Périgord Noir

We got home today after spending a week in the Périgord Noir area of the Dordogne. We stayed in a gite (holiday house) on what used to be a farm. Fiacra and Ailbhe loved having the freedom to run outside and explore. There were walnut trees just outside our door. It's amazing how long walnuts can amuse a 5 and 7 year old. The kids gathered a big bag of walnuts for us to bring home; they are delicious.

Our gite with walnut tree in the background

 The view from our patio

 Night view

 Apple picking on the farm

 Finian and Connell

 The farm cat spent pretty much the entire week with us. Finian loved it.

There is so much to do in the Périgord Noir. We did a lot but also spent time just hanging out at the farm. Fiacra, in particular, really enjoyed all the sites we visited. Here is his summary of what we did this week.

It was very fun. We went to a castle called Castelnaud, the most famous cave in the world Lascaux II, another cave Grotte de Rouffignac. Also we had a day doing a hike and staying home to play rugby. We went to a market in Sarlat and visited a church tower that was fun. 

La Roque Saint-Christophe had lots of models of what it might look like when people lived there. One model was about people fighting bears. Two other models were of the cliff town that was there. Three more were of machines that they used and one machine for pulling. 

When we were at home a day, we went for a hike and hollowed out a log. The hike lead us to a grassy field and through a forest. Then Connell and I had a match of rugby. I won 45-3. 

When we were at La Grotte de Rouffignac, we went down a train into a cave. There were cave paintings of woolly mammoths, plus horses, deers and bulls. Then we took the train out again. There were pictures of woolly mammoths on the way.

When we were at the town of Sarlat, we saw a market and bought fruit and wild boar sausages. We saw truffles in oil. Me and Mom and Dad tasted cheese with truffle in it. It was yummy. And we went to a single church tower with no church connected. There was a grassy area around it.

Fiacra has become a little obsessed with truffles, not to eat but to sell. In fact the purpose of one hike was to find an oak tree and dig for truffles, too early in the season unfortunately.