Back in the 1980s and 1990s I lived and worked for prolonged periods of time in France ..... the '80s and early '90s mainly in the Bordeaux region whereas in the late '90s more to the Northwest in Brittany with the Breton people. In fact , in 1991 I taught anthropology at the Université de Bordeaux from January till May. Now as many of you wine lovers already know .... Bordeaux is the classical wine capital of the world ..... its manly , square-shouldered bottle being easily recognizable as opposed to the slope-shouldered one of its rival , the Burgundy wines. A quick look at the above map and you will probably see many familiar names that you have already noticed on the labels of wines you have bought for speacial occasions and festivities.
On the map you can see the two major confluents or rivers of the area coming together to form the estuary of the Gironde a few kilometers downstream from the city of Bordeaux which is on the banks of the southennmost one , the Garonne . It is the other confluent , the one flowing out of the northeast , which is at the centre of today's blogling. It bears the name , La Dardogne.
I'll get to the point right away rather than lulling you all asleep with two or three more verbose paragraphs explaining the topography and history of the whole region. Driving eastwards from Bordeaux .... heading upstream along the Dardogne on HIghway 703 ......I found a magnificent spot where I could relax with a superb panoramic view of of the Périgord countryside ......... all this while reflecting and meditating upon some of the finer and important issues in my life. The name of this enchanted place is Château Beynac.
As Beynac - et - Cazenac come into sight one is struck by the majesty of the stronghold above which dominates the whole valley of the Dardogne. There is a wee bistrot just outside the castle walls where I had a running tab....... even forgetting to settle my accout once and came back one year later to pay it off !!
The château itself dates back to the year 1115. People used to live in the grottoes dug out of the cliffs below the ramparts .... especially to escape the plague often running amock at lower levels during the Dark Ages in the more populated villages.
More than once have I sat on the very remparts where my friend , Ginette , is sitting ..... cold beer in hand and pen in the other while jotting down a few ideas about how great it felt to be alive and how lucky I was to have the leisure time and means to be at that precise spot at that specific moment ...... enjoying such an awe - inspiring , peaceful sight.........the stately Dordogne wending its way across the plain below. So I kept coming back .....to repeat that very special moment over and over again!!
P.S. Kindly enlarge map and pics for better viewing.
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