Gourdon

On our third day in Gourdon, we got up early and went to the local farmers markets. Sallie had to buy some food there so we tagged along. I really love going to markets. Especially food ones. There is just so much to see, and everything is so colourful. We really get ripped off back home, fruit and veg here is so much cheaper and so much nicer! Harrison and I tried some strange dried salami stuff that the Gourdon area is apparently well know for. I'm not too sure how I feel about it. It has a very strong taste.

Later in the day Sallie and Ian took us to a market in a place called Sarlat. The market was really amazing! It was absolutely huge and had all sorts of different stores. We were there for an hour and really only saw half of it. We walked around the markets and found an ice cream store and got some ice cream. Harrison tried violet flavoured ice cream, it was different. The French sell some weird things at their markets. Like duck livers and other strange meats that you just would never think of eating. The market was amongst the streets of the town, which is very similar to Gourdon. The town in itself was so beautiful, and the markets really made it come alive. You walked down the cobbled streets and passed beautiful old houses, turning into small alleyways and discovering a whole new part of the markets. The air is filled with all these amazing smells as people make and sell their food. There is music and people talking and vendors trying to sell you their things. It's so busy and full of life. It was really an amazing market, I loved it!

After the markets we went to this MASSIVE store (that I can't remember the name of) in search of something to replace our hard drive. The store sold everything from electronics, to food, to clothing. It was so huge. We managed to find a fairly cheap tablet with an SD card slot, so I will be able to upload pictures again! When we got home Sallie made an incredible lunch (as she does everyday, we are so lucky!). Apparently lunch here is a really big deal, they see it as their main meal of the day. In Gourdon the shops actually close from 12-2 so that the shop owners can go home for lunch. So our lunches are always amazing.

Today we had a late morning, which whilst travelling we get very few of. So it was really nice to lay in bed for a bit extra and not have to stress about being late for anything. Later in the afternoon we went to the caves that are just outside Gourdon - the Grottoes de Cougnac. You can go on tours of the caves so we had decided that would be a fun thing to do. Luckily there was lady on the tour who spoke both English and French, so she was able to translate what the guide was saying. The first cave we went into was a prehistoric cave that had cave paintings on the walls. It was possibly one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. The cave was so incredibly beautiful! I've never been into a cave where they actually let you walk around in the cave. I have been to the Jenolan Caves back home, but there you are kind of just restricted to the sidelines, on a path with a railing. You don't actually get to go into the cave properly. In this cave though, whilst there was a path, it wound through the middle of the cave and had no railing. Sometimes you had to duck to get through an entrance, or squeeze through a small crack. It was really cool! Once we were well into the cave, the guide showed us the cave paintings. They started off as just lines, finger prints and geometric shapes, and then progressed to paintings of mammoths and people and other animals. It was really amazing to see! Unfortunately in this cave you weren't allowed to take photos, so I can't show the paintings. But know that they were amazing. An unreal experience.

The next cave we went into was much bigger, and we were allowed to take photos! 

This one didn't have any cave paintings, but was just as beautiful. We started out in a really big area of the cave where the guide spoke about the stalactites and stalagmites and the history of the cave.

After that we were free to wander around. We went deeper into the cave, the space for us to walk getting smaller and smaller. After squeezing through the final gap we came out in another really big room of the cave. It was beautiful! The roof was covered thin stalactites and some of the walls were glittery, it was magical. 

We also saw a tiny bat! It was asleep, hanging off one of the stalactites. It was so cute!

We leave Gordon tomorrow which is kind of sad, I really love it here. It's such a beautiful little town.