Sarlat to Carcassonne

We left Sarlat after breakfast, sad to leave Les Cordeliers. The place is charming. The rooms are comfortable, and the breakfast is great. The pantry in a little nook on a landing was a nice addition, with a fancy espresso machine, fridge full of beverages, little snacks, peanuts and cookies, for guests to enjoy at any hour. And its proximity to the old part of town made it the perfect place to stay.

Les Cordeliers is the blue-shuttered building beyond this lovely garden

Chris suggested we stop at the village of Domme on our way out of the area. From the hill top town there was a great view over the Dordogne River and valley. We spent a few minutes walking around admiring the place before we headed down the road.

Marco checking out the Domme sign

Caterina and Katia, with the scenic valley below Domme behind us

The view of the Dordogne River from cliff-capping Domme

We stopped for lunch at a truck stop along the A10, and had decent baguette sandwiches. Ricardo had a good croque monsieur. They offered lots of hot lunch choices too. A truck stop isn't a bad place to eat in France.

Lunch at a truck stop along the A10

Then we were back on the road to Carcassonne.

We checked into our B&B, Le Jardin de la Cite, after some stressful driving. The B&B was located just a few blocks from the walled city of Carcassonne, but the streets were confusing, even with the GPS. Our rooms were in a separate building next to the main house, and were small, but nicely decorated and clean. Air fresheners were kind of overpowering, but we wondered if they were necessary to cover up the "closed-up" smell of the winter months.

Daytime view of Carcassonne from our B&B

Our hostess, Danielle,  recommended a few places in the walled city to have dinner, and we headed off to see the sights. By then it was sprinkling, and not too crowded this late in the afternoon. We peeked in some shop windows, but didn't go in to the obviously touristy shops. There were lots of candy stores, for some reason.

The moat around Carcassonne. Not so effective without water!

For a few more pictures, and the legend of Carcassonne, click here for my blog post from 2012.

We found a bar to stop for a drink while we waited for the restaurant to open.

We had some local wine at a bar before dinner

Adelaide was one of the places Danielle had recommended, and we had great cassoulet there, a thick stew made with confit of duck leg, pork sausage and beans.

Cassoulet made with duck confit, pork sausage and white beans

By the time we were done eating, the rain had stopped. We walked back through town a different way, all but Ricardo, who headed off on his own. Ricardo ended up exiting the city on the far side from our B&B, and had a long walk around to get to the right street. Luckily, he called me to see where we were, and we eventually met up.

From the garden of our B&B we had a great view of the city, all lit up. It was magical.

Carcassonne at night