[Périgord Noir] Sarlat-la-Canéda, the Gabarres in La Roque-Gageac – Road Trip in France #20
Just before our road trip departure, while the road trip itinerary is nearly established, “Capital” releases a documentary with an exceptional focus on the Dordogne. The week before, it was a rerun of the report on the Ardèche gorges. We can see on both reports that it’s crowded, Covid or not. This worried us a little before coming.
Note: this blog article is part of the “Road Trip in France” made in August 2020. To read the previous parts, click here : #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18 and #19
Part 1: Travel Diary
Part 2: Practical Tips
Part 1: Travel Diary
The documentary highlights the Dordogne’s financing plan to attract tourists: vouchers are offered to travelers staying X days in the region. Here is the description of this program:
Documentary this Sunday, July 19 in Capital, at 9:10 pm on M6, on the Dordogne.
Familiar, cheap, very rich in landscapes and heritage, the Dordogne is one of new favorite destinations in France! Located in New Aquitaine, in the southwest of France, between Cognac and Bordeaux, the Dordogne attracts three million visitors every year. That’s 15% more than ten years ago. The department, spared by the virus, should generate even more interest. This tourist boom brings in no less than a billion euros per year to the department. Its strength: a unique offer! The Dordogne is home to fourteen geological wonders classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as the famous Lascaux cave. It also boasts nearly 1,000 castles and chateaux. Their owners are redoubling their inventiveness to attract families and history buffs. The castle of Castelnaud is the most visited castle of the department. In the summer, it is transformed into a mini amusement park in the Puy du Fou way with shows and animations and attracts more than 220.000 tourists.
It’s an incredible advertisement for the Dordogne and especially the castle of Castelnaud, the star of the documentary. On the map below, you can see what we visit in the region :
I must admit that this documentary influenced our itinerary a little bit. We decide to completely ignore the castle of Castelnaud because we have seen the same concept elsewhere: Château du Haut Koenigsbourg in Alsace, and the Puy du Fou. We give ourselves the luxury not to visit the main attractions of the region.
Sarlat-la-Canéda
Instead, we visit another very touristic place: Sarlat-la-Canéda, which is filled with visitors on Wednesday morning. There are several markets in the surroundings, but people run to Sarlat because there is a market all day long on Saturday.
We’re so stressed because of the lack of parking lots. This time, we don’t try to park next to the center anymore, but accept, like everybody else, to park 800m from the center, so our car will be in the shade. Just queuing to pay for the parking already takes us 20 minutes.
When we arrived at the market, we were amazed to see the number of French tourists. It looks like metro ligne 13 in Paris at rush hour. We don’t want to take part in this “Covid Party” and explore the alleys. Sarlat has the highest density of classified historical monuments, and is a destination of choice for medieval filming.
We come across a store that sells duck and goose foie gras. They have been awarded several times. They work in collaboration with several farmers, buying foie from them to make processed products. I also recommend it, it is delicious and the quality/price ratio is excellent (except the one with truffle because the truffle, without taste, is just put on the foie gras).
The truffles do not seem to be sold at the market, they’re probably too expensive. They are mostly found in stores. Winter truffles are preserved in alcohol, but they still lose a large part of their flavor. If you want fresh truffles, opt for seasonal truffles (summer truffles at the moment).
It’s when the market is almost closed that we come back to see what products are sold. It is an ordinary market finally, but we are most of the time in the shade, the setting is pleasant (when there are no tourists). There are lots of restaurants, with affordable menus, sometimes going down to 9€.
La Roque-Gageac
But we prefer to have lunch at La Roque-Gageac. It’s also very crowded, but it’s better spread out. We also take 20 minutes to queue to pay the parking. We opt for plates a little too simple lol: foie gras, duck breast and oysters.
This is what La Roque-Gageac looks like. You have to take the mini stairs to explore the village. There aren’t many inhabitants here anymore, because the river is capricious, one can sleep quietly and find oneself with one’s feet in the water in the middle of the night. It is said that all the houses have an exit by the mountain, to flee.
Once at the top, you can pay 5€ if I remember correctly, to take this thrilling staircase and climb up to the troglodyte structures of the Fort de Roque-Gageac, which have been well renovated (concrete structure to support the ceiling). There are many of them in the area.
If we came here, it isn’t only for the village but also to take a gabarre. Here it is! These are old transport boats, recycled into touristic boats for tourists. As we aren’t very far from Castelnaud, the gabarre is going to sneak, between canoes and kayaks, to the bridge at the foot of Castelnaud, and then turn back (it can’t go under the bridge anymore because there were too many accidents with the canoes there). The canoes often opt for the “5 castles route”, with departure from Vitrac.
There are two companies of gabarres, Gabarre Norbert and Gabarres Caminades. Take the one that leaves earlier, depending on your arrival time. One leaves every hour from xxxh, the other leaves every hour from xxxh30. The rates are the same: 10€/person.
La Roque-Gageac seen from the river is very beautiful. One realizes how tightly it is stuck to the cliff. Without the first row of stores, we couldn’t even have seen the houses in height. The limestone absorbs very well the heat during the day and is used as natural heating in the evening. The Manoir de Tarde dominates the heart of the village, you can see it from far away. It is a former residence of the bishops. The local producers’ market is held at the foot of the village on Friday mornings from May to September.
We continue a little bit to the castle, a little bit away from the village. To see the inside of the castle, just rent it for a day or a week. Who’s up for it?
I don’t know if you see a small balcony protruding in the middle of the picture, at the very top, it’s the most spectacular viewpoint of the region. To reach it, you have to pay the access to the Marqueyssac gardens and walk (in the shade) for 1km.
At the end of the route, we finally see the castle of Castelnaud, which dominates the whole area. Even by car, we can see this castle from very far away.
By zooming a little, we see the pruned boxwood of the Gardens of Marqueyssac
The gabarre makes a U-turn and we return to Roque-Gageac.
We take the car back to park just below the village of Castelnaud. From the bridge, we saw on the castle and the numerous canoes that make the route of the 5 castles. We hesitated to visit the village, but once again, the search for places to park tires us, and we prefer to come back another time.
There are still a lot of things to visit in the area (Beynac, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil), we clearly have time to push to Beynac for example, but the crowd tires us, we prefer to spend time at the edge of the swimming pool of our Airbnb, we are still on vacations!
By the way, just to show you Behind the Scenes, I now only take pictures and videos with Osmo Pocket. The camera is so discreet that I can film without being stared at. Nobody knows what it is and passers-by probably think I’m holding a selfie stick. I film while holding the camera as in the photo, so the camera is filming by itself and I am free to look everywhere, instead of looking at the screen. I hope to be able to upload the videos of the road trip by December.
Our next article, it’s this way
Part 2: Practical Tips
Useful links
- Our Airbnb : 66€ per night, breakfast included. To receive 35€ for your first reservation on Airbnb, use our sponsorship link
- 4 weeks Road Trip in France by car: program & detailed plans here
- These points of interest are part of the +800 tourist places in France that we recommend. To access free Google Maps of the 800 places in question, click here
- More info about our car rental at Leclerc (5€/day + 8cts per km) here
Canoeing
What are the 5 castles & 4 most beautiful villages of the most sold canoe course in the Dordogne?
Count 16km, minimum 3 hours and between 17€ and 19€ per person.
Wherever your canoe rental company is located, you will go to Vitrac (by shuttle) and you will be picked up by shuttle at Beynac
- Exceptional castles :
- Montfort Castle
- Castle of Marqueyssac
- Castle of Castelnaud
- Castle of Fayrac
- Beynac Castle
- Most beautiful Villages
- Domme
- La Roque Gageac
- Castelnaud
- Beynac
Budget
- Our Airbnb : 66€ per night, breakfast included
- Foie gras: count between 17€ and 23€
- Restaurant : 25€/person approx
- Gabarre Caminades: 10€. For a stroll without tourists, there are gabarres leaving from Terrasson-Lavilledieu, but which will not pass in front of Castelnaud.
- Parking: count about 3€ per village for 3 hours
