Adventures and baked goods

The arched town square in Monpazier.

The weather has now officially turned, and it is hot!! Yesterday was 29, and today is hovering around 32 - the one saving grace is it's not humid at all, unlike Montreal in the summer!


My aunt took us to explore Monpazier, a beautiful town about 20 minutes away. Originally built by the English during the 100 Years War, it is built around an arched square, now used for markets and restaurant terraces. As with all other towns we've visited, Monpazier is labelled as one of the 'plus beaux villages de France', though it does seem to have an innately beautiful and elegant feel to it.

Another view of the square from the outside passage.

Naturally, we stopped for lunch at one of the restaurants, enjoying the local traditions of taking our allotted two-hour lunch time, and enjoying some rosé!

I'm enjoying myself so much, my mouth is full :)

Today we went on an adventure up the Vezere Valley. It was a beautiful drive north of us, following the river. This area is known for it's prehistoric cave dwellings and cave paintings (this is where the famous Lascaux caves were discovered). Being a sucker for castles of any sort, I saw an ad for La Maison Forte de Reignac, a site apparently only 'discovered' and re-done a few years ago. It turned out to be a bit of a tourist gimmick, but the building itself was pretty cool:

Built into a cliff in the 14th century, it apparently housed a lord and his family, and according to (slightly suspect) info in the guidebook, there was an alchemist and counterfeit den built high in the cliffs. The inside was decorated with objects 'found' on-site, though many were 'faithful reproductions', as well as an inordinate number of stuffed hunting trophies - at least 2 or 3 per room. 

The dining room in the manor - it was so cold inside the stone walls, there was an actual fire in the grate!

The last part of the tour was of various instruments of torture during the middle ages - minors weren't allowed in the room without an adult. They were pretty horrifying, and by the end of them, I was pretty nauseous!

After that interesting adventure, we headed home via St Cyprien to visit (probably for the last time!) our favourite bakery! And boy did we clean up :)

This is easily the most delicious bakery I've ever been to. We stocked up on croissants, pains au raisin, baguette, and Tom got an Almond/Pistachio/Chocolatine...words cannot describe.