Exploring Issigeac
We parked in a small square opposite the church (a very friendly French gentleman helped me to back the car into a space!), and we called Keith for his daily check-in. Opposite was a café with a pretty vine-covered terrace called La P'tite Treille, with people already sitting and enjoying a coffee, so we took our seats and ordered two cafés au lait.
It was lovely to sit and sip our coffees and contemplate a couple of hours of exploring this beautiful French village. As I said previously, we had changed our minds about Périgueux, which looked far bigger than we had realised. Issigeac was perfect as it wasn't far from the house and accessible along lovely D roads.
I paid the bill and was charmed by the friendliness of the proprietor, who wished me a happy holiday after I'd said "Bonne journée". The French are exceedingly polite, and everyone says "Bonjour" to you when you enter a shop, café or restaurant. It's also very acceptable to wish everyone a good day, and this is met with a response and a big smile.
We set off to explore Issigeac, going into a gorgeous shop first, which sold clothes and pretty knick-knacks. The owner was absent, but the woman helping out spoke perfect English; in fact, she may have been English!
We visited another couple of shops with Sophie looking for an anklet and me a straw hat for our day at Wimbledon next month. One owner appeared a little snooty (she didn't say hello), and we found the prices in these shops on the high side! We did stumble upon a wine shop, though, run by a woman for a change (hooray!) and we bought two bottles of wine.
Around every corner was a pretty view of the ancient timbered houses and narrow streets, with flowers spilling over from window boxes and tubs.
I was also on the hunt for authentic French bed linen, and we did find a shop selling bedding, but the prices! A set of two pillowcases for 110 euros and a single tea towel for 23 euros! Blimey! We made a swift exit!
Issigeac was very pretty and a gorgeous place for wandering the streets, but the prices in the shops had put us off a little, and the one promising restaurant we found for lunch was closed on Thursdays. We did stumble upon a little place selling painted glass jewellery and ornaments, and Sophie bought two pairs of earrings.
We also found a small pottery workshop, and the prices were reasonable, so we bought two pretty bowls to take home. The owner had put up notices about the pottery and how it was made, and there was a potter's wheel in the centre of the workshop.
As we'd wandered about, we had discussed visiting the Chateau de Monbazillac, and I asked Sophie if there was a restaurant there. There was! Perfect! The different tours were a little confusing, so we decided to drive there and see what they offered. I did say to Sophie that the wines of Monbazillac were mainly sweet, but she said she didn't mind.
Another day, another chateau!
We returned to the car and put in directions for the chateau. On the way, we stopped and took photos of the vines stretching away into the distance. It was baking hot, and the grass looked very dry and straw-like.
At the chateau, we were able to park in the shade, and we walked the short distance to the entrance. A normal visit, including a tasting, was 12 euros each, which we thought was a bargain. First up was a large room explaining about the wines, the processes, and the noble rot that affects the grapes. It was all very interesting.
We learned that the Chateau de Monbazillac was owned by a cooperative of wine growers in the area, and we heard the testimonies from some of them. We were the only visitors in this lovely air-conditioned room, and we thought this alone was worth the entrance fee!
There were some very old bottles on display, and the wine looked brown and a bit murky! I'm not sure I would have wanted to sample it! Back outside in the midday heat, we walked up to the chateau past rows of vines.
We decided to have lunch first and took seats in the shade. Opposite was a large terrace with views over the valley. It was a gorgeous setting. On each table was a large bottle of still water, which we drank greedily. We were so hot!
We had a look at the menu and ordered a bottle of Euphonie rosé to go with our choices - duck for Sophie and a Nordic salad for me, which was strips of salmon served with assorted lettuce leaves, radish, pickled red onions and popcorn! Sophie's duck was served with seasonal vegetables and gnocchi.
There was a lovely, relaxed atmosphere in the restaurant with quite a few Brits arriving to eat. We were given the wrong meals at first, and the waiter apologised. When we first arrived, two staff members were serving, but after this, just one man was hurrying around, and he never stopped! Had he sent the young girl home? How he coped with the heat, we'll never know!
The food was delicious, and my salad was huge! Sophie's duck looked lovely, and I had a bit of food envy! I think from now on, I'm going to order what my daughter chooses!
As we were eating, we heard the roar of car engines, and sporty Porsches started arriving. They were taking part in the Routes du Périgord rally, and although the initial cars were Porsches, other cars, including an Aston Martin, also arrived. They all parked outside the chateau - what a spectacle!
https://www.rallyepassion.com/ (I later found out that of the four stages, three were places we had visited! I'm not sure our basic VW would have competed with the supercars, though!)
We had room for dessert - a creme brulée for Sophie and a raspberry tart for me. I encouraged Sophie to try a Monbazillac dessert wine, which she loved. It had been a truly relaxing and indulgent lunch, and we had lingered at the table for over two hours, enjoying the shade and watching the comings and goings of visitors to the chateau.
We paid the bill (79 euros) and wandered over to the chateau itself, which was built between 1550 and 1582. This was nothing like Hautforte (which is lived in by the present family), but quite basic. There were a lot of information boards about the Wars of Religion, between the Catholics and Protestants, which we didn't read, due to the heat!
There was some furniture in the chateau and a bed, but the interior looked like it hadn't changed at all over the centuries.
We didn't linger for long, as we were both hot and dreading the (very) short walk to the shop! Amazingly, even the shortest of walks in 40c heat was intimidating! We made it, though, and dived into the shop, which was wonderfully cool and quiet.
We were entitled to a tasting each, and we chose two wines from the list, both of which were delicious. The man serving the wines was lovely and happily chatted to us in perfect English, explaining about the wine and the chateau. We decided to buy a bottle of each and then wandered around looking at the other wines available.
In all, we picked out five wines to take home with us, and as we'd chosen a bottle of the Château de Monbazillac sweet wine, we were given a tasting! It was gorgeous!
The man serving the wines really made our experience special, and he was lovely. What a job! As well as the wines, we bought four glasses to take home, and they'll be a wonderful reminder of our visit.
Although we'd parked the car in the shade, I was astonished to see the temperature - 44c! Hotter than last year in Banyuls-sur-Mer (funnily enough, another sweet wine area!).
Before we could return to the cool of the house, though, we had to go shopping. We found a Carrefour on the outskirts of Bergerac and did our shopping - lots of wine to take home, something for a snack later on and more water and milk. To our dismay, we also saw a large stand full of sunscreen... grrr! We should have stuck with Carrefour and not the Super U!
Opposite the supermarket was a petrol station, so we also filled up with petrol, ready for the trip to Caen tomorrow. It was bliss to get back to the house where we floated about in the pool for ages! It certainly wasn't as refreshing as it used to be, though!
The early evening was spent packing up the car, and when I got in to move it back into the shade, it was registering 48c! Blimey! Sophie cooked off pastries to have for breakfast tomorrow and made sandwiches to eat on the journey.
We enjoyed pasta salads for dinner with the rest of the cold meat, and then watched a new documentary on Netflix called "The Billionaire, The Butler, and the Boyfriend". There were several episodes, so we'll have to continue watching at home!
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