Going further back in time!

When I was chatting to a couple of the ladies on our trip we were talking about how the cost of groceries has shot up over the past year or so when one of the ladies said she always buys her fruit and veg from "Marcel" at the La Roche market. I rarely went to this market because it clashed with my pilates class, but since I haven't re-enrolled this year I went down there today, immediately found a parking space (I should remember to play the lottery) and sussed out where "Marcel's" stall was. His name wasn't Marcel, in fact I think he was North Africa judging by his accent, but she was right about his prices. My goodness his stuff was really cheap by local standards. I got three cantalope melons for €3 and he was offering all the other plastic bowls for €3 apiece, or €10 for five bowls!!! I realized I didn't want five bowls of fruit and veg but bought eight nectarines, six lemons, four oranges, three melons, two cucumbers and five huge tomatoes, all for €9!! That's a real deal, I can tell you. Of course I don't need all that but since that was the way he was selling it I'll give some to Jen next time I see her. There was also another man selling stuff from his garden so I think I'll make it a habit to go to the market when I can rather than shop at my usual store!

Anyway, since I want to get this written up before I forget everything, I'm back in the Périgord for another couple of outings, but this time going further back in time. Our first visit was to the Grotte de Lascaux, which is a treasure trove of prehistoric artwork. The grotto was discovered in 1940 by four young boys out walking their dog. All of a sudden the dog gave a yelp and they found he had fallen down a hole which eventually led them into a huge cavern. Apparently they swore to keep it a secret but about three days later the whole village knew about it and the Grotte de Lascaux found its way onto the map! Originally it was opened up to the public (you were even allowed to smoke in there - which seems incredible nowadays), but after 15 years they found the site had been so degraded that they decided to close it back up in 1963 in order to preserve a site which, they believe, is 21,000 years old - so we ended up visiting what is a replica of about 80% of the grotto. The paintings depict a nomadic people who seemingly followed herds of reindeer for the most part, much as many indigenous peoples in harsher tundra-like locations still do to this day. Apparently they burned animal fat (tallow?) for light and worked out a sophisticated system to get up to the roofs of the grotto to draw their art. Since we weren't allowed to take pictures even inside the replica grotto, I had to use google pictures for this post!

Surprisingly (to me at least) these people didn't actually live in caves because (a) very little light, (b) their fires would smoke them out and (c) who would want to wake up a hibernating bear or tiger! No, they actually made their homes in holes underneath overhanging cliff ledges which were known as cro, and discovered on land owned by magnon, hence Europeans (apparently - I didn't know this) referred to prehistoric man as cro magnon! So that's another piece of probably useless information I can file away for next time we play Trivial Pursuit!

After lunch we headed back out to the Gouffre de Proumeyssac which is a 42m high cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites and absolutely stunning. Again we weren't allowed to take pictures but the light show was so impressive that even google pictures don't do it justice. Known as the Cristal Cathedral, locals heard many legends of the ghost of the gouffre, but it wasn't until 1907 that the entire cavern was "discovered" and explored!

Gouffre de Proumeyssac!

You could either walk down into the "cathedral" or take a kind of cable car but I think we got the better view by walking and taking our time down there!

When we got back to our hotel we found another group of visitors all dressed up in 1920s fashions, so one of our ladies went over to ask them what it was all about and they told her that at least once a year they visit a tourist attraction in France and dress up accordingly - with this year's attraction being Josephine Baker's castle! How cool is that!

This isn't them - they were older like us - but
this gives you an idea of what they looked like!
I think there's a name for these kinds of groups
but I can't remember what they called themselves!

While we were having a drink before dinner a couple of our group decided to go off "mushroom hunting". The hotel owner said he always found loads of mushrooms (cepes) which they used at the hotel but if he told them where to look he'd have to kill them afterwards!!! They found just one mushroom but a couple of days later they saw the owner coming out of the woods with two baskets full!

And finally, a belated happy birthday to Anne in Alabam! I missed it on FB the other day but I hope you had a lovely day and hubs spoilt you!