[Périgord] Périgueux, Brantôme, Nontron & Grotte de Villars – Road Trip in France #22

In the past, you could visit the domes, but because of security risks, this is no longer possible. It’s a pity because it takes away all the interest of the place: the front of the cathedral is unremarkable, the interior isn’t decorated. And from the cloister (entrance fee, 1,5€), you can only see a part of the domes.

For the table d’hôte, you have to reserve in advance – which we did before coming because Filipe does the shopping the same day. It’s simple but delicious, and cheap, I highly recommend it.

We talk with the neighbor next door, who has just finished his road trip in France, like us, but with a motorcycle. He tells us about an application that allows him to plan his itinerary, adapted to motorcycles (altitude difference, interest of the route…). There’s a little point we didn’t think of: finding a place to park his bike at night . As he has all his expensive stuff on his motorcycle, he can’t afford to park on the way and visit. Already, the 1500€ helmet has to be with him all the time.

He usually spends two days in each location. He settles down and leaves his belongings at the hotel or guest house, then he visits. He only chooses accommodation with private or secure parking, which is an important criterion. He is a person fond of extreme sports, so I was delighted to ask him a lot of technical questions, about paragliding with engine, boat licenses, motorcycles with two wheels in front (which he considers as motorcycles for those who do not know how to drive). He was able, for example, to explain to us why the paragliders we saw at the Puy de Dôme, were flying higher than the starting point. It was, according to him, a wind that blew upwards, like the type of wind we see at the beach, and it is easy to determine if it is this type of wind by simply looking at the windsock planted on the Puy de Dôme. We talked for hours. It was the mosquitoes that put an end to the conversation.

The next day, after a good night, we enter the dining room and we unhook the jaws of amazement : The table is entirely covered with Hermes dishes! Created in the region. This isn’t a gift from Hermès, but as the Hermès teams often come here, the owner wanted to pay tribute to them and make them feel at home.

It’s not hand-drawn dishes, it would have been too stressful to use. But it’s too pretty! The breakfast, absolutely royal, fresh and very generous, tastes better in such a decor and with such a set of tableware 😀

Ohlala, I can’t tell you how hard it was for me to leave all this luxury, to say goodbye to the owners, to our neighbor and to the beautiful room. It is really the best accommodation of our whole road trip, and I will remember it for a very long time. Wait, I’ll give you the reservation link if you pass by. We have been in the Red Room.

Nontron is well known for its handcrafted knives. It is the pride of the region. If we have seen the Hermès crockery, made in the area, the cutlery we use does indeed come from Nontron. It is possible to visit the store in Nontron, 500m from the guesthouse, but our neighbor recommended another place, where we can visit the workshop, so we can pay for the visit, without any obligation to buy. Click on the flyers to zoom. The visit costs 6€

Brantôme in Perigord

Brantôme is an absolutely wonderful city. I think it’s nicknamed “the Venice of the Perigord” or something like that. It’s frustrating because we’ve visited a lot of “Venice” from such and such a region, without having visited the REAL Venice. We have to correct this in October 😉 The highlight of the city is its abbey. We can’t visit the inside, but we can visit the cloister and the troglodyte part of the abbey with a guide (or not). Tickets can be bought at the tourist office just opposite. Before, the monks used to live in the troglodyte part but after two Viking invasions, they got fed up and started to build something more solid.

The main activity in Brantôme is canoeing. The city center is like an island and the route is very simple: you just go around it, that’s all. Be careful, there is a place where you have to go down a slope of about 50cm but quite steep so most people get out of the canoe to push it (so plan to get your feet wet).

Right next door is a Relais & Châteaux (link Booking) with a gastronomic restaurant (menu from 55€). The terrace is very beautiful, but I think we have a better view on them than they have on us.

We visit the abbey with a guide, fascinating and passionate. But he goes into a little too much detail about the architectural evolution of the abbey and completely lost me from that moment on. The part I like the most are these engravings in the troglodyte cave. It reminds me too much of Göreme in Turkey, only smaller of course. Here too, there are lots of pigeon nests, and there is a “miraculous” spring. The river passes just below these caves, you can hear it very well.

Villars Cave

We hurry to go to the Villars Cave because we have booked online the tickets for a guided tour. In reality, we could have bought the tickets on the spot without any problem.

I absolutely wanted, after visiting the two ultra famous replicas of caves (Chauvet 2 and Lascaux), to visit a REAL cave this time, and give my money to a less frequented, less known cave, to help them after the Covid.

But my flair decided otherwise, I chose, without knowing it, an absolutely beautiful cave not so unknown. Seriously, it’s as if I wanted to give money to a small local association and end up making a donation to UNICEF aahahha.

So the support for the little known little caves, it will be for next time eh. I show you the only picture we took on the site because pictures are forbidden inside. We preferred to buy a postcard.

Then I went to their website http://grotte-villars.com/ and here are the official pictures.

We were about twenty per group, with a guide equipped with a microphone, which makes it very easy to hear him. On the other hand, there are places so narrow that we had to split into two groups and listen to the explanations in turn. The passages are about 1m wide, and we are surrounded by stalagmites, stalactites. In order to make our way through, many stalagmites have been destroyed, I think.

The Villars Cave is one of the largest underground networks in the Périgord, nearly 13 km have been explored to date. I think we visit barely 1km, going back on our steps moreover.

I have NEVER, NEVER visited a cave with so many stalactites, there were thousands of them and just looking at the ceiling gives me shivers (for fear that they all fall at the same time ahaha). It is the guide who turns on the lights to us as we advance in the cave, for a “surprise” effect (and so that we don’t get lost either). In spite of the ban on taking pictures, some tourists think they are smart taking pictures in secret, except that in a place like this, you need a professional camera, smartphones don’t give anything.

Honestly, after seeing this cave, I wondered why people kept visiting other caves in other countries? It doesn’t even come close to the French caves lol. Honestly, even being Vietnamese, I wouldn’t advise you to go and see the caves of Phong Nha anymore, it’s lame compared to what we have in France ahaha.

In short, you understood it, I recommend the Villars cave, it’s magnificent, it’s beyond my imagination, I’ve never seen such a beautiful cave in my life!

Seriously, after only a few days in the Périgord, it is decided: I will come here to spend my retirement. There are lots of things to visit, we eat well, there are lots of activities, the people are nice, it seems to be beautiful, the landscapes are very varied, there are Hermès workshops in the surroundings lol … I like it a lot!

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