Today Gramzie and I caught an early morning train from Paris to Cahors, a small town about 350 miles south. Cahors is in the Dordogne region of France and in the middle Pyrenees. It was interesting watching the terrain change as we traveled. It is very rocky and mountainous here. Very unlike the rolling hills and fields of the Ile-de-France region in which we biked.
After arriving at our hotel, we took a taxi to Cabrerets, about 20 miles east. This is the location of the Grotte du Pech-Merle, a prehistoric cave that contains many paintings, drawings and carvings that are 25,000 years old! Unfortunately I was not allowed to take any pictures in the cave, but I posted a few from the Internet just so you could see what I'm talking about. Pech-Merle is much bigger than I was expecting! To tour the whole cave took about an hour, and there are 15 different sections of paintings. The most famous is the spotted horses, which the artist painted on a rock face that is actually naturally shaped like a horse's head (horse on the right). It was a very interesting experience, and once again, I especially appreciated seeing these same caves that I distinctly remember studying and admiring in art history. Very, very cool.
Dinner was superb! We ate at the hotel restaurant, which is actually a 4 star establishment and has the reputation of being the best place in town. It was very fancy and very good. We started with a tiny leg of pigeon and two little puff pastries that were served with a beet cream spread. Neither was something I would have tried on my own most likely, but I was glad I did! Surprisingly good! My appetizer was some kind of creamed cauliflower, almost like a mousse, served with stalks of asparagus and lobster. Gramzie and I ordered the same main course. A filet of Sole served over top a flaky croissant with tomato paste and calamari. Delicious! And of course, the best part about fancy restaurants is that the portion sizes are on the small side - but this simply meant we had room for dessert! I had pear sorbet and Gramzie had a praline souffle served with mandarin oranges and green tea sorbet. Everything was wonderful and we very much enjoyed our "splurge" meal of the trip.
Tomorrow we take a 6am train to Nimes, where we meet Gramzie's college friend Terri!
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