France in 17 Pictures, Part 8
The proprietress of the B&B had given us a suggested routine for looking at castles that included three castles and a walled city, but Tobe and I gave that a pass without a second glance; we don't have that kind of energy. We took the closest castle for our morning destination, Chateau de Beynac.
It's hard to separate the perfection of the day from the destination. The weather was clement, we were in no rush, we found our way there in good time and the place was magical. It must be the best time of the year for this visit - the summer tourists gone but the school groups not yet arriving. In the whole castle there were about thirty visitors wandering here and there. Each room felt as if we discovered it alone. We bought a large, laminated map and brochure, which Toby immediately began to study and locate us ("I think we must be in the South Tower, because the view here is southeast," and so on).
Beynac (11th - 14th Century), is built on the side of a mountain overlooking a narrowing in the Dordogne River which allowed them to defend the castle and to charge tolls. When we stood in the forecourt, birds wheeled below us and we could see far out into the valley, to other castles on other mountainsides. Within the walls are small shops; in medieval times these might have been artisans and of course now they sell meals and postcards. We looked at the spiral stone staircases, the chapel, the large dining hall, the parapets and the views for about an hour, then we wandered down to the cafe and ordered lunch.
There were four American men in their fifties and sixties together in the restaurant and I had a good time eavesdropping on them. When they came to the end of their lunch, they decided to order ice cream, which came in exotic flavors. The menu gave a price for "une boules, deux boules, tres boules," etc., which these big boys thought was funny and jokes were made about being a three-ball man, ho ho. Then one of them said, "A giraffe walks into a bar, and says, 'The highballs are on me,'" which I found so funny, I had to cover my face with the menu. I love jokes with animals.
There was a small cemetery outside the castle - contemporary - so we wandered around there, and to the edge of the mountain, where a strange glass casket-like thing was built, with an odd legend on it about being considerate of the owners and not tapping on it. Then we realized that it was the skylight of a house below, built into the mountain. Next to it was a wonderful tiled statue of a fish with a chimney pipe protruding from its mouth.
We went home to the B&B and rested for an hour, then lit out for Domme, a fortified city and one of the official "Most Beautiful Villages in France." We drove through the yellow stone gate and parked in a square at the top of the village. It was about six o'clock and many of the stores were closed (postcards, ice creams and the ubiquitous foie gras in cans) but we wandered the streets, exploring up and down, and I took a bunch of great pictures of Toby sitting in a stone bench in a wall. Everything in this little town was well-tended - grape vines on trellises, flowers in boxes and pots, brightly painted doors. We found ourselves in front of a church at about eight, and were surprised at the tolling of the bell, then discovered a park next to it with an amazing 180 degree overlook. The green fields and winding river, the trees in rows and the black roads, a plume of smoke, a few buildings - I didn't consider taking a picture because nothing could do it justice.
Then we were hungry and almost couldn't find a place to eat; they roll up the street in Domme at ten. We finally chose the last open cafe on the square, and who should come sit by us but our four friends from Beynac. I guess they hadn't noticed us there, but I was amused.
I had garlic soup and an omelet. Toby had duck sausage and an excellent salad. He said the french fries/frites were better here and I said they were absolutely identical to the ones at the Silver Diner. No conclusion was reached.
There were five or six cats hanging about nearby, going on with their cat business, but one came and had some of my eggs under the table. I missed our cats. Not our kids, our cats. We walked around some more and found a medieval garden outside the gate, including an interesting legend explaining the design in French, which we were pretty well able to decipher.
On the way home, the GPS directed us all over the place, including out of the Domme gate and back to it in fifteen minutes. When we got back to the B&B, it was marvelously quiet - no sound but the wind in the trees - and dark. Shhhhh.