Oh the time, how she flies.

I can't believe it's been nearly a week since my last post! The time has gotten away from me, I suppose, since I've been so busy. We had two couples from Cincinnati staying with us who arrived Wednesday. That evening we hosted their welcome dinner, a more serious formal affair that required Kate the chef to prepare the meal. I got to be her sous-chef, which meant that I prepped some vegetables but mostly did dishes. Still, I did get to enjoy my own plate of her food, which was delicious.

The guests wanted to do some touring of the area, and they graciously allowed me to tag along. William, excellent tour guide that he is, really made the sites come alive. Our first day of touring, we went to the famous Cahors bridge, which I'd seen before but had not known the story behind it; St Cirq Lapopie, named one of the most beautiful villages in France, and the caves at Pech Merle, where you can see cave paintings that were done by prehistoric man.

Firstly, the Valentre bridge of Cahors: a 14th century military bridge built to control access across the Lot river. This I knew when I visited it some weeks ago. However, I did not know the legend surrounding its construction, or how it got its moniker "the bridge the devil helped build." William enlightened us. Apparently, back in the 14th century, a young, ambitious engineer wanted to built the most perfect military bridge in Europe. But as construction began, more and more problems kept arising. The young engineer tried everything to solve all the problems that were before him, but eventually he became overwhelmed, throwing up his hands and exclaiming, "I would sell my soul to the devil just to finish this bridge." And, lo and behold, the devil himself appeared, all too willing to make this transaction. The devil agreed to help the young engineer complete the bridge, in exchange for his eternal soul. Desperate, the young engineer agreed.

Many years later, the bridge was completed, and was proclaimed to be the most perfect military bridge in all of Europe. The engineer, now not-so-young but famous throughout the Western world, didn't have long to enjoy his success before the devil again appeared before him, demanding he uphold his end of the bargain. By now, the engineer had done some thinking. "This bridge, though magnificent, is of the mortal world," he had said to himself, "but my soul is eternal. What have I done in selling my soul?" So he had thought up a scheme. When the devil appeared, the engineer said, "Devil, I will be more than happy to hand over my soul to you. But first, I am very thirsty. Would you mind taking this bucket down to the Lot river, and filling it so I may have a drink?" This seemed reasonable to the devil, and he agreed. Off he went down to the river, and filled the bucket. But by the time he brought it back to the engineer, the bucket was empty! The devil was perplexed by this, and so went to fill it up again. On his way back to the engineer, he watched the bucket carefully, and noticed a stream of water trickling out from under it. That clever engineer had put a small hole in the bottom, so all the water would leak out and thus force the devil to run back and forth to fill it up for all of time. But unfortunately for the engineer, the devil was smarter than that. He said to the engineer, "You have tried to trick the devil. So now, not only will I take your soul with me down into hell, I will put a curse on this bridge--it will fall apart, little by little, until nothing remains of your great legacy!" And with that, he snatched up the engineer's soul and dragged him to hell.

That small black stone in the bridge is all that remains of the poor engineer's soul.

See the tiny devil sculpture in the top right corner?

But this is not the end of legend. After many hundreds of years, the bridge still stood. It had needed constant repair, and by the 17th century the people of Cahors had gotten fed up. They hired a young engineer to fix the bridge once and for all. He was familiar with the local legend, and he thought of a solution. "The devil's curse plagues this bridge because he is angry: nobody recognizes he helped build it," the young engineer thought to himself. "If we paid tribute to him, he would leave the bridge alone." So, as a part of his repairs, he added a small sculpture of a devil to pay homage to the one who helped build the bridge. And it has been standing without a problem ever since.




Our guests were quite amused by this story, and they were equally delighted by the charming town of St. Cirq Lapopie, our next stop. Remarkable traits of the town include its tiny wine museum, which even had a smelling station where you could sniff and try to guess all the different aromas that compose the flavors of a Cahors red; widely varied architecture from across several centuries, and a sweeping panorama of the valley below. We stopped for lunch there, and our menu included some historical facts. Fun fact: Cahors wine was declared the official communion wine of the Catholic church by Pope John the 22nd, who was a native of the region.

This doesn't do it justice, but it's kind of cool-looking.

The final stop along our journey was Pech Merle, where two teenagers playing hooky in 1922 accidentally discovered prehistoric paintings in the vast network of caves. We went on an hour-long tour down in the caves themselves, which were gorgeous even if just for their natural formations. You weren't allowed to take pictures in the caves, but I did sneak a flash-less and therefore creepily red picture of one of said formations. The cave paintings themselves all follow similar themes: animals, hunt scenes, and occasionally human figures. It is said that what distinguished prehistoric man from his Neanderthal predecessors was his capacity for art: this is what marked the beginning of our race. As such, these paintings were fascinating to see.

Our second day of touring started at Beynac Castle, the former home of Richard the Lionhearted and the on-location filming site of dozens of movies, most recently Ever After and Joan of Arc the Messenger. It was a really neat castle, very typical of the medieval period. Highlights included the panoramic view over the Dordogne river valley, the setting of the Crichton book Timeline, where you can see a handful of neighboring castles scattered in the nearby hills. Unlike the Bonaguil Castle, Beynac was attacked many times during the Hundred Years' War and the religious wars.





Next stop was Sarlat, another notably pretty town in this region. It is also the duck capital of the Perigord, which for the French is serious business. As serious as the duck confit I had for lunch that day, which was truly perfect. It was served with these garlicky pan-fried potatoes(fried in duck fat, of course; I'll have to try to recreate at home. The city is full of little architectural tidbits from various centuries, and has been an important regional capital city for many years. William gave us a solid walking tour of some important places and architectural oddities.

Sarlat's main square, with the cathedral in the background.

Our last site of the day was La Roque Gageac, where we only stopped for a moment to take a few pictures. The importance of this town, apart from being picturesquely built into the side of a cliff, is that it has been continuously inhabited by man for 30,000 years. No matter the climate conditions, great migrations, wars, you name it: there is evidence that La Roque Gageac has been a human dwelling place for that entire span of time. From prehistoric man living at the mouths of the caves down to the thriving little village that exists there today. Incredible, if you think about.


After two solid days of touring, our Cincinnati guests prepared to leave the beauty of the Baran for the next leg of their journey. As a farewell dinner, we all went to La Recreation, a restaurant about 20 minutes away that used to be a schoolhouse (hence its name, which means "recess"). William and Rosalie have known the owners for years, and so they know the menu inside out. Six courses of incredible food. Full and happy, we all toddled out of the restaurant around 11:30, heading for home and sleep. Now that our guests are gone, we have a couple days of quiet before new ones arrive. So it has been the typical routine of watering plants, cleaning, etc. Familiar tasks, now that I've learned my way around. I can't believe I'll be flying home in a week!