Sarlat Market * Castelnaud
We enjoyed sleeping in and not leaving our apartment until 11:00 - we needed that after our long day of driving, canoeing, and socializing. We spent the next couple of hours at the market in Sarlat which is huge. It covers the entire central part of town and sells everything from fruits, vegetables, candies, clothes, shoes, goose liver - Fois Gras (which on a dare Sydney and Charlie both sampled with the reward of a French pastry). We collected bread, cheese, fruits & veggies, and a treat (a bread cooked on a rolling pin and then rolled in sugar) for our picnic. We enjoyed window shopping at the many booths.
We picnicked on the side of the highway on our way to a 12th century castle which was cool! This castle was built in the 12th century, burned to the ground and then rebuilt in the 13th century. It exchanged hands 7 times between England and France during the 100 years war and then was eventually abandoned. In the 1960s it was bought by a private family and fixed up to be an awesome castle for 9 year old boys to visit. We had a great tour of the outside of the castle with all it's defenses. We learned about the war machines and even got to see a trebuchet in action. Inside the castle were swords, armor, chain mail, and other cool stuff. The castle sits on top of a hill (of course) and we had a great views down into the river valley where we had canoed yesterday.
We finished our day with a trip to the grocery store, a pastry shop to reward those who ate the Fois Gras, and a great swim in the above ground pool in our French countryside compound. Eric cooked 2 frozen quiche in a make-shift BBQ area in the side of the hill (all our camping skills have come in very handy on this trip). I'm sure our land lady would have been disgusted to know we bought a quiche from the frozen food section of the store. Oh well, I'll have to take a separate trip to enjoy all the fancy foods of France.
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| Sarlat Market |
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| Castelnaud |
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