France Just For You Chez Vous
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Dear Travelers,
Guillaume and I LOVE the Dordogne region!
None of us are originally from Dordogne, but Guillaume spent all his summers there as a kid in the family summer house which you see here below. He gave me the "Dordogne virus" and for the past 12 years, there has not been a single year that we would not go to Dordogne, even if we no longer have a family house there.
From the food to the landscapes with the little charming villages and the castles, the people, the river, the special morning and evening lights... we love everything about this region and we both know that one day, we will get our own family house there !
When we plan trips to Dordogne, we do our best to share with our travelers all the little spots, restaurants, hidden towns and caves that we have discovered over the years, and we hope to make their trip a bit more special this way.
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July 2021
This summer, we are going to the Pyrenees mountains but of course, we plan to spend a short week in Dordogne in August. It will be very busy with the French people staying in France this year, but we definitely need our walnut tart, to take a crowd bath at the Sarlat market, and get lost voluntarily on the little roads to discover gorgeous hamlets, beautiful gardens and sceneries.
We hope that you will enjoy reading this newsletter about Dordogne.
We look forward to welcoming you to France again soon!
Warmest regards,
Emilie & Guillaume Thyebaut
Founders, France Just For You
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Travelers Shirley & Brad on their honeymoon in Dordogne
© Shirley & Brad, Canada
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Exploring France's Prehistoric Caves
For travelers who are interested in geology, caves and prehistoric art, there are many prehistoric caves in France. Some are the original caves and some are replicas of caves that are no longer open to the public for conservation reasons - but both types are worth visiting. Here we list some of our favorite caves in France, any of which we can try to include in your itinerary.
We like Rouffignac cave very much as you use a small train to get into the bowels of the earth and really feel like in a Jules Verne novel.
Preserving French Heritage
There tends to be mixed feelings about replica caves such as Lascaux IV (see below) and the Chauvet cave. Some have argued that replicas can never compare to seeing the original - after all, who would choose to see a Monet replica?
But it’s important to remember that if the Ministry of Culture allowed thousands of tourists a day to visit these prehistoric caves indefinitely, the moisture and CO2 from human breath and the resulting bacteria and fungi growth would inflict irreversible damage on the paintings, as it is feared is the case at the original Lascaux cave. In this case, replicas would, sooner or later, be the only way to gain some idea of the caves’ past magnificence.
Replicas therefore allow countries to conserve their heritage whilst still allowing the public to gain an insight into their past.
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From the top: Padirac Chasm in southwestern France; cave art replicas at Lascaux IV; a bison at the Font de Gaume cave (still open to the public)
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Visit Lascaux, 'the Sistine Chapel of Prehistory'
On September 8th 1940, the world was at war and 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat was out walking his dog in a clearing in the region of Lascaux, Dordogne. Suddenly, his dog disappeared.
Marcel starting calling out to him, and he eventually found him emerging from a hole in the ground that had been revealed by a tree that had fallen down the year before. Marcel tossed some stones down the hole and listened as they bounced and descended deeper and deeper into an apparent underground abyss. More and more curious, Marcel had a feeling he had just stumbled upon something extraordinary.
It was only four days later when he returned with some friends that they slid down the hole (hoping to find buried treasure!) and discovered an astounding collection of prehistoric cave paintings. The underground cave at Lascaux was dubbed by Abbé Breuil, the first archeological expert to examine the walls, as the “Sistine chapel of prehistory”. The cave walls were covered with images that included a wounded man, galloping horses, charging bulls, and deer with antlers depicted in the most stunning detail.
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Cave art at Lascaux in Dordogne
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After the Second World War, the cave was opened to the public and was receiving up to 1,200 visitors a day until it was permanently closed in 1963, as moisture and carbon dioxide had started to damage the paintings. The first partial replica of the cave, Lascaux 2, opened in 1983 just a minute down the road from the original cave, while Lascaux 3 is a mobile exhibition which has been touring the globe since 2012.
In 2016, less than half a mile from the original Lascaux cave, the International Center for Cave Art (Lascaux 4) opened to the public. This full-scale reproduction is the largest and most high-tech replica of the original Lascaux caves, with 600 images of animals and 400 symbols. Lascaux 2 is also impressive, but did not include any engravings and only recreated 40% of the cave. Lascaux 4 has reproduced every last detail, and a visit is well worth it.
For a virtual tour of the original Lascaux Cave, follow this link. And if you really want to step inside an original prehistoric cave and see the real cave art for yourself, we know some other great ones and can include this in your self drive itinerary.
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FJFY Travel Tip: How to Visit Prehistoric Caves in France
Some of Dordogne's original caves, such as Lascaux, are now closed to the public, to preserve the paintings and the very delicate environments inside the caves. For those that you can visit, only a limited number of people are allowed in each day.
We therefore recommend arriving at the cave very early in the morning to make sure you get one of the limited tickets available for that day.
Tour agents are able to book tickets for the caves in advance, so if you book a tour with France Just For You, we will reserve your tickets for you if there's availability for your chosen date, so that you don't have arrive early and wait.
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A depiction of cave people painting inside the Font de Gaume cave
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Truffle Mushroom Pasta
for 2/3 people
INGREDIENTS
- a small can of truffles in the oil or even better a little piece of fresh truffle to grate on top of the pasta
- 2 cups of fresh mushrooms (shiitake, button, paris)
- 300g of thick cream
- 300g of fresh linguini or tagliatelle which you will cook al dente
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1 medium onion
- salt, pepper, olive oil
PREPARATION OF THE TRUFFLE PASTA
- Cook the pasta al dente
- Heat olive oil and 2 spoons of butter in a pan
- add the onion and garlic until it gets brown but not burnt
- stir all the mushrooms and keep a little bit of the mushroom water in there so it won't get dry
- add the cream and pasta and mix it all + salt and pepper.
- when ready to serve, grate the truffle on top of the plate.
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EMILIE & GUILLAUME ADVICE
Truffle has such as special taste that you should not go for a complicated recipe to enjoy its flavours...The best is to grate it on pasta or in eggs. You may keep fresh truffles in a box in the fridge together with whole eggs...it will give the taste to the eggs.
What we do when we have a fresh truffle (not really often): we grate it in butter and place this truffle butter in ice-cube compartments in the freezer. Then, when we want to flavor a dish with truffles, we just get a butter-cube or 2.
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Did you know...?
Once a truffle is discovered somewhere, it’s likely that the hunter will find more truffles there again and again. In some cases, truffles have been collected in the same areas for over 2000 years and many truffle spots have been passed down generation to generation!
French white summer truffles are available from May to September, and the most sought after black winter truffles are available from December to March.
If you're interested in hunting for truffles in France, we can organize for you to go on a hunt with a truffle-hunter and his dog!
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Peter from Canada, truffle hunting in Dordogne
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Traveling to France Post Covid
We understand that you may feel stressed to start traveling again while the situation is sometimes a bit tricky with governments keeping changing the rules of entery/exit, etc...
For this reason, we have added a new page to our website where we will update the most important information about traveling to France post covid. We hope that you will find it useful.
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Next month we will be exploring the beautiful region of Burgundy, telling you the best things to do in Dijon, and sharing the things we love to do in France in the fall season! We will also look at some of Burgundy's culinary traditions, and of course, share our favorite Burgundy-inspired recipe!
Sending you our warmest wishes,
France Just For You Team
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