We had breakfast at 8 am this morning as we needed to be at the Font de Gaume by 9 to get in line for tickets to the cave paintings. Dominique had made hot biscuits and they were excellent.
It took us about 20 minutes to get to Font de Gaume. We waited in line for 1 1/2 hours for 2 tickets for the 12:15 tour in French. All of the English tours were sold out and they are only offered on Monday. We got the next to the last 2 tickets. The French couple behind us were in the same tour and got the last ones! Whew - that was close.
Font de Gaume has cave paintings from 15,000 AD - that's 17,000 years ago. They are allowing fewer and fewer people in due to the breathing and things that are carried inside the caves on humans. We are told that they will probably close them to the public so we feel very fortunate to be able to see them. Thanks again to Emilie at France Just For You for making such special arrangements and suggestions for us.
Entrance to Font de Gaume - They allowed 52 people - we got tickets 49 and 50!
We had a couple of hours after getting our tickets so we went walking into Les Eyzies and had a coffee. We marveled at the large stones overhanging part of the city. Hope they don't fall anytime soon! We discovered a laundry in town and will bring our dirty clothes back to her later this afternoon.
The large stones above Les Ezyies
We went back for our tour with 10 other people. This was the last tour of the day and only in French. We entered through a door and went into a winding, dark cave. The tour guide, while he only spoke in French, was speaking passionately about the drawings on the cave walls. There were bison, deer, horses, a wooly mammoth, animals fighting, and at the end a handprint - perhaps of one of the artists 17,000 years ago.
This cave is unique due to the different colors in the drawings and because the drawings show perspective. In some the artist used the form of the stone as a part of the animal depicted. It was impressive to think about someone so many years ago drawing a picture on these cave walls. Again, we felt so fortunate to get in. No pictures of the drawings were allowed in the cave, but this is a photo I took of a pamphlet that shows one of the cave drawings that we saw.
Cave drawing of a bison in Font de Gaume Cave in Les Ezyies
Entrance to the cave at Font de Gaume where the old cave drawings are - tight and dark spaces
The strange rock formations overhanging the entrance to the Font de Gaume caves
This experience made us think about the existence of man - how long man has roamed the earth and how man has progressed. Eye-opening.
We went into town for lunch. Tim was in heaven as he had a fixed menu that had both fois gras and confit de carnard. I had sliced duck and a steak with fois gras on top. All delicious. We both had yummy ice cream for dessert. Full again.
Then we walked to the museum for a private tour with Cecile at 3:30. Emilie had arranged all of this for us ahead of time and it was wonderful. I don't see how others could take a trip like this without Emilie's help and organization. She knew that we needed to be at Font de Gaume on Monday. Great planning.
In the Prehistoric Museum, Cecile's enthusiasm was catching. She LOVED what she did and smiled an talked so enthusiastically about the display. She explained that the first men were thought to have been in Africa in Chad and Ethiopia. They moved to France and Spain and the middle east. She showed us a chart that shows men in earlier forms going back 2,000,000 - 3,000,000 years. Of course this is "pre history" so no one really knows. But the drawings on the caves have been carbon dated to 15,000 BC or 17,000 years ago!
She explained how they made tools from rocks, why they chose the places to live, and early forms of jewelry. The Prehistoric Museum was absolutely beautiful and specialized in prehistoric history.
A statue representing "Early Man" or Prehistoric Man at the Museum
The town of Les Eyzies as seen from the outer deck of the Prehistoric Museum
We drove back to the B&B to get our dirty clothes and then back to Les Eyzies to drop them off. The lady at the Lavendrewas great. She took them all and they'll be ready tomorrow. Yeah - we'll have clean clothes.
Back to the B&B and we changed for dinner. Jean-Francois made us a reservation in Saint Jean sur Vezere for dinner at Auberge DuPont. Wasn't "DuPont" a coincidence! It was good - Tim had pizza and I had a "menu".
We drove around a little bit to enjoy the scenery as the sun set. We returned to the B&B to relax and unwind. Tomorrow we'll get a late start. Breakfast at 9.
Ganache - the mother dog at Bechanou
Bechanou - our home in Dordogne for 6 days - 5 nights
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