Saints and Sinners

Well, that title may be just a bit strong. But, since we visited a pilgrimage site today and finished the day's touring with a stop at a distillery, it did seem we were touching some bases at rather opposite poles.

We continue to have very warm weather--90-ish today. Supposed to be higher tomorrow, but make a dramatic cool down on Sunday. Air conditioning seems to be essentially nonexistent in this part of France. All we can do is hope for a breeze.

Our first stop of the day was in a little medieval town, called Martel. It was the perfect start to our day. Martel is in the region called the Quercy.





Thanks to a detour, we had to do some significant rerouting and were late for our next stop. We had an appointment at a goat farm, where they make Rocamadour cheese. They have an appellation controlee, just like wines. The goats must be fed hay or grass from a specific area. We got to visit the goats--cute, but very smelly, thank you--and then had a tasting. There was a very mild and moist cheese that was only 6 days old. Yum! The demi-sec had been "draining" 10 days and been in a cooler for 15 days. The third was a tomme, which is a nicely flavored firm cheese. They also poured us a vin de pays--or rustic country wine--that went perfectly with the cheese.









Even though we'd just been eating some cheese and drinking some wine, our next order of business was to have lunch. We ate outdoors in a little countryside stop. We were served a local aperitif of red wine plus vin de noix, a local walnut liqueur. Think of this as a SW France version of kir. This was followed by a large green salad with two slices of duck rillettes (a confit of finely chopped duck meat), walnuts, and tomatoes. Then came two wood fire grilled lamb chops and a baked potato in aluminum foil. (I can't remember when I last saw a baked potato in foil, but I certainly wasn't expecting to bump into it in southwestern France!) Then came a cheese course of the local goat cheese. And, last but not least, a poached pear covered in a chocolate sauce. Now that's some serious midday eating!

We next visited the pilgrimage site of Rocamadour. It is situated on the face of a cliff. There are seven different chapels. Pilgrims would stop at a nearby village called Hopitalite de Rocamadour. It was a welcome center for the pilgrims. They washed their feet, were fed a good meal, and given a bed. The next day, they walked to Rocamadour proper and began their ascent up 260 steps on their knees and saying an Ave Maria at each step up. A very interesting site and setting above the Dordogne River.







Even though it was now 5pm and we'd been on the go and off and on the bus since 9am, we had yet another stop to make: a distillery of the local walnut liqueur and a plum brandy. After a tour and explanation of how they make their products, of course there was a tasting.





Let's just say that it was pretty quiet on the 35km drive back to our hotel. After all, we had to rest up so that we were ready for our group dinner. Oh my!


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