After a beautiful few days exploring the stunning Loire Valley and Amboise, we drove our trusty Renault four hours south to the Dordogne department in Aquitaine, with our destination of Sarlat e La Canada (more commonly referred to as just ‘Sarlat’) highlighted on our map.

En route to Sarlat we have scheduled in a couple of exciting pit-stops – the first one being Gouffre de Padirac in the Lot Department.

Gouffre de Padirac

Gouffre de Padirac is one of the most popular sites in the region (and the most frequently visited underground tourism site in the whole of France, with more than 450,000 visitors annually!), and we were eager to try and beat the oft-talked about hours-long queue to enter.

Essentially a huge hole, or chasm, in the ground, Gouffre de Padirac is about 75 metres around the outside of the hole, and has a diameter of about 35 metres.  But what makes Gouffre de Padirac particularly interesting is that it is not just a cave – it is the opening to an extensive underground network of caves and a subterranean river system that is partly negotiable by boat.

After lining up for about half an hour, we purchased our tickets, and made our way to the side of the cave where you could either catch a lift down or take the stairs – we opted for the latter and the view into the chasm was quite spectacular, with a drop of over 100 metres to the floor!

Descending into the chasm, and at the bottom

Due to the impact of flash photography on the cave, photographs are not allowed once you entered the cave but Gouffre de Padirac were kind enough to provide me some of their professional photos. They’re much better than mine, and here they are!

Looking up at the cave entrance

©L. Nespoulous / SES de Padirac

Following a brief walk through the beginnings of the cave system we soon found ourselves at the back of a seemingly never-ending line to embark on the underground river for a boat trip through some of the cave tunnels. We thought our half hour lineup at the entrance had been too good to be true! The line snaked along through tunnels, and the lit up presentations beamed onto the walls did make the time go quicker but I would say we probably waited to board the boat for at least an hour. It did get noticeably colder once we were in the darkness of the cave system so I would definitely recommend bringing along a warm jacket, no matter how hot the day outside is!

We finally hopped aboard our small boats, steered by lovely gondola-style boatmen, who like their Italian friends, stood at the back of the boat, directing and steering with a long pole.  We soon set off around a corner and deep into the cave system!

©D. Butaeye / SES de Padirac

We could not believe that we were literally sailing along an underground river – the stalactites and stalagmites which the cave was famous for were spectacular, truly they were.

Our guide was fantastic and pointed out special points of interest as well as sharing the story of the cave with us. We saw the Grande Pendeloque, a giant 60-metre high stalactite that barely seems to be hanging from a thread as it hovers over the beautiful Lac de La Pluie as we sailed on by.

©L. Nespoulous / SES de Padirac

We soon docked and began exploring on foot, guided by a new tour guide – the caverns and galleries were so large and high and vast, we were blown away that all this existed underneath our feet – form the top you would never have known all of this beauty was under your feet! The limestone nature of the cave, combined with the aqua blue water and dimly lit lights all around made for a beautifully eerie, almost surreal, experience. We saw the Lac des Gours and the Grand Dome chamber with a ceiling almost 95 metres above our heads – so difficult to imagine until you see it – breathtaking!

©L. Nespoulous / SES de Padirac

Overall we spent about two and half hours in the cave system, probably an hour and half of that touring (the other hour lining up), but it was so well worth it. Interestingly, the cave system is made up of more than 40 kilometres of galleries although only a mere 2 kilometres have ever been opened for tourism – I would love to one day come back and do a more extensive tour of the galleries if they ever open one up!

Back in the car, and our next stop was not too far away at all, only about 15km, and we were pretty speechless (again, a seemingly regular occurrence in France we are quickly learning!) when we saw Rocamadour, a picturesque medieval village perched on a rocky plateau overlooking the Quercy National Park.

Rocamadour

Rocamadour was high on our list of towns to visit whilst in the Dordogne, even though officially it is in the Lot Department. It is a beautiful, small village (population of only 600 people), but somehow receives over a million visitors a year. Why, you ask? The answer is two fold.

Rocamadour from the other aside of the valley

On the one hand, Rocamadour is an important pilgrimage destination and has been for over a thousand years. According to legend, Rocamadour was the home of an early Christian hermit named Zaccheus of Jericho. It is believed he died in about 70 AD and had conversed with Jesus himself. At some point after the hermit’s death and burial in Rocamadour, the site became a place of pilgrimage and a stop on the pilgrimage path to Santiago de Campostela. Some say the town’s name is derived from “lover of rock” (roc amator) after the hermit. There is also the famous statue of the Black Virgin, though the statue is generally dated to the 9th century, which we could see in the church.

Secondly, Rocamadour is stunningly set literally on the side of a majestic rocky plateau surrounded by green national park – you cannot get more of a beautiful setting if you tried!

We only had time for a couple of hours at Rocamadour and unfortunately after parking and making our way down the stations of the cross to the town itself (in reverse order – whoops) we had missed the main lunchtime so not many places were still open and serving food.

We decided to explore instead and spent a good hour just wandering – the village is essentially one paved street, lined with medieval houses, several of which are notable and many of which are impressive, and passing through stone fortified gateways – the Porte du Figuier and the Porte Salmon are the two main gateways.

Some snaps of Rocamadour

Before too long, we were well and truly starving so sought out anywhere that feed us something besides a soft serve ice-cream – we finally found a small bistro who agreed to serve us a crepe each.

Unfortunately the crepe was not that appetising (the cold beers we ordered went down a treat though!), and we learnt a valuable lesson that these small towns really do run on their own clocks and its fit in, or get out!

After satiating our hunger pains, we continued exploring and climbed the Grand Escalier, a stairway of 216 weathered steps, to reach the Cité Religieuse, a cluster of chapels and churches. Backed right against the cliffside, the Basilique St-Sauveur is Romanesque-Gothic in style and was built in approximately the 11th century. It’s decorated with paintings and inscriptions recalling visits of celebrated persons.

Views from the near-top and top!

By this time, we were pretty tired and didn’t linger for too long, there were a lot of other chapels and churches we probably could have spent more time learning about, but for now, its off to Sarlat!