dordogne vallee christmas 06 - new year 07

so much to see, so little time!
roughly 300,000 years of human habitation in the region has meant the limestone caves and river valleys are full of art, technology, evidence of culture and enterprise. some of the earliest paintings in the world at lascaux, le moustier and les eyzies comprise anatomically correct pictographs, line drawings, engravings and 'colouring in' from neandertal and cro-magnon type humans. all completed in the semi dark by fat lamps with home made crayons, charcoal and bone scrapers! the artists have used the walls to advantage with their animals [bison, mammoth, reindeers, tigers, lions and horses] galloping across the wall spaces. unfortunately fotos are only taken at one's own peril and flashes are definitely out! my one really good pic turned out from lascaux, a magnificent specimen of reindeer. i will upload it when blogger site gets its act together.

and when we finished looking at 298,000 year old stone tools and art caverns we were looking at 5 million year old stalactites and stalagmites in other limestone caves , unfortunately no fotos so here's a couple of old stalacmites to go on with!

and then we went to the churches and castles in the area. dating from the tenth century and built from the local rock on outcrops 5-6-700 metres above the valleys; many were involved in the four hundred years war [1140-1580] between the english and french,

or

protestants and catholics, along the DORDOGNE and VEZERE river valleys, these massive buildings were destroyed and rebuilt countless times ;

what was really astounding for me was that a large number of the protagonists over the whole period were relatives of mine!

uncle richard the lion heart was count de peynac when he was an english king;

great uncle foulques IV who later

became king of jerusalem,

chased the english up and down the

foothills of castelnau, [sorry, no fotos]

and commarque was captured at least twice by cousin, simon 'the crusader' de montfort, in the early 1200's

eleanor of aquitaine spent time here, as Duchess of Aquitaine, queen of england and exiled by her husband for siding with her children [my paternal uncles richard, geoffrey and henry!]

beaumont, clermont and d'evreux are all surnames of dukes, counts and cousins to kings of england and france, who did service for one side or the other as a catholic or protestant, english or french, claimant to one duchy or another.


felt very homey walking through the freezing cold stone castles and a little sick at the view over the sides of some of the ramparts, but the sense of history is everywhere and overwhelming.

we did markets that have remained unchanged since medieval times,

we did roman towns of the first century [at perigeuex] with the largest semi extant arena, where a private citizen paid hundred weights in gold for magnificent public spectacles including the first african wildlife events in europe!

and remnants of walls and medieval fortifications to hold out the marauding barbarians, who by this time were wearing down what was left of the western roman empire



christmas day was feasting til we burst on duck and french gourmandaise, all manner of sickly rich froggy food, yum

new years eve and n.y day lunch was no different.