Gerardin Travels        

JoLi' Folie decorated for the ...

...20th anniversary celebration of the Port

of Cergy

Don't bother trying to count them…

Between the four of us we blew up over

175 balloons in 2 hours

Entrance to the Village of Martyrs

The main street where the trolly ran.

Garage

If you look carefully you can see the

remains of a sewing machine.

The remains of the village forge

Remains of facades with plaques on each

building

Café

2 charred bodies were found here...

Manoir d'Eyriqrac

picnic lunch before heading on to the cave

visits

Entrance to Combarelles cave.

The main building of Auberge Veyret

Relaxing in the garden of the Auberge

before dinner.

The rooms of the Auberge

This particular truffle vendor enjoyed...

...getting Guy to pose for this photo.

Cobblestoned streets of Sarlat

Choosing water colors at an artists atelier.

Dinner in Sarlat

Followed by a stroll through the quiet

lamp-lit town.

Cergy 20 Year Port Celebration - Part 1 of Dordogne Visit

        Welcome! 2012 2011 Return to France - April-May 15, 15, 2011 Adam & Shannon - May 2011 Paris visitors & Étretat - June 2011 Brittany Gîte - July 2011 Baltic Cruise - August 2011 Cergy 20th - Dordogne Part 1- Sept 2011 Dordogne Part 2 - Sept 2011 Thanksgiving 2011 2011 Christmas Card 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 France 2001 Net Result 1999-2000 Net Result

Julie & Guy arrived for their "annual" September visit. They had planned on going to Étretat for a couple of nights but

cancelled because of the poor weather. This enabled them a few days in Paris that they would not have had.

Saturday Lisa & Guy headed off to the Les Andelys Brocante. Sunday was the port of Cergy's 20th Anniversary

celebration. There was a competition for the best decorated boat. Although we had to forego the crepe paper because,

surprise, surprise, it was still raining, we decorated the stern in the colors of the French flag and strung balloons from

the wheelhouse to the bow. We got 3rd Prize! The following day we picked up a rental car and headed south to the

Dordogne.

In depth summary can be found below the photos on this page.

...scroll down past the last photo to read more...

Our first stop was at the village of Oradour sur Glane, (6 hours from Cergy and 2 hours from Sarlat). It is also known as

the Village des Martyrs. On the 10th of June, 1944, Nazi troops rounded up the entire population of 642 townspeople.

The women and children were herded into the town church, where they were tear-gassed and machine-gunned. The

Nazis grouped the town's men and executed them. They then set the town on fire, and left it's victims under a blanket of

ashes. Today, this ghost town as shown in these photos is left untouched and greets visitors that enter with only one

English word: Remember.

In these photos you will see plaques marking the family names and commerces.

We continued south to Les Eyzies-de-Tayac were one can discover the exceptional number of prehistoric sites in the

Dordogne, most of which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. There are a number of caves that one can visit, even

ones that are exact replicas of caves which were built to enable a larger number of tourists to at least experience what

a prehistoric cave is like. Caves such as Font-de-Gaume and Combarelles are severely restricted because of the damage

that the caves sustain from human contact. In July, we had reserved a visit to the prehistoric cave of Combarelles.

It was described as one of the longest with the largest number of cave drawings.

Each guided visit accepts only 8 people, so we felt very lucky to be able to get reservations.

It was very interesting but we preferred our visit to Peche Merle the previous year.

That night we stayed at the Auberge Veyret which was a working farm that had 8 rooms for overnight guests.

Breakfast and a 5 course dinner, with everything from the apéritif to the digestif, was included in our stay.

This is a family owned and operated farm and guest accommodation that was delightful.

Food that is served is grown, harvested and prepared by the family. It was delicious.

The next morning we drove 20 minutes in to Sarlat. We had planned our trip around Market Day in Sarlat.

The lovely cobble-stoned village was packed to the gills with vendors selling products of the region and tourists.

Parking was a nightmare, but we're glad that we saw it.

The next morning we were off to tour some of the castles along the Dordogne river and more…

see Part 2 which follows.

 

Click on any image to view larger images or start a slide show

 

Visit our new site for 2013 to current