On Wednesday, we enjoyed a unique breakfast in the lobby of the hotel in Chinon. The Hotel Diderot is well known for its unique jams, and they had almost every flavor imaginable and every type of bread waiting on the table for us croissants, brioche, multigrain bread and more) in addition to yogurts, fruit salad, and pork rillette (very well cooked pork that is spreadable). From there, we hopped on the bus and went to the Chateau Villandry, which is known for its beautiful gardens. I opted not to go inside the chateau because I wanted to take advantage of the decent weather to explore the gardens, which were full of flowers, herbs, and vegetables...all very beautifully landscaped (9 gardeners on staff!).
After that, we visited Chateau Rideau. Once again, I stuck with exploring the grounds and taking pictures of the outside of the property instead of venturing inside. Even though it was still cool and rainy, it was worth the trip.
Later that day, we came back to the hotel, where one of the hotel owners took us through a wine tasting and gave us a detailed overview of the wines of the Loire Valley. Fun fact, wines and France are named for the region they come from, not for the grapes. They paired several goat cheeses with the wines, but since I hate goat cheese (and am technically allergic to goats), I stuck with bread. After the wine tasting, I joined one of the couples for dinner at a local French restaurant and tried steak tartare for the first (and last) time. It was very weird. I felt like I was making meatloaf and not baking it. Ground beef, egg, onion and all. Gross. But the fries were outstanding! The French really know how to make fries. I don't know if they cook them in duck fat or what but they are delicious here!
The next day, we stopped briefly at a tiny town called Mortmarte, where the mayor gave us a quick tour of the different buildings and history of the town. While we were on the tour, our tour guide, bus driver, and a couple of volunteer tour members set up a lovely picnic for us in the town hall which included a few types of salads, several types of patés (goose, rabbit, and boar), wine, various cheeses, and flan, which in France, typically has a crust and looks a lot like New York cheesecake.
After the picnic, we drove to Oradour-sur-Glane, which was a tiny village wiped out by the Nazis in 1944, leaving more than 600 innocent people dead. The ruins of the town were kept intact as a museum and memorial. So sad and moving, especially when you think about all the children that were senselessly killed.
We then drove to Sarlat in the Dordogne region, did a quick walking tour of the historic part of town, then enjoyed a lovely dinner together of foie gras (which is something I really wanted to try on this trip.), followed by duck breast, and the dessert was some type of walnut cake (the region is also known for walnuts).
On Friday, we went to visit the Grotte de Rouffignac, which is a cave containing prehistoric drawings. Really cool! We had to ride on a rustic little train vs. walking in the cave (I snuck a quick shot of us on the train before it started moving) and they would not let us take any pics, even without flash. They're trying to preserve the caves as much as possible by limiting the amount of light and exposure to humans. As we were leaving the caves, We Came Upon a tiny little restaurant with a ton of geese outside and had to stop and take a picture, and also apologize for enjoying foie gras so much.
After the cave, we drove by some houses and other buildings that are *in* the rock of the cliffs. So crazy! We had lunch at a nearby town just above the Dordogne River, then we were off to do a canoe ride on the river. It had been a while since I had been in a boat, but I wasn't too worried to given the water level was very low and of course we had life vests. It was a bit of a long ride--total of 2 hours--but the views were beautiful, and unfortunately I wasn't able to take pictures from the boat because I didn't want to drop my phone in the water.
We were free to have dinner on our own that night, so I took myself to a cute little restaurant that was and enjoyed an Aperol Spritz and yummy cassoulet. I definitely needed some comfort food after that exhausting canoe ride!
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