1. Sarlat le Canèda

We spent two nights in Sarlat le Canèda, a walled medieval town in the Perigord region near the Dordogne river. Although the town has overflowed its original borders there are still remnants of walls, towers and gates. We went walking after dinner on our first evening here and found first a tower, then a stretch of wall, then a gate. There’s a lot of history here, and most of it is quite lovely.

Local production of foie gras and duck continues, but has taken a back seat to tourism as a money-earner. The old town boasts forty restaurants in an area the size of two football fields.

Our search for a hotel netted a very spacious penthouse suite in the Sarlat Best Western. Sadly it was only available for one night, but the receptionist was able to recommend and book us into another hotel just around the corner … and that turned out to be a good choice too.

Evening dining in Sarlat wasn’t everything we’d hoped for. On the first evening we rook the recommendation of our hotel receptionist and ate at a restaurant in the centre of Sarlat which took itself fairly seriously. The food was fine, although our request for vegetables resulted in one small carrot, one floret of broccoli and one mushroom in the far corners of a large white plate. Perhaps we should have gone for the duck and the foie gras.

All the buildings are constructed of local stone; some even use flat stone, rather than slate or tiles, for roofing. I have a fascination with tracing the way buildings have changed over the years. Looking at the walls of Sarlat’s buildings you can see where an arch was filled in, a door inserted, a stairway removed, a window added. I can be happy for hours just walking around looking at walls.

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