Next to Paris, surprisingly, the Perigord probably has the richest heritage of historical monuments in France. The notable places to visit are somewhat spread apart, and if you’re only in the area for a week, like us, you have to choose your base carefully and organize your days as best as possible.

One of the ideal spots to choose as a base when exploring this area, in my opinion, is the medieval village of Sarlat. If you stay here, you most certainly will not regret it. You will not only be close to so many of the most beautiful villages in France, you will be staying in one as well. Also nearby are the most famous prehistoric sites (Lascaux, Les Eyzies, Fond de Gaume), 1500 chateaux, caves and more. We like to choose a base that we can call “home” and that we’re always happy to return to. I loved Sarlat, and loved having used it as home away from home.

^{I tried not to disturb this artist too much with my camera…}

A little more than 40 years ago, Sarlat was a simple, quiet, unnoticed little hamlet town that resembled many of the other villages in the area. In 1962, the writer and then Minister of Culture, Andre Malraux, took notice of Sarlat, fell in love with its simplicity, lack of modernization and architectural unity and decided to take it under his wings to begin a gargantuan restoration project.

It was a project that would last three years but once finished, there would be lots of oooohs and ahhhhhhs – and later Sarlat was scouted as a filmworthy location for the movies Cyrano de Bergerac and Manon of the Spring.

The winding streets are lined with foie gras, wine, walnut cake merchants and street musicians as well as several restaurants offering the local specialties of confit de canard, cassoulet and more. If that isn’t your thing, there’s an excellent restaurant called Le Gaulois, that caters to the locals who can’t constantly being eating foie gras, confit de canard and cassoulet. The great thing about Le Gaulois is the atmosphere and how it feels like a restaurant not for tourists. I liked how the menu was written in chalk on mini chalkboards that many school children in France used to have in grade school. Two nights ago we had dinner there with friends who drove in from Paris and with the owners of where we stayed (which I’ll write about later) and ordered the Raclette (melted Raclette cheese, potatoes, jambon cru) and something called l’Assiette de loup, which was a melted blend of cheeses served with a small salad, potatoes, jambon cru, which was actually prochiutto from Parma, Italy. Everything was delicious including dessert and it was hard to stop eating when we were full.

We all needed to stroll around the wonderfully lit village afterward to walk it off.

Tags: hotels in dordogne