On the road (3) A (hopefully) sunny September road trip to Spain COMPLETED - Page 46 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Friday 17 September – part five: thanks for that Tim!
We programmed Tim in with our destination for the night, Rocamadour, and were very surprised to find him taking us back towards Grotto de Pech-Merle. I did wonder if I’d programmed him right, but he veered off, just before the entrance to the caves and off we went, looping round and round on roads across the valleys and then down winding country lanes. Mark loved Tim for that – not! :
Having said that, there was some beautiful scenery, although my goodness, we did wonder if we were going the right way at times, as we barely saw another car.
The sky looked beautiful
Eventually, we saw the signs for Rocamadour again and we followed those, finding ourselves on yet another winding road that took us round lots more curves. I was just glad that we were approaching from the south, rather than the west, as the map showed that to have even more curves in it!
Soon, we could see our destination looming out of the cliff in front of us and we were able to stop at a couple of points to get photos of it.
I had struggled with finding directions to this place and was concerned about whether we’d be able to find it, as Tim couldn’t locate the street, but fortunately, just as we approached the medieval city, we saw a sign saying Hotel du Roc, which is where we were staying.
We weren’t quite sure where to go – into the city itself? The entry to that was through a narrow archway and Mark liked the idea of going down that (me? : ), but it turned out it was just a little further up the road. I dashed in to find out where the free parking was and it was a bit further along the road on the left. It was a little odd, as you double parked, effectively blocking in the person in the back row.
We headed to our room, number nine, and my goodness, we were definitely back to the cheap hotel rooms of the last few nights!
Very compact and bijou!
We relaxed in the room for a while, before hunger drove us out. We wandered into the city, thankfully literally just a few paces away and wandered along the main street, getting lots of photos and browsing the shops.
Looking down towards the hotel’s lobby The view just outside the hotel
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Cheryl - love, love, LOVE the caves. I can't even believe seeing something like that. Thousands of years old – and it’s the real thing - I'm just amazed.
Everything is so old in Europe, villages from the Middle Ages with medieval castles sticking out and bridges from the Renaissance (or what ever). I thought seeing things in the States from 1700's was old.
It really just boggles my mind. I'm totally loving this trip report.
Friday 17 September – part six: good food and some wonderful views!
We were very taken by a shop that sold mirrors with handmade glass around them, but reality struck just before we decided to buy and we realised that, beautiful as they were, we sadly had nowhere to put them at home. Of course, we got a guidebook, some fridge magnets and a small souvenir – an image of Rocamadour painted on to stone. We’d seen one that Barb had got and liked the look of it.
I couldn’t believe how early the shops were shutting here actually. Some were closing as we walked along, at around 6.15pm – 6.30pm and most had signs saying they would be shut by 7pm. Considering there are a number of restaurants here and a good few hotels, I assumed they’d be open quite late into the evening, especially bearing in mind this was a Friday night as well, but obviously not. It’s interesting how places sometimes surprise you like that.
All the while, we had been browsing restaurants as we walked along. I saw a couple I liked the look of and the definite winner for me was the one that was actually closest to our hotel – bonus! However, when we got back there, it still wasn’t open and we had about 20 minutes to wait. We were too hungry for that, so we set off for another possible, but that looked decidedly quiet as well.
Ok, maybe if we walk slowly back up the street, we can time it so we get there when that restaurant opens. We tried that, stopping for Mark to try a bit of foie gras, as he mentioned that he fancied sampling it. He wasn’t impressed, so just as well he tried before he bought.
By the time we made it back up to the restaurant, it had just opened its doors and we were the first people in there. It was a lovely setting with wonderful views.
Mark went for the €12.90 ($16.80)menu, as it had more on it that appealed to him. It’s very unusual for him to have a cheaper menu than me, but the cheapest menu that had fish on it as the main course option was €18 ($23.40). For appetiser, Mark went for the garden salad:
I opted for the Rocquefort cheese and walnut salad, explaining in French that I didn’t eat meat, so no pancetta for me please. I was very proud of that!
The main course was easy for me – the fish and seafood casserole with leeks and potatoes that I’d been thinking about ever since I first saw the menu an hour or so earlier. It was nice, but spicier than I’d have liked.
Mark had the beef steak with fries.
For dessert, he went for the apple pie...
... while I went for what I was told was calling Floating Island. If it’s a traditional French dish, I’ve never heard of it. : It was baked meringue in custard and caramel. As I write this, I’m reminded by just how disgusting that description is, but actually it was very good and I was impressed.
It had turned out to be a great meal and, from having the restaurant to ourselves when we had first arrived, the place was now packed out, a sign of its popularity. The bill came to €46.70 ($60.70), which we thought was reasonable.
Practically rolling out of there, we staggered back to our hotel, taking some photos of the lovely red sky beyond Rocamadour on the way.
Just as well we were near to the city, as I think we’d have been far too exhausted to have walked any further. We settled down for a break, and then once we’d recovered a bit, I checked and night had fallen, so I suggested going out to see if we could get some night-time shots. Reluctantly, Mark agreed, but I think he was glad we did. We literally only had to step outside the hotel’s front door and got a wonderful view of the place, all beautifully lit up.
The view from my camera.... ... and Mark’s – amazing how different they are!
It was a great sight and a good way to end the day.
Today we drove 149 miles. The weather today was a lot cooler, with temperatures in the high 60s, some cloud and some sun. The best thing today was visiting Grotto Pech-Merle. The worst thing today was the twisting and turning roads we had to negotiate. Today we tried going to Grotto Pech-Merle And the result was it was a wonderful experience and something I’d thoroughly recommend. The most magical moment today was seeing Rocamadour all lit up at night.
So THAT'S where the idea for phone booths came from! (for those of you too young to know what a phone booth is: it's a small medieval chamber, usually with a public telephone installed (that doesn't work!) meant for people on the go to use to stay in touch... or for superheros to change into their costumes.)
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Saturday 18 September – part one: the wicked witch of breakfast....
It wasn’t a good night’s sleep last night, something to do with Sleeping Beauty next door, as Mark christened them! Let’s just say that their snoring could be heard in our room and that meant that Mark didn’t get much sleep, which is highly ironic, as he’s the one who has to have the TV on for a “bit of noise” to get to sleep every night. As for me? I managed to sleep fine, only getting woken up once at 4am (and I think that was more Mark than Sleeping Beauty, although I did hear it ), but fortunately I then went back to sleep until 6.30pm.
Sadly, despite the Trip Advisor reviews, this hadn’t been a great choice of hotel, probably the worst we’d been in all trip. Although they had free Internet access, I was darned if I could log on to it and I tried from as soon as we arrived yesterday until this morning, but our computer just couldn’t connect to it, so I never even got as far as entering my code.
Worse was to come at breakfast. We went down when they started serving, which was 8am, and were greeted with perhaps the grumpiest, rudest woman we’ve ever come across. When I went to sit down at a table, I was told in no uncertain terms that we couldn’t, as it was laid for three and there were only two of us. For goodness sake! It didn’t get any better, when she slammed the bread and croissants in a bowl on our table, muttering “bon appetite”. Next time, don’t even bother saying it love, if you don’t mean it.
We did contemplate asking for more, as there were only two slices of French stick and two croissants in the bowl, but we thought better of it. She said white hair and, to be brutally honest, her appearance reminded me of a witch! I didn’t want to get turned into a frog. : Although the breakfast was only €7 ($9.10), the only reason we went for it, it had the worst selection of food I think I’ve ever seen, with literally just your bowl, two choices of cereal, bread, ham and some yoghurts and that was it. Drinks were better, with coffee, chocolate, hot water and orange juice on offer, but it wasn’t good. We made the best of it and hurried out with the witch yelling “bye” at us as we went. I didn’t even acknowledge her, after the way she’d behaved towards us earlier. That’s it, I’m going to be turned into a frog any minute now for that disrespect....
Escaping the frog transformation, we took some stuff back to the car, partially to see if we could move it anywhere else, as we didn’t like the idea of going into Rocamadour and leaving our car blocking someone in. There was nowhere else, so as any decent citizen would do, we went in and spoke to the hotel, who suggested we leave our car keys with them. As we walked down towards Rocamadour, we saw that there were plenty of spaces in the paying area, so we checked what time the charges kicked in and, when we saw it was 10am, we decided that instead we’d move the car down there, as we knew we’d be gone by then. We retrieved the car keys from reception and Mark went to get the car.
Then it was off into the town again.
They take every opportunity advertise their foie gras here
We headed for the elevator and got a single on the way up, so that we could at least say we’d walked on the Grand Escalier, or big stairs – and they are, all 224 steps of them! Apparently pilgrims used to go up these steps on their knees...
The elevator was much more fun and of course, it was cut into the rock, but I didn’t realise that until we entered it.
When we got out at the top, it was worth the trip up there, as there were some superb views.
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The entry to that was through a narrow archway and Mark liked the idea of going down that (me? 
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Of course, we got a guidebook, some fridge magnets and a small souvenir – an image of Rocamadour painted on to stone. We’d seen one that Barb had got and liked the look of it. 
We literally only had to step outside the hotel’s front door and got a wonderful view of the place, all beautifully lit up. 
When I went to sit down at a table, I was told in no uncertain terms that we couldn’t, as it was laid for three and there were only two of us. For goodness sake! 
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