The landscape began to change today. Chestnut trees turned to walnut trees and the farmers fields had more pebbles than dirt. We are due East of the town Bordeaux and beginning to see a few vineyards.
The highlight of the day was arriving in the tiny town of Sorges. Home of the Truffle Mushroom Museum! I love these things. They even had a truffle the size of a small child's head that was found in 2012. Pigs are used to find them in the woods during the season.
Only hotel in town was also the only restaurant. Shadow and I had a nice dinner sipping local wine. I had the truffle creme brûlée while Shadow picked 3 cheeses to try. I'm not sure the type of cheese he picked but we had a good laugh over one smelling bad. I guess bad would be an understatement. This cheese smelled too bad to eat and could easily be mistaken for old gym shorts.
Leaving town the next morning we passed a farmer moving his sheep. Well, the farmer wasn't. He stood at the barn door and directed his dog to move the sheep out of the barn, out the farm gate, down the street, and into the field. It was awesome to see. The farmer smiled ear to ear. Shadow and I stood in amazement. All I could was applaud. Our timing was perfect to take a day off in the next town of Perigueux. Saturdays are the best days in a large French town. Every store is open and streets are filled with large farmers markets. You can find everything here. Lunch today was a huge serving of Paella. A lady selling local products totally embarrassed Shadow after she complimented him on is his voice. She wanted to take him home. I have never seen him so uncomfortable. We had planned to eat at the oyster festival, but there was a huge crowd and long lines. Plus they eat their oysters with only lemons. No crackers. No cocktail sauce. No horseradish.
I know I say this about most towns here, but this it a great one to add to your list.
Veggie market.
Cathedral in Perigord.
Oyster Festival.
2 comments:
You didn't take a picture of the truffle?!?! I love mushrooms, so that's very cool. I also love paella and that looked delish!!!
Hello there! Good to see you back hiking - are you passing through Le Puy en Vélay on your way to the meet the camino francés, or is your route getting you right to Saint Jean Pied de Port at the foot of the Pyrenées from where you will hike into Spain?
I am not quite sure right now, but if you do not get through Le Puy en Vélay which is located at the Massif Central, you guys are really missing out on one of the most beautiful caminos there are in France!
And by the way - the camino francés is not the main camino, it is just the last leg that gets pilgrims to Santiago - all caminos are the real caminos, since people in the Middleages had to start somewhere to finally meet with other pilgrims on the way to travel more safe to Santiago.
If you check the historical routes in all European Countries you will discover that the caminos are coming from everywhere, building some sort of a netting over all of Europe. The camino to Santiago does not start at Saint Jean Pied de Port but at your very own doorstep at home where you live. This is a very common misconception about the camino that people think they have to travel to Sothwestern France to start the camino. All they actually have to do is start walking out of their own door and join the nearest camino available and connect one leg after the next to get to Santiago de Compostela.
When you reach Santiago make sure to hike on to Fisterra and Muxía at the Coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
Because this is the 'End of the Old World'.
Buen Camino!
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