Dordogne - Day 2 (9/25/17)

True to his word, Mike let me sleep in this morning.  It was wonderful until he told me it was 9:00! Holy cow, I had slept almost 10 hours! Our plan for the day included two castles and a garden so I jumped out of bed and got ready in record time.

First up was Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, a 12th century fortified castle overlooking the Dordogne River.  This was a great visit, you start with a climb up a tower where there are canon and things at different levels. There was a huge display of crossbows, more than I have seen in one place before.  Some had ivory and bone inlays and some had ropes and pulleys to draw back the bow.  Outside there was a huge crossbow that shot a long spear, for killing dragons I’m sure. There were rooms with displays of armor, and mannequins dressed in period clothing.

Outside there were trebuchet, we would probably call them catapults but trebuchet sounds so lyrical for a war machine. They have demonstrations of how they work, but we were there at the wrong time of day so we missed that.  We enjoyed views of the river and other nearby castles from the ramparts.

Our next stop was the gardens at Chateau Marqueyssac. Built in the 19th century, the house is only partially open, just a few rooms have been restored - but the gardens are what brings people here. There have an amazing sculpted garden and then multiple paths you can follow through the gardens. We chose the Promenade des Falaises since it overlooked the river all along the way.  There were really nice views across the valley to Castelnaud-la-Chapelle and also Beynac-et-Cazenac. We walked on to the Belvedere, a viewing platform high above the river which gave some great views of the town of La Roque Gageac.  We actually found a well-disguised vending machine along the way and enjoyed a cold Coke as we walked along.  It may be late September but it was a warm day so the cool drink was really nice. We walked back along the Grande Allee, stopped at the woodcarver’s shop for a souvenir, and made our way back to the car.

Third and last stop of the day was Chateau de Beynac, another 12th century fortified castle.  Once home to Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) and the survivor of many battles during the Hundred Years’ War.  They have restored Richard’s bedchamber and you can see it through a barred door.  There were several interestingly restored rooms, I especially liked the kitchen.  It really seemed like a close replica of an original medieval kitchen and you could walk down into the room.  There was a ramp to one side that they used for moving supplies with horses.  There was also a display that said it was the armor that the Baron Adhemar de Beynac had worn on the third Crusade.

We saw lots of people on the river in the gabarres, small boats that take you past some of the interesting sites along the river.  We saw several canoes as well, it’s a popular way to see things along the river.  Given how many we saw in late September, there must be a huge number of them in the summertime.