France 2017: Sarlat-la-Caneda and the Dordogne Valley- day 1

We said goodbye to our friends this morning and scooted over to the train station to pick up our rental car. Unfortunately I didn’t remember that the car rental desk didn’t open until 10 on Sundays, so we spent an hour or so people-watching at the train station. We completed the paperwork and went up to the parking area to get our car.  The poor guys up there were stressed with people trying to pick up and return their cars that the guy came up to us, handed us the keys and said “your keys, your car, you go!” All with a disarming smile. So, we went!

We used the motorway to get us out of town, then set the GPS to avoid toll roads and motorways and to always take us on the shortest route.  Turns out that was a mistake because sometimes the shortest way is a pretty sketchy tiny road. We ended up out in the middle of nowhere because the GPS told us to take a road that looked like trouble so we took the other fork.  Unfortunately this road went deeper into the country and became really rough and bumpy.  We pulled over to debate trying to find a way to turn around versus continuing on.  A vehicle passed us and by the incredulous stares we received, it was pretty obvious we were really lost.  We decided to carry on and pretty soon caught up to that vehicle, which looked like a group of hunters judging by their reflective vests.  One of the men spoke about as much English as I speak French, so we managed to find out that the road ahead was equally bad and possibly worse up ahead of us.  Decision made! Back the way we had come to the sketchy road that by now looked like quite an improvement over the last one.  We passed some nice countryside and some chateaux, even a small town with a covered market hall that looked quite old.

We finally made it to Sarlat and were checking into our hotel, telling the receptionist about being lost and she said “oh, you should never set the GPS for the shortest route out here”. Thank you very much, wish we had talked to you earlier! Our hotel was just on the fringe of the medieval city center, so we took a walk to explore the town.

The medieval city center is a relatively small area, maybe seven blocks long and a few blocks wide but it was full of restaurants and shops and a couple of churches.  One of the churches is now used as an indoor marketplace in the mornings.   We had a bite to eat and went back to the hotel for a good night’s rest.  I told Mike I was tired of staying up late and waking up early like we had been doing on the river cruise the previous week and I intended to sleep in the next morning!

Sarlat Market day