Sarlat La Caneda – Dordogne – Villa des Consuls

Today is the day I have been planning for on this holiday.  This was the first holiday destination Rosie booked and the rest of the trip fell into place around it.  We were going to Sarlat la Caneda in the Dordogne area of Central France.

We drove three hours from Vichy to reach Sarlat, it poured with rain as we left the chateaux and got harder the closer we got to the Central Massif mountain range.  The roads were good and nearly empty so we made great time, it got colder too as our elevation rose to nearly 1000 metres.

After what seemed like the  Navman  sending us on some dubious back roads we arrived at lunchtime in Sarlat.  There is no parking and no cars allowed in the Old Town area where we are staying but there are huge free carparks on the edge of the town, a whole 300 metres from our accommodation.  We parked and went to find the Villa du Consuls, our home for the next seven days.

Rosie just kind of tripped over this town on the internet and when she looked at the online images of this wee village she was hooked…line and sinker.  The old town just looks like the crumbliest, crustiest medieval village around ever, narrow alleyways that have never seen let alone fit a car down them.  Tall stone buildings shade the alleys, the limestone crumbling from the walls, cracks down the brickwork, flaking paint on the window shutters, it is glorious.   All this decay of the ages combined with that French pride of appearance and distinctive tall upright, square and elegant buildings leave Rosie swooning.

Rosie and The Operator love our outdoor space and not being cooped up inside so we booked a two bedroom apartment with a courtyard terrace….there is no view except into the buildings next door and down into a courtyard, but it is tranquil, peaceful and shaded….the weather forecast clears tomorrow and the temperature sises to 30c.  The sun was just busting out as we arrived, perfect timing.

It was very quiet around the village at 7pm ish….all the tour buses and day trippers that had completely clogged up the carparks were gone and it seemed that the overnighters had not come out yet.  We settled on a Menu du Jour in a stone vaulted bistro that had duck duck and duck options…a speciality of the region and I must say my goose gizzard salad was the highlight of the day!  Good wine, good food and good conversation flowed and an excellent sleep was had by all.