King of the castle!

I started my Intrepid tour on the 24th of May. We met in Paris and our first stop together was the city of Tours in the Loire Valley. Actually before I go on, I forgot to mention in my last post that another must do in Paris is climbing the towers of Notre Dame! The view from the top is spectacular, don't you think? I didn't do the Eiffel Tower this time because I went there last time I was in Paris, but I think the view from Notre Dame is better. You're not as high up but you get a stunning view of the Seine and the Eiffel Tower, plus you see the gargoyles up close which is pretty cool! Now on to Tours.

View from the towers of Notre Dame!

Tours

To be honest, I didn't really like the city of Tours - for a university town it was very quiet and didn't seem to have much personality but maybe it was just the day we were there. In saying that the old town square had character - the towers in the square seemed to lean and looked like something out of Harry Potter.

Around the Tours town square

On our full day in Tours we rode 20km to Chateau de Villandry, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On the way we past fields of poppies, wheat (flour for all their delicious bread!) and old farm houses. The Chateau was built for the finance minister of France in the 16th century. King Louis XIV was so jealous of the chateau that he summoned the architect responsible and ordered him to design something bigger and better in Versailles. While I loved Versailles I liked Villandry more. It is more quaint and modest than Versailles, the gardens are so picturesque and elegant - it's actually really romantic. I don't know what the French version of Pride and Prejudice is but I felt like I was living it - if only Mr Darcy had been there!

The gardens of Chateau de Villandry

The gardens of Chateau de Villandry

Inside the Chateau

An old puppet show theatre stand

Sarlat

We travelled by train to Sarlat. I love travelling by train. I can easily sit staring out the window, listening to music, thinking or writing for hours and somehow I don't get bored. There is something old, trusted and again romantic about it (geez I'm a sucker, I should have been born in the 30's). I also think you can learn a lot about where you are by staring out at the landscape. For instance, I've found that the French take a lot of pride in appearance - flower boxes with fresh flowers in them, blue or white window shutters that look eclectic even if they aren't used anymore, neat symmetrical gardens - everything is in it's place. This explains their perfect cakes too.

Sarlat is a medieval town in the Dordogne region and it was our next stop. On the first morning we were there a local produce market was being held in the square. I bought strawberries (they were like nothing I have ever tasted, sweet like strawberry jam, absolutely delicious and so fresh!), cherries and I couldn't resist the stall with blocks of fresh almond nougat. The man selling the nougat was so friendly, we spoke about France and my travels so far - he told me he didn't like Paris because it's too busy and dirty and when I asked him his favourite place in the country he said a little island off the coast called La Corsica which is apparently great for scuba diving (I thought of you Bec). I also tried a walnut and brown sugar cake unique to the region - so yum! I loved this town, so friendly and a great atmosphere! So much history and culture, it was humbling to walk around and soak it all in.

The stunning medieval town of Sarlat, Dordogne region.

Sarlat

While we were staying in Sarlat we went canoeing on the Dordogne river. Lynn was my canoeing buddy. We finally got some sun too - on every other day of our tour so far it had been raining. We stopped at La Roque-Gageac for coffee - a stunning town on the river with buildings built into the cliff. Then we canoed for another hour or so to get to the next town - Beynac. This town was filled with old cobbled paths, stone houses, and a castle at it's highest point. We climbed up to the Beynac castle, a 12th century castle that had sections added to it between the 14th and 16th century. It astounds me seeing things that old! If only walls could talk, think of the stories they would have.

Canoeing on the Dordogne river

Coffee stop in La Roque-Gageac

View from the top of the Beynac Castle. The view of the Dordogne region from here was spectacular!

View from Beynac castle

Beynac

For dinner we went to a French bistro back in Sarlat. The other specialty in the dordogne region is Fois Gras - duck liver. I had tried Fois Gras pate the night before and it was really nice so I wanted to order it again. I thought the special had the pate so I ordered it, but when I got the meal I realised I had actually ordered the liver itself! My French is terrible! Anyway I ate a bit of it, it wasn't too bad but safe to say I'm not a big liver fan. At least I can say I tried the speciality. I've sure come a long way from the girl who never even used to like tomatoes. Chicken heart in Tokyo and now duck liver in Sarlat - it's probably time I became a vegetarian, I feel bad for eating these things! I do think it's good that they use every part of the animal though - waste not want not. Eek!