Cirq.

Annie Sargent: Saint-Cirq.

Jackie Barnes: Oh my God.

Annie Sargent: And then it is not flat.

Jackie Barnes: You’ve got to be kidding.

Jackie Barnes: But the walk along the canal, we saw people on boats, and then they have these beautiful art sculptures carved into the wall. And the hiking is, it was probably one of my favorite walks. I just absolutely loved doing it, and I would highly recommend it.

Annie Sargent: Yeah. The other thing that’s of interest in that area is the Pech Merle cave, which is technically in Bouzies, I think, in the village of Bouzies. I mean, although it’s up the hill a little ways. And that’s a painted cave that you can also visit.

Annie Sargent: So when I take people in this area, I take them to the painted cave, then to the walk, and then to Saint-Cirq. I usually drive them to Saint-Cirq. I mean, we do part of the walk. The first part of the walk has all the art and is very interesting. And then after a while it’s just a, you know, river, river, river. So mostly we just, I just drive them. But I’m, oh, hoofing. I did it once. I’m good. I did it once.

Jackie Barnes: Yeah. No, no, I get that. And if I were to bring my friends back, I would do it again. I lived in Las Vegas for a while, and when people would come, they’d want to see the Hoover Dam. I went twice and then I just said, I’ll drop you off at the bus station that will take you to Hoover Dam.” It’s the same thing. There’s just things that you go, “I don’t want to see that again ever.”

Annie Sargent: Yeah. Yeah. No, but it is beautiful and it’s a very, very nice walk.

Jackie Barnes: Yes. And so both,Bouzies and  Saint-Cirq-Lapopie are both Beaux Villages. So we got two for one in one day.

Annie Sargent: Oh, I didn’t realize that Bouzies was a Plus Beaux Villages.

Jackie Barnes: I think that they had just gotten that status.

Annie Sargent: Okay.

Jackie Barnes: Because they had signs kind of everywhere. And I hadn’t really investigated it because it was not on my list of like, “Oh, what else is there to do?” It was a place to park our car, to be honest with you.

Annie Sargent: Exactly. They have a big, nice parking area.

Jackie Barnes: And then I saw, you know, we went across this little tiny bridge and then it was like, “Oh, well, wait, this is a Beaux Villages too.” But I didn’t know what to do there. And I knew that the hike was going to take us pretty much all day because we spent a lot of time in Lapopie. But I loved, I loved that.

Annie Sargent: Yeah. And there’s also boats that you can take between Saint-Cirq-Lapopie and Bouzies. So you can also do it by boat.

Jackie Barnes: Oh, okay. Well, we just saw rented boats, like they were taking a vacation. They got to go through the canal thing. So we saw all that, the dams and stuff. So that was kind of cool.

[00:29:52] Visiting Saint-Vincent-Rive-d’Eault and Wineries

Jackie Barnes: And then our next day, from Cahors, we went to Saint-Vincent-Rive-d’Olt.

Annie Sargent: Okay, that one I do not know.

Jackie Barnes: Okay. It is a tiny town with a beautiful little river running through it, and you could tell like it was definitely a charming village. I see why they picked it. The streets were cute. We just did a quick walkthrough, took some photos because they had just beautiful bridges and they had some flowers blooming and it was pretty gorgeous.

Jackie Barnes: And then we went to two wineries that day, Chateau Eugenie, and then my favorite was La B-E-R-A-N-G-E-R-I-E, Berangerie, and it was a Malbec.

Jackie Barnes: I showed up, I didn’t know I needed a reservation. We just pulled up like maybe, you know, dumb tourists and the lady said, “Oh, I’ll see if my son can do a tasting right now.”

Jackie Barnes: And over the walkie-talkie her son said, “I am loading a truck right now for Paris, mom, you know that. I can’t do that.”

Jackie Barnes: So the owner invited us into her house and did a wine tasting with us at her kitchen table just for the two of us, and we got to meet her family. It was one of those, you know, special moments that happens during a vacation that you couldn’t have planned it.

Jackie Barnes: And, she said, “Oh, yeah, we’re just really not open for that right now and usually you call and make a reservation.” I’m like, “I am so sorry.” And then we bought two cases of wine and it was absolutely delicious. I have a picture with her and she said, you know, “Oh, please come back sometime and visit.” And her English was quite good, thank goodness, and it was definitely a magic moment for us.

Annie Sargent: That’s wonderful. Yes, some of these wineries are hoity-toitys, and will not talk to you unless you have a reservation, but some of them are really easygoing. Like in the Southwest, you know, go, “Oh, we’re not… We’re simple people.”

Jackie Barnes: Right. No, it was great. And then in the afternoon we went to Belcastel.

Annie Sargent: Yes, Belcastel yes.

Annie Sargent: That’s gorgeous.

Jackie Barnes: The reflection of the bridge on the water was worth stopping for, and cobbled streets and stone tile roofs and 15th century church.

Annie Sargent: And a nice, steep high walk as well.

Jackie Barnes: Oh, yeah. I just… I mean, I really got my exercise. I really got my exercise.

Jackie Barnes: Okay. And then, the next day we drove out to Conques for one night.

Jackie Barnes: We only spent one night there because there, we just really wanted to see the Sainte-Foy abbey or church or whatever, and the gray stained-glass windows. But the thing that I like the best are the reliquaries that are in the treasure room. All over the world, I love finding the reliquaries. When I was in Italy, I pieced together most of… I had Saint Catherine’s finger, her head, her… All in different churches. And that’s pretty terrible, but you know, that’s kind of one of my things.

Annie Sargent: I read a fascinating book. There’s a French historian, I mean, a legit historian, okay, she has a PhD. She decided to do an inventory of saints’ bits and parts, and…

Jackie Barnes: I would love her.

Annie Sargent: Yes, yes. I don’t know if her book have been translated, but she has found out that there are, some saints have a lot of fingers. We can account for a lot of fingers of saints, and a lot of femur bones, and things. Like, oh, they probably had five legs because we can… You know?

Jackie Barnes: Right. Everyone has a leg.

[00:33:30] Theft of Reliquaries and Sainte-Foy’s Story

Annie Sargent: So, that’s a very interesting hobby.

Jackie Barnes: Well, what I also found was interesting was that they stole some of the reliquaries because Cahors, the cathedral wasn’t on the Saint James Route into Santiago, and so they wanted to be on the pilgrimage route. And they sent the people out to steal the bones of Sainte-Foy and other reliquaries. And so their treasure trove is full of reliquaries stolen by priests. And I thought that was just like, wow.

Jackie Barnes: Yeah, just like, ” Let’s just be famous,” so… And it took them like six years to do a- go undercover, and so I thought that that was cool.

Jackie Barnes: And then the story of Sainte-Foy, you know, being 14, and she was basically barbecued and beheaded. It was pretty bad.

Jackie Barnes: My husband had studied architecture and so that was one of the things that he had studied was Conques, and he loves medieval history and…

Annie Sargent: Yeah. So that’s a beautiful, Romanesque church. The church itself it’s not very big. It’s one of those places that is surprisingly accessible. A lot of these villages are really not accessible to people who have, you know, limited mobility, wheelchairs, et cetera. That one is pretty good. So just want to mention it just in case.

Jackie Barnes: Yeah. No, because I did notice that there was, we stayed, and I’m not going to mention the place we stayed because it wasn’t great, but it was at the bottom of the hill so we drove up as far as we could go but I did notice that up close there was handicapped parking and there was, you know, a nice grade that you could, you know, get a wheelchair up or stairs to climb, and so you are correct with that. But, you know, I liked it. Four nights in Sarlat and four nights in Cahors and this was just one night, like see the church and… so worth seeing. Gray and white stained glass windows, I had never seen anything like that and it was interesting. It was really interesting.

[00:35:30] Capdenac

Jackie Barnes: We left Cahors, we stopped in Capdenac, C-A-P-D-E-N-A-C.

Annie Sargent: Okay.

Jackie Barnes: And there were towers to climb and ramparts to walk and fountains, and they had a, and I would particularly like this for children, they had a sensory walk, and it was medicinal herbs and a garden of five senses, and they had a big wall that held these little bamboo tubes where like all different insects. They called it an insect department. All the little insects were inside. And we saw some kids there and they were just, you know, pointing to things and so I thought that was worth mentioning. Anytime you have kids it’s nice to know, oh, that would be a cool place to take them and…

Annie Sargent: Yeah. Yeah. That’s great.

Jackie Barnes: And so I thought that that was cool.

[00:36:18] Exploring Martel and Rocamadour

Jackie Barnes: And so then we spent four nights in Martel, and I love that town. I have a great picture of my husband walking back from the boulangerie with a baguette under his arm, looking as French as he possibly can. It was a great town and again, but we missed the market day. I was like, “No, no,” but that, you know…

Annie Sargent: It happens.

Jackie Barnes: We stayed at Evelyn’s place. It’s an Airbnb, and I really enjoyed that. They live next door, and then there was an apartment with a washing machine and a nice little kitchen, and the bedrooms were upstairs. One bedroom for adults. They had a bunk bedroom as well.

Jackie Barnes: But they were just the sweetest people and spoke no English, and I pantomimed my way through it. We enjoyed their company. We had a glass of wine with them one night. And it was well located in the town, like right around front of the market where they have the market.

Annie Sargent: Martel is not a very touristy town, even though it’s lovely.

Jackie Barnes: No, I agree. I liked it, it was a good jumping off point because, then we went to Rocamadour. We made the big mistake of parking at the bottom,

Jackie Barnes: and then we walked and we walked, and there is a tram that will take you, but because we were kind of off season, the tram wasn’t running frequently. So we just like, “Okay, let’s just walk this and then we can eat more for lunch.” And so, you know, that was kind of our thought. And then we get up to the level where the town is and we realize…

Annie Sargent: Not done.

Jackie Barnes: No, we’re not done.

Annie Sargent: Not done, not done.

Jackie Barnes: And the station for the cross and walking up and… it was gorgeous. The views, we would just stop and turn around. The views and just the town streets, and it’s a little touristy. You know, they do have a lot of, yeah, I call them like T-shirt shops and all that. It was absolutely UNESCO World Heritage Site and I could understand why.

Annie Sargent: So Rocamadour, you have to try and park at the top.

Annie Sargent: Drive up, and up, and up, and up as far as you can and park up there, and then they have elevators. If you park at the bottom and you find the elevators, I think you pay 15 bucks or whatever, and you can ride the elevators all the way up or all the way down or back and forth. And it makes your life a lot easier because that is seriously steep.

Jackie Barnes: Well, I ate a lot of bread that day…

Annie Sargent: There you go.

Jackie Barnes: It’s like, “Oh, I can eat that. Oh, I can have an ice cream. I can…” Yeah, I justified a lot of eating that day so…

Annie Sargent: That’s how we do it. Yes.

Jackie Barnes: Yes. Well, that is… I get that. I get that. So then we explored Martel. They have seven towers and that’s what Martel is famous for. But I wished I had been there during truffle season because evidently they have a big truffle walnut festival, and I would want to go do that. I would want to hunt truffles and I love truffle flavor, so that’s… You know, that would be something that I’d like to do.

[00:39:07] Canoeing on the Dordogne River

Jackie Barnes: So then we returned because we were actually pretty close, and I told you I wanted to canoe on the Dordogne so we went back to La Roque Gagnac…

Annie Sargent:

Annie Sargent: La Roque Gageac.

Jackie Barnes: And the weather was beautiful that day. We rented a canoe and so we could go by, we went by all of the cool places, you know, the towns and things that rather than looking down, we were looking up. And there was so much current to the river. Honestly, we dipped our paddles maybe three times and just floated. And then they met you at a place, you know, they’re like, “Oh, well, there’s a giant beach ball hanging out there. Just paddle towards the shore,” and then they pick you up and take you back to your car. And it was absolutely stunningly beautiful.

Annie Sargent: What was the company that you rented your boat from?

Jackie Barnes: In that town La Roque Gajac, in that town there are canoe companies just right down by the river.

Annie Sargent: Okay. Just pick one.

Jackie Barnes: Yeah, pick one. Pick one. I think they all did the same thing. And, you know, we picked the one we picked because the guy smiled at us and waved and he seemed nice.And the price seemed like what I would pay in the United States with transportation to and from. But it was really, really fun. I definitely enjoyed that.

[00:40:15] Gouffre de Padirac Cave Adventure

Jackie Barnes: We also went to Gouffre de Padirac. It’s the underground cave.

Annie Sargent: The Gouffre de Padirac.

Jackie Barnes: I would highly recommend that for people with kids. We went… honestly, it couldn’t have been any better. There were hardly any people there which I can tell how many people could possibly be there by how they have like, “Wait in this line, wait in this line, wait in this line.”

Jackie Barnes: And we had a reservation. We walked up. Climbed down into the cave using the stairs and, oh my gosh, got down there, it’s magical under there with the water and all the lights. Andin our boat there was just one other couple. That was it.

Annie Sargent: Wow.

Jackie Barnes: And you just floated along and the guide was, you know, talking to us in French and English and just talking about the cave formations and I loved it. So I would suggest, you know, going early in the day, having a reservation and going at the beginning of April, like, not during Easter time or, you know?

Annie Sargent: Exactly. Yeah. So there are times in the year where you really need a reservation for this one. Other times, it’s not so bad like you experienced. I’ve only been there when it was very, very mobbed. And actually, one time we stopped by hoping to get a ticket, and we couldn’t get a ticket. So, it can happen that if you don’t have a reservation, never mind, not today.

Jackie Barnes: And I had no idea because they had us kind of in groups and so I thought, oh, you know, this… it might be… have a lot of people. And then I got down there and I’m like, I’m taking pictures of this and there’s nobody in the pictures. I’m like, this is amazing.

Jackie Barnes: Like I said, this was an amazing, amazing trip.

[00:41:54] Autoire Waterfall Hike and Final Thoughts

Jackie Barnes: And after that we went to Autoire, A-U-T-O-I-R-E.

Annie Sargent: Okay.

Annie Sargent: And there’s only 350 people that live in this village. And they have a waterfall hike. And so we hiked up to the waterfalls. We went through the little village. They had some wine tasting and they had some cheese tasting places open. You know, not much going on. I saw a house that, if I was in the market to buy a house, I would have bought it. It was the most charming stone cottage, and it was so beautiful and the people were very lovely. And we had our peanut butter and jelly on a croissant in that village. So I remember that because my husband looked at me, he goes, “This is the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich I’ve ever had.” Aw.

Jackie Barnes: It happened to be on the way up, like, “Oh, we have to stop there. It’s a Beaux Villages.” You know how you just, you know, we were kind of… I mean, I’d planned this around the villages, so, you know, that was…

Annie Sargent: We’re going to have to wrap up, I’m afraid, because we’ve been talking a long time.

Jackie Barnes: Okay. Okay. Well, the only one I want to mention is, okay, we went to Carnac and that was cool, but Collonges-Rouge.

Annie Sargent: Collonges-la-Rouge? Yes.

Jackie Barnes: The Red Village. Oh, my gosh, I loved that and we ate at La Maraicher?

Annie Sargent: Okay.

Jackie Barnes: Anyway, I had the best duck burger in my entire life. It was so good and I love the village. And then our last one was Turenne and, that was, you could climb up to the top and they had a French garden on top of the roof.

Jackie Barnes: Turenne. How do you spell that?

Jackie Barnes: T-U-R-E-N-N-E.

Annie Sargent: Turenne. Okay.

Jackie Barnes: And so you parked and then you hiked up to the top of the castle and there was a beautiful French garden up there and we talked with the gardener, kind of talked. And so I would highly recommend these.

Annie Sargent: Wonderful. Wonderful. It sounds like you had an amazing time. Are you planning more trips to France?

Jackie Barnes: Not yet. Not yet. I’ve got a couple other trips I’m going to do.

Annie Sargent: Other places.

Jackie Barnes: Yeah, other places. I’ll get back there because I have some picked out in Southern France, so that’s… might be the next.

Annie Sargent: Wonderful. And I like that you just stayed four nights in each places. You didn’t try to rush. You had plenty to do everywhere you went. I mean, you didn’t get bored, right?

Jackie Barnes: No, and that’s the whole thing is like, you have to look. I mean, that’s why it was one night in Conques. That’s what we had to do. But the other ones I’m like, you know, “Have a home base and just keep coming back to it.”

Jackie Barnes: No, I wasn’t bored. As a matter of fact, I was like, “I wish we had four more nights to do,” because I had a couple more Beaux Villages that were nearby that we didn’t see. But it was wonderful. I love your country. I really, really love your country.

Annie Sargent: Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Annie Sargent: Jackie, it’s been a delight talking to you. Thank you so much for sharing all of that and well, whenever you come back I hope you have just as good a time as last time.

Jackie Barnes: I will. I will. And thank you so much and I love your walking map.

Annie Sargent: Oh, the VoiceMap stuff?

Jackie Barnes: The VoiceMap of Montmartre is fantastic. My husband and I did that when we were in Paris this last time and I will want to go back and do the rest of yours.

Annie Sargent: Thank you.

Jackie Barnes: And thank you for being you and putting all your time and effort into this. I appreciate that.

Annie Sargent: Thank you very much, Jackie, and bon voyage, wherever that takes you next time.

Annie Sargent: Okay. Thank you. Bye-bye, Annie.

Annie Sargent: Au revoir.

[00:45:26] Thank You, Patrons

Annie Sargent: Again, I want to thank my patrons for giving back and supporting the show. Patrons get several exclusive rewards for doing that, you can see them at patreon.com/joinus.

Annie Sargent: I don’t have any new patrons to thank this week, but I’ll be chatting with all my current patrons on Zoom this weekend, and that’s always a fun time.

Annie Sargent: I would love for you to join them too. You can do it for as little as $3 a month. But if you can afford it, I would love to have you pledge some more so you can have access to more of the rewards.

[00:46:02] Support Elyse

Annie Sargent: And to support Elyse, go to patreon.com/elysart.

[00:46:10]  Le Journée Européenne du Patrimoine

Annie Sargent: Every September, France celebrates Le Journée Européenne du Patrimoine, or Heritage Weekend.

Annie Sargent: This year it will be on Saturday, September 20th and Sunday, September 21st. And this year they have a theme, architecture. It’s a chance to step behind the doors of places that are normally closed to the public all over Paris and every region in France. Millions of people line up to explore government buildings, private mansions, museums, archives, even parts of the Elysee Palace.

Annie Sargent: And best of all, these visits are free for that weekend. I will not try to list every one of them, because every arrondissement of Paris will have events. Every city in France will do the same. The list is very, very long.

Annie Sargent: Here’s the thing. Some of these visits are so popular that the minute tickets become available, they’ll be sold out. Those visits are free, but you need a free ticket. That’s how they know how many people they’re going to let in.

Annie Sargent: So if you’re in France that weekend, my recommendation is that you start searching for your particular town or arrondissement and select what you’d like to visit, and keep searching for that place, the name of the place, and just say tickets and Journée du Patrimoine or something like this.

Annie Sargent: Most of these pages are not going to be in English because, you know, it’s efemeris, it’s just two days and there’s not much point translating a page that’s only relevant for two days, right? So search in French and do it every day until you find what you want. You have to be determined to enjoy this really to the fullest.

Annie Sargent: Some highlights this year include in the first arrondissement of Paris, the gorgeous building of the Banque de France, Le Palais Royal. So there’s several administrations in there. La Cour d’Appel, and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel.

Annie Sargent: So that’s fun because it’s never open to the public, normally. It’s the small Arc de Triomphe by the Louvre. La Comédie-Française is also open, normally you can only see some of it when you go to a show.

Annie Sargent: In the second arrondissement, La Tour Jean Sans Peur is fun. La BNF and they’re, it’s usually open some, but they open more things.

Annie Sargent: And then the third, the Lycée Henri-Quatre, is going to be open to the public. And we’ve mentioned it a ton on this podcast because it’s a place where a lot of very smart and famous people, French people went to high school.

Annie Sargent: You get me, there are 20 arrondissements, I can’t list them all. But if you start Googling for the places nearest you or places that you’ve heard might be open, don’t give up until you found something for you.

Annie Sargent: Heritage Weekend, Journée du Patrimoine, is one of the most exciting ways to experience France, not just the postcard sites, but the hidden layers of history that usually stay behind closed doors.

Annie Sargent: I know near me we have several chateaus that are never open to the public, but one of the deals when they get public monies to help keep the chateau in good repair is that they have to open it a certain number of days in the month, and so that’s why almost all the chateaus in France that get public monies will be open on the Journée du Patrimoine.

Annie Sargent: So it’s worth checking and good luck getting tickets, especially if you want to go to the Elysee Palace. Good luck with that.

[00:49:56] Personal Update

Annie Sargent: So we had a kind of a scary/fun experience the last few weeks at my house. We had an old fridge, it wasn’t, wasn’t that old, but it was an Electrolux fridge.

Annie Sargent: It’s a French brand, shittiest fridge we’ve ever had, okay? Just never buy an Electrolux fridge. Anyway, it was not working properly. It was giving us all sorts of problems, and so my husband decided, last time I was in Spain he decided to get a new fridge. And when they came to deliver this fridge, they removed the old one and tried to put it in and they couldn’t fit it in.

Annie Sargent: It’s a standard 60 centimeter size width, but it wasn’t going in. And the guy said, “I’m sorry, we can’t put it in. What would you like us to do?” So he said, “Well, let’s keep the old one and put the new one in the garage, and when my wife comes back, we’ll see what we can do.”

Annie Sargent: And in the meantime, I thought about it, thought about it, and mulled it over, whatever. And then I decided, okay, I can scrape off a couple of millimeters of… See how crazy I am? Of… plaster. But when I looked at it more carefully, that wasn’t gonna happen, because… well, because there’s some metal bits, and there’s some brick bits, andI could scrape off plaster, but I cannot scrape off brick, okay? I’m not that good.

Annie Sargent: Then my brother-in-law said, “Oh, you could…” I could put a… I had a seven centimeter wall there, he said I could redo that piece of wall and do just a five centimeter wall. Okay, but then you have to mess with the baseboards.

Annie Sargent: You have to mess with the tile, ugh, it was just… yeah. Or we could just redo that section of the kitchen, which is getting older. It’s probably 15 years old, but I just wasn’t enthusiastic about spending all that money on a part kitchen that’s fine for now. I mean, eventually, we’re gonna have to replace it, but for now it’s okay.

Annie Sargent: So, a couple of nights ago, I told my husband, “Okay, I want to try to shove that thing in, because the delivery people couldn’t get it in, but maybe I can.”

Annie Sargent: And I had been looking at this wall very, very carefully. In the meantime, we got rid of the old fridge and plugged in the new one in a different part of the kitchen, where we didn’t want it to stay, but it was just a temporary solution.

Annie Sargent: And so we emptied the fridge, push it in the right position, and I swear to God, we pushed so hard to get that thing in, and we did it at an angle a little bit, so that I thought if we can get it a few millimeters in at that angle, then we can straighten it out and push it in. Because the previous fridge was the same width, so there was no reason why this new fridge, which is a Liebherr fridge, it’s a German Liebherr fridge, much better brand. And we’ve had a Liebherr fridge before, and it was good. And we pushed and we shoved and we shook, and it took 20 minutes, but we got that thing in, and it was such a relief to have the fridge. And so it’s very, very tight in there. It has room in the back for venting, but it’s a tight spot.

Annie Sargent: So there you have it, the adventures of Annie’s kitchen, in France this time. I’m stubborn. That’s probably why this podcast still runs, is because I’m stubborn. Once I get it in my head that I will do something, I will do something, including shoving a fridge into space that’s too small, according to the professional delivery people.

Annie Sargent: I can’t believe that when they were doing the delivery, my husband tried to argue with them to try harder, and he said, “Well, talk to my wife.” And I talked to them, and I couldn’t talk them into trying any harder. And if I had been there, maybe I could have been more menacing.

Annie Sargent: I don’t know. All right.

Annie Sargent: My thanks to podcast editors, Anne and Christian Cotovan, who produced the transcripts.

[00:53:59] Next week on the podcast

Annie Sargent: Next week on the podcast, an episode with Greg Furry that I’m calling Pont du Gard, Dog Sleds, and a Dash of Chaos, with returning guest Greg Furry. It was a great conversation.

Annie Sargent: Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you join me next time so we can look around France together. Au revoir!

[00:54:20] Copyright

Annie: The Join Us in France travel podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Annie Sargent, and Copyright 2025 by AddictedToFrance. It is released under a Creative Commons attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license.

 

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Category: Dordogne