Chateau de Beaudry,at Monestier, Chateau Pichon Longueville and Dune de Pilat

After 23 days in Sarlat we decided to return to the Bordeaux region and spend a few more days at Chateau Crecy.  On the way back we stopped pvernight at Chateau de Beaudry in Monestier.  The Chateau was very upscale and we had a great room and a lovely dinner served and cooked by the owners of the Chateau.

Sitting room in the Chateau

Our bedroom

Our bed

Entrance to the garden in the inner courtyard

Sam waiting for supper, she was not disappointed as the meal was excellent

Door to the kitchen from the dinning room

Fourth course the cheese selection this was after a soup course, a fish course, then a main course of Duck Breast Margret, the cheese was followed by dessert and a nice round of Port

While we were at Chateau Crecy the second time we visited an area famous for its wine brands like Rothschild and Chateau Pichon Longueville.

We also visited a placed called Dune du Pilat a place famous for a massive sand dune.  I thought Sam was joking when she said we were going to drive close to an hour to see a sand dune but after seeing it I was not disappointed.

Steps up to the dune



The dune itself, it ran for about a kilometre

On the top of the Dune looking out at the Atlantic Ocean



On the way down from the Dune, the shoes are Sam's I didn't pinch them from some unsuspecting lady

The next day we drove into Bordeaux and flew to Seville Spain where we were to spend a month in Seville, Granada and Estepona.



Les Eyzies, Rouffignac, Beynac and the Dordogne River

As I had mentioned while we were in Sarlat we took a few excursions to see the local castles and the prehistoric caves.  Unfortunately we were not permitted to take pictures inside the castles or the caves.  The reason being the delicate condition of a lot of the paintings  in the caves and the decor of the castles with their many tapestries.

In the town of Les Eyzies we were able to visit a museum that displayed some really extraordinary displays of prehistoric matter and fossils.  The village itself was also interesting as it was built under the over hang of the cliffs.  At the time this was considered a good means of protection from attack as they only had to defend three sides.

View from the museum in Les Eyzies

Sitting in the overhang above the village

We visited some extraordinary caves but my favourite were the ones at Rouffignac.

Entering the caves

Waiting to go down the long path to get on board a small skiff that paddled us across an underground lake to see the cave drawings on the opposite side.  The caves ran for miles underground and we only saw a very small area of them but we were underground for close to three hours.

The following day we visited a castle in the town of Beynac on the Dordogne River.  The castle was very well preserved and we were readily able to see how the people lived in the period.  They had many ancient weapons on display some were very large such as catapults and large crossbows.

The Castle at Beynac

Looking down from the lowest wall of the castle

The town of Beynac looking up to cliffs where the castle sat.

The center of Beynac

The following day we took as scenic drive along the Dordogne River and visited a few more castles and gardens after which we boarded a small boat for a river cruise.

Small boat on the River Cruise



Village on the Dordogne River

View of the Dordogne River from a look out we stopped at on the way out of the Valley.

River cruise boats









Sarlat-la-Caneda

After the enjoyable time in the Bordeaux region we left for Sarlat-la-Caneda in the Dordogne River Region.  This region was the site where most of the Hundred Years War was fought between France and England.  In many cases you can actually see where an English Castle was on one side of the river and a French Castle was opposite it.  The war and possession of these castles seesawed back and forth for many years.

The region is also riddled with prehistoric caves with fantastic cave paintings that are dated back to the cave man era.  Many of the paintings are still in incredibly good condition and are amazing in their depiction of animals from that era.  They showed woolly mammoths, sabre tooth tigers etc.

The town of Sarlat is situated very centrally to the region of caves and we had booked a few excursions with a guide that has an incredible depth of knowledge of the region and the prehistoric caves.  Sarlat is an ancient city that has a reputation as the one city in the Bordeaux Region that was never conquered and occupied by the English during the Hundred Years War.  It is for that reason that the French Kings heaped many honours on the town and they received nany priveledges from the crown that included some very extraordinary buildings.  The apartment we stayed in was built during this time and was considered a very important site as many of the regions Lawyers worked from the building. 

Sarlat is also famous for it's Foie Gras and just about every second building in the pld city was a Foie Gras shop offering all sorts of Foie Gras at different levels of quality and of course price.  You could pay anywhere from 12Euros a kilo to over 100Euros a kilo.

Restaurant on the "Route du Foie Gras" - this was on our way to Sarlat



Outside the entrance to our 14th century apartment in Sarlat

The actual door to our building

Our apartment living room, the door at the far end was the laundry room



Our kitchen

Our bedroom

Restaurant just outside our door

The upper window was our bedroom



Town square in the old city, our apartment was just off to the left.

Foie Gras store in the square

Geese are the staple of Sarlat but their town synbol is a Salamander

A house in Sarlat

France (Saint Emillion, Bordeaux and Chateau de Crecy)

After leaving Dublin we flew to Bordeaux France to start our month in the south west area near the Dordogne River.  The Bordeaux area is famous for it's wines and we intended to visit some of the major wineries.

Sam had booked us into a small Chateau that had 4 rooms for rent and also had a small winery.  The Chateau was about 40 minutes from Bordeaux and was located in amongst hundreds and hundreds of fields full of grape vines.

Chateau de Crecy where we spent some really enjoyable days

Dinning room in the Chateau - the owners prepared a 4 course meal for their guests each evening, the food was fabulous.  We also had an endless supply of wine from their vineyards (Rose, White and Red) their white wine was a French award winner.

Sitting area in the Chateau where we enjoyed appetizers and aperitifs.

We also toured the Saint Emillion area, it was about 15 minutes from our Chateau.  Saint Emillion is well know world wide for it's wine.

Some of the famous Saint Emillion vineyards

Central Square in Saint Emillion, on Saturdays there was a farmers market held in the square.

Steps down to a wine cave where we had a fabulous lunch.  The cellar dated back to the 1500's

Restaurant sign in St Emillion note the box in the lower right hand corner

Outdoor cafe in the centre of St Emillion

We also spent a day in the main city in the region Bordeaux, this city gave the name to the famous french wine Bordeaux.  However, the city of Bordeaux did not have any vintners in the city the town was famous as a shipping port for the wines of the region and many of it's citizens became incredibly wealthy shipping wine around the world.  The city had some fabulous mansions.

Gate to the old city of Bordeaux

Fountain in the main square of Bordeaux



Entrance to the old city centre Bordeaux.

We spent an enjoyable week in the area sampling many great wines and eating fabulous french meals.  We departed the region on Sept 1st to travel to Sarlat la Caneda an area famous for the famous Foie Gras.  We were definitely not ready for the amount of duck and goose liver we were going to see and be offered to eat.

Update

Hi All,

I will shortly be updating the blog and describing our travels in France.  I have been busy trying to learn Facebook and have placed a large number of pictures broken into albums on my Facebook page.  Please have a look there for a lot more pictures of our trip.

Killarney, Ardmore, Cobh and Meeting of the Waters Ireland Aug 25th - 29th

We left Dingle in the morning of Aug 25th to drive to Killarney.  Killarney is the start point for a scenic tour called "The Ring of Kerry", this drive takes you around the southern point of Ireland.  It is a very scenic drive but we both felt that the Cabot Trail was much better.  I believe we are not showing our Canadian bias but we truly believe the Cabot Trail maybe the nicest drive we have ever been on.

Main street of Killarney

Side road on the Ring of Kerry

View of the lakes just outside Killarney

Sam at a stop on the Ring of Kerry tour

The Ring of Kerry road around the lower peninsula

We left Killarney and travelled to Ardmore where we were staying overnight at a B&B.  On the way we stopped at the Town of Blarney .  This is the home of the famous Blarney Castle which houses the Blarney Stone, this stone once kissed is suppose to make the person who kissed the stone a grand orator.  Some of the famous people who have kissed the rock were Winston Churchill, James Joyce, Oliver Hardy (of Laurel and Hardy fame) just to name a few.  The castle was quite interesting and the stone itself was at the very top of the castle and you had to lay on your back and wiggle out over an opening to kiss the stone.

Sign for the Blarney Stone

Blarney Castle, the stone is at the very top of the high tower

Sign showing Churchill and Oliver Hardy

Stairs up to the stone

Kissing the stone, it is the grey spot just behind the ladies head.

After leaving the castle we drove on to a small town called Cobh before going onto Ardmore where we had a B&B reserved.

Cobh (yes that is how it is spelt and it is pronounced like corn on the COB) was the last stop of the Titanic on her fateful maiden voyage.  The town was originally called Cove and was renamed Queenstown in recognition of Queen Victoria visiting the town, later it was renamed Cobh which is Irish for Cove.  We visited the memorial site and museum to the Titanic.  It was a small museum but was really well done.

Poster in the Cobh Museum

The town of Cobh

In Ardmore the B&B was an actual working farm, the host and hostess were really gracious and the room was very neat and quaint.  They made a reservation for us in a small restaurant in the town of Ardmore.  The restaurant was packed and we were told it was an exceptional experience so we decided to go all out on a gourmet dinner.  Sam had Lobster Thermidor and I had Crispy Duckling, a house specialty.  The meal was so good I would move there just to eat at this restaurant.

Whitehorses restaurant in Ardmore

Bob enjoying his duck with Sam's Lobster Thermidor in the forefront.

The next day we departed for our last stop in Ireland a B&B located in a small town called Meeting of the Waters.  We, however made a stop in Waterford to see where the famous Waterford Crystal was made.  The building was very modern and the work they did was phenomenal, but very pricey.

Entrance to the Waterford Crystal plant

Waterford Crystal shaped like a football.  This piece is a commissioned piece for the US National Football League (NFL) to be presented to the coach of the year.  One a year is commissioned by the NFL.

After leaving the Town of Waterford we went to our B&B in a town called "Meeting of the Waters".  This is a town where two small rivers come together and it is very popular with Irish and foreign writers as James Joyce spent a lot of time here.

The B&B we stayed at, Ashton House was run by a charming young couple who were very welcoming.  The house had actually been her mothers house that they had bought, the mother was living in a very pretty cottage on the property.  They had four very comfortable rooms (modern with an en suite) and they also were a stopping point for horse and wagon travellers.  These were small wagons pulled by a horse that people rented for a week and toured the back roads of the area.  There were 5 wagons parked in the front of the house and six horses grazing around the outside of the B&B.  One of the families had a young daughter who was actually riding one of the horses.

One of the wagons arriving at the B&B

Young family with one daughter riding a horse (you can see her behind the horse pulling the wagon)

Horse grazing behind the B&B

Another wagon with the B&B in the background

Sam standing in the doorway of the B&B saying goodbye to our hostess

We left the next day for Dublin airport to fly to Bordeaux, France.  We will be in France until the end of September.