We paid a nominal admission and climbed up the escarpment all the way to the top where there was a wide array of ruins, from a stone chapel to a soldiers’ barracks and ultimately to the 12th-century keep. The chateau rose dramatically to the left, looming atop the rocks, while another chateau, this one private, stood out among the heights on the other side of the valley, not so much as a road between them. After about 700 meters, the woods ended at a line of exposed limestone reaching to the sky and stretching away into an open meadow. But just as we were about to give up, we came to a dirt parking lot in a grove of trees with an arrow pointing down a trail through the woods. We turned off the road and followed a series of ever smaller roads until we were sure we’d made a wrong turn somewhere. Thank God we had GPS.īut here was one inviting us to visit. We often found it hard to believe these rustic tracks were leading to major tourist destinations, but we were never disappointed. But more often than not, we had the roads to ourselves as they narrowed into single-lane tracks (more than once we had to back up to let another car squeeze past) through increasingly tiny villages and wooded hills. I felt daring driving at 45 mph on these byways while the locals lined up behind me, impatiently waiting to pass. All roads are winding, rolling two-lane forays through the pages of a fairy tale. This part of France apparently has no strip malls, gated housing developments or major highways. And forget the destinations - the drives themselves were breathtaking. Any one of them could have been the highlight of a trip. A 30- to 45-minute drive in any direction brought us to destinations that were each more stunning than the last. But as we quickly realized, the best thing about locating in Sarlat was leaving it. Though it was stimulating to be in the middle of such history, the smallness of the town - its photo-ready back streets could be explored in an afternoon - made us wonder at first about our decision to spend two weeks there.
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