April 25, 2010 - Castelnaud-la-Chapelle and Cadouin

Day 12 — April 25, 2010 (Sunday)

Foire des Fleurs in Cenac! (Flower Fair or festival) Thankfully, on the way to church Ed decided to take the back street just to see what was there. When we got to the main street (D46), it was a madhouse . . . people all over the place; cars parked everywhere and the D46 was closed through town. Don’t know what they do with tourists going through. This may force them to the festival which did look like fun.

We fought our way to the church arriving thirty minutes early to an empty parking lot. We parked and walked down the country road taking pictures of poppies, chickens and a busy farmer.

Poppies under the trees - so pretty

Poppy in the field beside the church

Wisteria growing on the fence beside the lilacs - ah, Spring

Église Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativité de Cénac-et-Saint-Julien

As cars started arriving, we walked back to the church and claimed seats . . . under a welcome heater. The church slowly filled up and the service proceeded but I could hear pretty loud chatter outside. Obviously everyone didn’t come in! I spotted the lady who welcomed us at Le Perigord Restaurant Friday and she was one of the readers. We know someone! When we thought the service was over, the priest started making a speech about vocation brochures. Next, he said something and the constant chatter outside stopped and four young people brought in a child of at least 8 or 9 months dressed in white. The mother’s white skirt wasn’t pulled up enough to cover her underwear and neither skirt nor undies covered the large tattoo on her behind side. Charming . . . Behind them about 20 noisy family members and friends paraded uncomfortably into the church looking utterly lost. We discovered it was a christening and the family couldn’t sing even the one common hymn requested although the rest of the parish did admirably. The world has certainly changed . . .

We fought our way through the Flower Fair traffic back to town and turned left on D46 across the Dordogne to Le Perigord, fast becoming our favorite restaurant. We got the Panier menu again except we both got the beef this time. I got the smoked salmon starter and it was fabulous with a mousse, roe and black radish in vinaigrette. We skipped dessert in hopes of staying awake the rest of the day. The owner and his wife (our Lector at church) met at the Culinary Institute in Lausanne, Switzerland. They’ve owned Le Perigord since 2005 and we are already planning to stay there in the future.

After lunch we drove past La Roque Gageac and Beynac-et-Cazenac to Castelnaud-la-Chapelle where Ed parked at their new (relatively) shopping area by the river. We walked over and found a path to the château. We’d both read “A Castle in the Backyard” by Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden and wanted to see everything in the book. It was quite a hike straight up on a very rocky path. I divested myself of my jacket about halfway. We did get to the château, think we saw their house, did visit the cemetery with a view and then slid back down the mountain. Bought water at the tabac by parking and found a road (!) to the château. Sigh . . .

Château Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

The cemetery with a spectacular view mentioned in "A Castle in My Backyard"

Château Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

Iris blooming on the wall of Château Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

Doorway in Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, hiking up to the Château and meeting a guard dog

Château Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

View of Château Castelnaud-la-Chapelle from the parking lot - I can't believe we walked all the way up and back down.

Château de Beynac after we left Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

Drove on to Cadouin where we couldn’t find signs to the abbey. Ed stopped for our evening baguette and asked where we could find the abbey. He was told to go back the way we came so we did . . . no signs but a really cute and busy little town. We decided to go back, park and explore. We parked by a large church on the market square only to discover it is the abbey church . . . no signs! Walked to the cloisters, paid and entered. They are fascinating and I got some great pictures.

Market Square outside Cadouin Abbey

Entrance to the Cloister at the Abbey at Cadouin

Cloister at the Abbey at Cadouin

Cloister at the Abbey at Cadouin

Cloister at the Abbey at Cadouin

Cloister at the Abbey at Cadouin

Cloister at the Abbey at Cadouin

Cloister at the Abbey at Cadouin

Cloister at the Abbey at Cadouin

As we exited, we noted two antique autos pull into the square. I started snapping photos as twenty or more old cars drove into the square and parked . . . a veritable antique auto show. Great fun!

Antique cars visiting Cadouin Abbey

Antique cars visiting Cadouin Abbey

Antique cars visiting Cadouin Abbey

Antique cars visiting Cadouin Abbey

Antique cars visiting Cadouin Abbey

Antique cars visiting Cadouin Abbey

Antique cars visiting Cadouin Abbey

We decided to let Garmin (our GPS) take us home so I put away the map and turned on Garmin. It took forever to find a satellite and it lost the signal several times, one critical. It “recalculated” a few times and we saw more of the Dordogne than we had planned, but it did get us back. I suspect we’ll only use it when we’re lost but that is very useful.

M. and Mme. Guinot were both there when we returned so we had a very brief chat and came in to recover from sightseeing. Ed’s cold is worse and we haven’t found a pharmacy open yet. Perhaps tomorrow . . .