Dordogne - Market Day in Sarlat-la-Caneda and Beer From Bière de Sarlat

Hope you're having a great Saturday. I thought I'd share what our Saturday morning was like in Sarlat. It started with a huge breakfast at our B&B.

Man, there's no way we'd be able to have lunch after this!

We left the B&B and headed up Avenue Thiers, which, after crossing a pedestrian only stretch, became the main street of the town; Rue de la République. It was still a bit early at 8am; the vendors usually open at about 830. Still, it was a nice and relaxing stroll up the street.

Where you could glimpse of all of those food products that the Dordogne is famous for.

Though there's not just food for sale here......

The Missus actually bought a little wooden nut cracker in the shape of a mushroom. She loved the walnuts in Dordogne and would crack them one-by-one savoring each bite!

The market actually takes up the entire length of the street and then stretches into Place de la Liberte and up side streets.

I can see why this market is also popular with the local residents; you can get it all here.

By 9am, things had picked up significantly.

And the crowds kept on growing.

I took time to stop and smell the fromage!

Behind the huge doors of the former Church of Saint Marie resides another covered market and a panoramic elevator which wasn't in service yet when we arrived. Plus, there were too large a crowd here anyway.

We took our time, exploring the side streets and alleyways; which looked totally different from the previous day.

You could make out a literal buzz in the air! It was only 10am and we needed a break. So, using a technique we learned in Rome, we sought out the Cathedral of St Sacerdos also known as Sarlat Cathedral, to escape the crowds and noise.

The TI is steps away from the Cathedral, so we decided to take a look and grab a map.

This is where I really started getting an understanding of folks in, at least this area of France. We stood in line and the very pleasant young man got us a map. As we were turning to leave, I happened to ask the young man for a dinner recommendation; a place he enjoys. He smiled and opened another map and started going over his favorite spots in town, cheerfully pointing them out. I looked at the line forming behind me with some concern. He smiled at us and said; "do not worry, I take my time with you, and all our customers." I got it! We'd have this experience a couple of times more during our trip. Ask a question, and many times, the folks in France will want to give you the most perfect, complete answer. The young man actually called one of the places to make dinner reservations for us, but there was no answer. He then marked the way to the place so we could walk over at our leisure and make reservations. Coming back to the states, it seemed that we're in too much of a rush and when someone has a question we'll often give, not the best answer, but the easiest and the shortest.

By now, things were going full tilt.

Remember the bronze statue of a boy sitting named "Le Badaud", the Onlooker, that I mentioned in my previous post? I was wondering what he was looking at. Well, I'm pretty sure it's the crowds on market day (see above photo).

It was just past 11 now and we were feeling a bit peckish. We decided to grab some cheese, a baguette, and find the quiet place to eat.

There was one fromage stand that was doing great business, so I decided to get into the queue and pick up some cheese for us.

After getting our cheese and bread, we decided to walk on over to the restaurant the fellow in the TI recommended to us and make dinner reservations which was located in the tiny side streets west of Rue de la République. Things were a lot quieter here. As we left, I mentioned that there was a brewery nearby; located one street above République.

The place was quite easy to find; just follow the signs.

And you'll literally walk into; well; for lack of a better phrase, a medieval nano-brewery.

I was told that they make all of their beer on premises! No bright stainless steel kettles here.

What the heck; we bought a bottle of the Blonde. She got us a bottle without a label and charged us less.....

Bière Artisanale de Sarlat
2 rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Sarlat-la-Caneda, France

We skirted the crowds by heading south, around the market areas, finding the Jardin Public, above the busy parking lots, this was a nice, quiet little oasis.

We had our baguette and cheese; one a typical, light Cabécou, the other two, aged, one of them with a fine coat of ash and mold. Both were nice a creamy; though not too pungent. Quite easy to eat.

We wrapped what we had left and saved it for later.

We took a 'roundabout way back to the room. Taking time to enjoy the architecture.

And to meet some of "the locals".

We stopped by our room, freshened up and headed back out. It was time to pick up our car rental. Now things were going to get interesting.......

Thanks for reading!

Comments

[kat]

whoa?! you drove, can't wait to hear more:)

[ken]

Yeah, but how was the beer? You can't leave us hanging like that! (just kidding)

[nhbilly]

Look liked you found duck heaven.

[alnc]

Great pictures and writing, as usual. Thanks for sharing, Kirk.

[Kirk]

It wasn't too bad Kat!

LOL Ken.....I must be sleeping on the job! It was really non-descript and nothing special.

We did Billy!

Thanks so much ALNC....so nice to hear from you!