For the past few days, I've been glued to my computer, learning more about the different French regions, revising our calendar and finding hotels. The hardest decision was picking where to go in France. My original thought was Provence and the French Riviera. I've read about both briefly in Rick Steve's 'Best of Europe', so thought I'd start planning around Avignon and Nice. Even started to write to some hotels for availability.
But I began to change my mind about both cities the more I read about them. Both still look like wonderful cities to visit, but maybe not for this trip. The more I read, the more images I saw of each place, I realized how much both cities were steeped in Roman history. And because of that, they both look like Italian cities. Some streets in Avignon look like Florence. And Arles (the side trip from Avignon) looks like a tuscan village. The cruisine in Nice is similar to Italy, too - with lots of italian pasta. So because we're hitting Italy after France (I didn't want to change anything for the back half of this trip since all the hotels have been booked for months), I wanted to see something completely different, not Italian influenced.
I wanted to see and experience something.. French. I know that's very subjective. I asked myself, what did I consider 'French' and what exactly was I envisioning? And since it seems everything I've learned, I've learned from the movies, my distinctive vision of rural, historic French was from movies like Chocolat. And Ever After. I googled and Voila! Both are in the Dordogne region of France!
A quick surf around the net and I found this link from Rick Steves - explore the villages and castles of Dordogne by canoe? DONE!!! With little time to book hotel rooms, Gary and I went to Chapters yesterday to pick up a book on France. I did my usual research of hotels recommended by various blogs and books, cross referenced them on trip advisor, and populated my excel spreadsheet (it's a lot of work, but it's what I do to feel I've made an informed decision on where to stay. Besides, I love it!). When I went to bed last night, I had my hotels booked for Sarlat and Bordeaux. The plan is to stop at Bordeaux for some wine tasting and then drive to Sarlat. We'll stay there for a few nights as we explore Sarlat, Beynac, La Roque Gageac and the cro-magnon caves (cave drawings from 18,000 - 10,000 BC!!).
As for food, the Dordogne region is known for their froe gras, duck confit and truffles. Super excited!!
2 comments:
Nice nice! If you have time and have not been, I highly recommend to go to Cinque Terra. That was our highlight of our Paris-Rome trip. Hiking through the five villages, so rejuvenating. We enjoyed a wine that was as sweet as ice wine and is only available to purchase at Cinque Terra. Also the best pesto we've ever tried.
Sorry to hear that you had to cancel your Greece travel, but you made a good decision.
I've been to Cinque Terre when I was backpackging through Europe, but would love to go back. The first time I went, Kinski and I didn't have time to hike between the villages. It was just a stop over between towns (I think we were headed to Pompeii and the Almalfi Coast).
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