Thursday morning was the Monpazier market and despite arriving from Australia only the night before, Fiona seemed up to the challenge so we headed off in six different directions in what was quite a sizeable and diverse market for a village the size of Monpazier.
There were typical fruit and veg, fish, sausages, cheeses, many jewellery vendors ( some from Thailand, some handmade in the region), clothing and other many other 'treasures' and it turned out to be quite a fruitful morning for all of us!
After a quick lunch at home the plan was to drive to the spectacular village of Rocamadour, located to the east of us – a cliff top village located above the river Alzou. Russell and I had visited on a previous occasion and thought the unique setting would appeal to the rest of the group.
The town itself sits below a collection of monastic buildings and pilgrimage churches reached by the Grand Escalier (“big staircase”) It is now largely dependant on tourism which has resulted in some tacky souvenir shops shoulder to shoulder with some artisan stores worth having a browse in.
The drive ( a little under two hours) got more challenging the closer we got with narrow winding stretches where we encountered crazy oncoming drivers and buses that stretched my driving skills. I was beginning to worry whether the girls were going to think it was worth it but when Julie exclaimed “wow! That's amazing!” as we drove around the last corner, it was all worthwhile.
Rocamadour
We spent a couple of hours wandering around the cobbled streets taking photographs, visiting the churches and buying take home gifts but saved the ascent for the lift which climbs 50 metres a lot quicker than we could!
We had to be on the road again by late afternoon though as we had a dinner booking at Hotel Edward 1er, the hotel we had stayed in on our last night in 2015.
Dinner turned out to be a lively and delicious event in a beautiful outdoor setting with balmy conditions. It would be our last dinner as a group of six as we would deliver Linelle to the train in Agen the next day as she continued her journey homeward.
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