The Loire Valley, The Dordogne and Provence, France

                                                                                                                                 Dec 29, 2014

In May 2014, I embarked on a three week trip to France with my mom. This was our second trip to Europe, having previously gone to Germany and Austria in 2011.

First week: The Loire Valley: We flew into Nantes, got our rental car, then hit the highway for a much longer drive than I was expecting, to the little town of Monteaux. We got to our first gite (rental house) at about 4:45 pm, we were tired, and definitely ready for some dinner. Our house owners informed us that no restaurants opened until at least 7:30pm but we could drive into the nearest larger town of Amboise and eat there.

Food: Restaurants only open at around 11:30 am and stay open until 2:00pm, then they don't reopen again until at the earliest 7:00pm but often not until even later. We were not thrilled with that arrangement, but it turned out that several towns near where we stayed were tourist hubs and they would at least have one place that was smart enough to offer non stop service throughout the day. Those places did a booming business, what with us and the other British tourists wanting to eat earlier.
There appears to be no such thing as breakfast, although you can go to a boulangerie patisserie  and get a pastry. We asked for an omelet once at a place right outside a castle that was open at breakfast time and they would not cook us one, only sandwich's were available in the morning. Omelets are a dinner food. Certainly some of the food was quite good, my mom loved a couple of the desserts. But it does become a little deja vu after awhile with the same menus pretty much everywhere we went....quiche, salads, omelets, pizza, crepes, and a few meat dishes, usually duck related. I also noticed on some menus that a lot of the salads came with odd things on them such as duck gizzards. I never ordered anything that was a nasty surprise, but my mom wasn't so lucky.
The French like to carry baguettes around with them everywhere, it's like an accessory, not much different than a purse for them. Apparently they aren't worried about how unsanitary that is!


Lodging: We had stayed in hotels before in Europe but this time we saved some money by renting houses by the week, they run Saturday through Saturday. I used VRBO but there are several other options online. My mom and I wanted to have more space for various reasons, she's a snorer, it's nice to have our own rooms, to be able to stay out in the country, and have kitchens for cooking occasionally.
Our gites, in the off season cost approx 550 euros a week, about $750 american dollars.
The first two we stayed in were actually owned by British people so we had satellite T.V. with English channels. The last house we rented was strictly French, the lady who owned it was really sweet and didn't ask us to clean it before we left, which we had to do at the other two. Two of the houses had bikes we could use and swimming pools, they all had washing machines, (they don't use dryers there, so you have to hang your clothes up) and of course full kitchens. We had some issues with internet, the first house had it, although it was sporadic, but the second house did not have it at all. Also it's not that easy to find when you go into towns, you generally have to go into a bar, order a beverage and ask to use the WiFi.

Our first gite in the Loire Valley.

The town of Amboise, the street below full of restaurants.

The Loire Valley is full of chateaux, chateaux and more chateaux....1000 in the area,
although not all of them are open to the public.
We went to the office of tourism and bought a castle pass, which saved us money by buying them in bulk and we ended up seeing 12 chateaux and a fortress in six days.
Most of the castles were not that crowded in May, except for Chenonceau which is the most popular.

At Cheverny my mom and I were sitting on the steps of the castle for a rest, a whole gaggle of school children came out and the teachers proceeded to seat them all on the steps surrounding us, before we knew it we were blocked in, we couldn't have left if we wanted to, and then we realized they were taking pictures of the class! There are some very confused parents at home right now looking through the class photo's wondering who the heck the two random ladies are sitting amongst their children.

Chambord the largest chateau in the area.

Stained glass reflections.

Villandry had the best gardens.

Inside Chateau Royal de Blois.

Inside Chateau Royal de Blois. Queen for the day.

Chaumont-sur-Loire, my favorite castle from the outside.

Chenonceau the most popular chateau, it sits directly over the river.

Chateau d'Azay-le-Rideau

At the Forteresse Royale de Chinon.

A typical French village.

Tolls: The highways that run through the different villages are free but the autoroutes that you take if you want to get somewhere fast, will cost you...example, for a five hour drive, we paid about 43 euros. For most of them you drive into the toll booth, take a ticket and then many miles later you get to another booth, put your ticket in, and it will tell you how much you owe. If you are a tourist you must have cash, our credit cards did not work.

Second week. The Dordogne: This was my favorite of the three areas we went since the countryside and the villages are gorgeous.
This area is a little more overlooked than others, with not as many tourists. The big draw are the Cro Magnon caves that have world famous cave paintings. We went to Lascaux 11 first, which was discovered by some kids in 1940. The original cave is now closed to the public, but they have made an exact replica. At first I did not really want to see a replica, but once I was in there and learning about everything, it was really enjoyable. We also saw Grotte du Pech Merle, which has several handprints and animal paintings that are over 20,000 years old.
According to our guidebook Grotte de Font de Gaume was the cave to see, but we were warned that they only sold a certain amount of tickets per day and in order to get one, you had to stand in line for hours at the crack of dawn. We decided to drive by it one morning and if there wasn't a huge line we would go. Turns out at that time of year it was no problem at all, in fact there were a couple poor souls that had gotten there extremely early and had been standing around on an especially cold morning, wondering why they had gotten out of bed.  Although it wasn't actually my favorite one, this was an interesting cave, and I am glad I got to see it as it will most likely be closed to the public in the near future. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside any of the caves so buying postcards is about the only option.

Gouffre de Padirac was really fun, it is a huge sinkhole with an underground river that runs through it. You travel through it in boats and there is also a lot of walking up stairs in order to look at all the giant stalagmites and stalactites.

We also did a great scenic drive recommended in Rick Steve's book, along the Dordogne River stopping to wander through adorable villages.

Our house in the Dordogne, outside Sarlat. 

The  French countryside.

A local woman and her geese. This is foie gras country.

La Roque-Gageac, houses built into the rock cliffs.

Carennac.

Rocamadour is a pilgrimage site.

Bathrooms:...yikes, I have to say the bathroom situations in France can be interesting to say the least. Most of them are open to both women and men, meaning while you are in a stall, there is a dude peeing in a urinal as you walk out to wash your hands, so no privacy...I avoided that situation by timing it so I went in when no one else was using it. For some reason, except in houses, the toilets do not have a seat. Public bathrooms in the towns come in various configurations, some are literally just a ceramic hole in the ground, with no toilet paper.
Once I went into one that was like a giant box, almost like a porta potty would look like at home. You had to press a button like an elevator to get into it, then I couldn't figure out where the toilet paper was for awhile. Turns out you had to push another button and a small amount of it came out of the wall. When you were done there was no way to flush, you just leave the box and it locks the door and won't let anyone else in until it does a thorough cleaning routine.
At least they were free of charge, unlike Germany where if you did not have change on you, you were out of luck.

Our guide outside  Grotte de Font de Gaume.

Mom enjoying the view of the Dordogne River from Chateau de Castlenaud.

The countryside outside Sarlat.

St- Cirq Lapopie in the Lot River Valley.

I want to dispel the myth that the French are snotty, possibly in Paris it is different, but on our entire trip we had no problem. They were actually extremely friendly, everywhere we went, grocery stores, hiking trails, restaurants. Most speak English, but not all, so hand signals and other non verbal communication had to commence in those situations. And sometimes a lot of giggling on both sides. Usually in a restaurant if you get a non English speaker, they will just send someone else over who does speak it, to take your order. The men are especially friendly... lets just say they are not shy...at all! I got hit on almost daily. I had an especially amorous waiter embarrass me in front of the entire restaurant. In Carcassonne an older gentleman, who had his wife with him... sat beside me on a bench as I was waiting for my mom, and started a rapid fire conversation with me in French.Then he proceeded to tell passersby that I was his wife, by the end of our brief relationship he announced he loved me, and there was a lot of hugging and kissing.

Week three...Provence: We were not there during the prime lavender blooming time that the area is known for, but there were a lot of poppy fields. We checked out some of the Roman ruins in Vaison la Romaine. Mom stayed home a couple of days and I hiked alone on some of the trails through the Gorges de l'ardeche and the Dentelles.  We also did some nice driving tours along the Cotes du Rhone wine road and the hill towns of Luberon. Roussillon sits on the worlds largest ochre deposit with a couple of loop hikes through the red cliffs. We also did the drive over to Carcassonne a medieval 13th century walled fortress city that my mom really wanted to see.

When I was a kid I got a picture book about the horses of the Camargue and I was excited to see them in person. Although they are wild, they are obviously very used to people driving through and gawking at them. We spent one whole day there, also visiting the Mediterranean sea, and taking a few strolls.

Our house on the outskirts of Avignon.

Gorges de l'ardeche.

Gorges de l'ardeche.

The Dentelles.

Carcassone is a medieval city between Sarlat and Avignon.

A gargoyle at Carcassonne.

The french cars are cool...well the stuff they do is....I had a Mercedes in Germany and a Citroen in France, and they both had a lot of the same features. Windshield wipers that sense rain and just come on automatically. Reading the speed limit for you so you don't have to even look at the signs. When the car locks it folds it's side mirrors in. The side mirrors have blind spot eliminating features, if someone comes up beside you, a light comes on to warn you. They are called Eco cars, when you put your foot on the brake the car shuts off, then turns back on when you start going again, eliminating gas consumption sitting at a light.
It's best to get a car with a GPS, unfortunately mine only worked correctly about half the time. Luckily France is extremely well signed and easy to navigate.
I would recommend getting a diesel car if you are renting in France, diesel is way cheaper and all the gas stations have it. It is called gazole, the regular pump handles are green, gazole is yellow.

A lot of people don't like to drive in a foreign country but really unless you stay in the city all the time, as good as the public transport system is in Europe, the train does not take you everywhere.
It is illegal to turn right on a red light! I learned that after doing it a couple times and then realizing no one else was.
France has a gazillion roundabouts, and there are very few stop lights except in cities. Drivers will honk at you a lot, it is normal, ignore it...also get used to very narrow roads, having to park on sidewalks periodically, and drivers coming at you full speed and passing by with mere inches to spare.

Poppies galore.

The wild horses of the Camargue.

The Mediterranean Sea.

Ochre in Roussillon.

Pont Julien, a Roman bridge.

Roman ruins in Vaison la Romaine.

Postal cars.

Getting up extremely early on our last day, we found the airport with absolutely no help from the GPS, and flew home out of Marseille.
The worst part of any trip is the long sleepless flights each way....but it is certainly worth it to me
to see other countries and cultures.
Once you start travelling, it's hard to stop!