Away from the rivers, the fertile soils of the Dordogne are home to poultry farms and truffle-filled woods. To the east, the land around the rivers flows through gorges and valleys. Population centres are based mainly along the region's rivers, as historically they provided transportation routes for export. Over 100,000 hectares of land are dedicated to vines. Recommended.Divided into four areas- the Périgord Noir (Black), the Périgord Blanc (White), the Périgord Vert (Green) and the Périgord Pourpre (Purple), the geography and natural resources of the Périgord make it a beautiful, unspoiled region rich in history and wildlife. The Dordogne is the major river that flows through the region, coming from the Auvergne mountains where the Dore and the Dogne join, to the Garonne estuary just north of Bordeaux. The Tarn and the Aveyron flow into the river Lot which is the major river in the south, again reaching the Garonne and then flowing out to the Atlantic. It is a pretty cool experience and, considering very few people can visit the actual cave (not even Macron), it’s as close as you can possibly get. The workshop follows the “caves” where you can get a better view of some of the art work in the “caves” and take pics, as there are no pictures allowed in the reproduction caves. All understanding is interpretive as pre-historians have been unable to conclusively nail down all the info. Wandering through the reproduction, the guide points out various features in the art work. A tour guide does a good job of immersing you in the history of Lascaux, from its discovery, through the current day. Everyone is provided with a set of headphones and a receiver. French pandemic rules were in play requiring the sanitary pass and masks indoors. There are one to two tours daily in English. You need to book tickets online and for specific time. As faithful a recreation as possible, via the use of 3D imaging and printing, it is as good as you’re ever going to see. They built the first replica, Lascaux II in the seventies. The real Lascaux Cave was closed to the public in 1963. It was delightful with incredible paintings including a beautiful one of a woman’s face peering out at you from 16,000 years ago, We went to another more famous cave with maybe more “dramatic” paintings but getting herded by them was nothing like our incredible tour with Michael as our personal guide, One of the best things you will do in the Dordogne. Michael has very good English and is quite knowledgeable explaining the paintings and the history of the cave. Michael spent almost two hours with just me and my wife taking us through the four dark caverns with only a flashlight to illuminate over 100 cave paintings. This family-owned cave is an experience like no other. The cave is only open when you owners are free to give you a tour, PLEASE NOTE that GPS will take you to a parking area that is then a 15 minute walk through the woods with tiny hand written signs pointing you to the cave entrance where you will find a locked steel door, We were about to leave at 5:20 when a man pulled up on a scooter and introduced himself as Michael. I was told it was not possible but a tour could be arranged at 5pm. On a whim during lunch, I called the number listed for this cave to see if they might have a tour available at 2:30.
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