Rainy Dordogne again – South of France in July 2014 No.2

July 13, 2014.

On the second day, which was the first day as sightseeing, we were divided into senior team and junior team.

The senior team took the train to Carcassonne, a world heritage site, and we, the junior team, rented a car and went for a drive in the Dordogne.

The morning of the hotel.

The weather in the Midi-Pyrenees and Languedoc-Roussillon, where Carcassonne is located, is expected to be fine, but rain is forecast for the Dordogne.

First of all, we all went to the train station in Toulouse. It is within walking distance from the hotel. We will split into two groups here. We are going to rent a car.

The car rental process went smoothly as usual, but I had no idea where the parking lot was…. Since I didn’t know too much, I waited for a while to ask the person who did the reception to guide me….

I waited for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, but it didn’t seem to be over at all.

But fortunately, the three sisters of the wife found the place and we managed to reach the parking lot and depart Toulouse.

By the way, the parking lot, was located in a corner further and further back of the Metro entrance on the exact opposite side of the car rental office.

I can’t explain it well in pictures or words, but it’s no exaggeration to say that this was the most difficult place I’ve ever been in my European car rental history.

As for the car, I accidentally forgot to take a picture of it, so I’ll try to write my impressions along with posting a picture in my diary from tomorrow.

The first stop for the junior team was the medieval town of Sarlat in the Dordogne. This was already their fourth visit here.

I love this city. So I came here to show you around by all means.

The weather was as bad as ever that day, but the city was as beautiful as ever.

And the other purpose of my visit, that is to buy « foie gras ».

The Dordogne region is very famous for its foie gras.

We came back for a selfish reason: we ran out of our stock of foie gras that we bought on our visit last year and wanted to stock up.

This time I got the bottled one.

I also bought the duck rillettes.

Since we were visiting, we decided to have a foie gras dish in this city.

It doesn’t look very good, but this is duck with foie gras sauce.

I wonder if the meat part is like whisks? I couldn’t quite make out the French word for the part, but the texture was like a scissors. The sauce was very rich and tasty.

It was 13 euros for a starter, main course and dessert.

The next stop was a tour of beautiful villages along the Dordogne River. This is the course we visited in the tour of the most beautiful villages in France.

We will visit Benac et Cazenac from the window of the car and Castelnaud-la-Chapelle for a tour of the chateau with its many attractions.

Because it was Sunday and summer vacation season, it was crowded with many people. When I visited last May, it was almost empty and lonely (laugh).

This chateau is very much focused on tourism and has a lot to offer. I think there is probably no other beautiful village with such enthusiasm.

That’s it for this day’s sightseeing. We are going back to Toulouse. We arrived at the hotel around 8 pm.

Due to lack of sleep the day before, jet lag, and not being able to take a break on the way (since I was the driver), I ran out of energy as soon as I arrived at the hotel.

So we went to bed. I heard that everyone else had dinner nearby, but they seemed to be a little tired.

By the way, the senior team also arrived in Carcassonne safely and enjoyed themselves. Good, good, good.

On the third day, the third day of sightseeing, the junior team and the senior team will switch destinations. I’m going to guide the senior team for the fifth time (laughs).