Sarlat

We found Dordogne Market Schedule in “Rick Steves’ France 2006” and planned our Sarlat visit on Wednesday accordingly. (We later on visiting a couple other markets, but none of them could complete with Sarlat’s.) Actually Saturday is its best market day, but we had other engagement this weekend and had to settle for what we could get. Even so, this was plenty for us.

All our guide books place Sarlat on the top of their list. Rick Steves’ describes it the best:

“Sarlat is a pedestrian-filled banquet of a town, scenically set amid forested hills. There are no blockbuster sights here, just a seductive tangle of traffic-free, golden cobblestone alleys peppered with beautiful buildings and stuffed with tourists and foie gras stores. …Sarlat is just the right size — large enough to have a theater with four screens, and small enough so that everything is an easy meander from the town center. …”

This is pretty much what we experienced. Unlike Saint-Émilion, people actually live here (OK, maybe not in the touristy Old Sarlat). And unlike the small Saint-Émilion, Sarlat’s size felt “right.” Mabye because the town was so alive, with the big market and lots of restaurants and shops to keep us busy. Saint-Émilion is very charming, but Sarlat easily tops it by providing more interesting architecture, more history, and just more everything except wine. Also, Sarlat can be reached by train, a big plus IMHO.

Sarlat’s narrow streets and tall buildings mean that it’s hard to take good pictures with my little camera, and it also didn’t help that the sun brought too much contrast to my photo targets. As a result, I probably didn’t do Sarlat justice, but that goes without saying. After visiting one after another beautiful Dordogne towns, it’s clear to me that no photos can replace the real things. Plus, photos in guide books can be misleading! When I drew my Sarlat, France, the photo in Michelin The Green Guide suggested that it was an 1+ floor house. When we found it (actually Loïc did), there was a whole floor beneath it, as shown in the photo on the right.