Page 381 - Lonely Planet France’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

eyzies.fr; 1 rue du Musée;
adult/child €6/4.50, 1st Sun of DETOUR:
month free; h9.30am-6.30pm GROTTE DE PECH
daily Jul & Aug, 9.30am-6pm MERLE
Wed-Mon Jun & Sep, 9.30am-
12.30pm & 2-5.30pm Wed-Mon Start: 1 Les-Eyzies-de-Tayac
Oct-May), home to France’s To complete your cave tour, it’s worth taking the
most comprehensive longish 92km trip southeast to the Grotte de Pech
collection of prehistoric Merle (%05 65 31 27 05; www.pechmerle.com; adult/child
artefacts. Inside you’ll €11/7; h9.30-noon & 1.30-5pm Apr-Oct, greatly reduced rest
find lots of fascinating of year), one of only a handful of decorated caves to be
Stone Age tools, weapons discovered around the Lot Valley. It contains galleries
and jewellery, as well as of mammoths, goats and bison, as well as a famous
animal skeletons and panel featuring two dappled horses. Most haunting
original rock friezes of all, the cave’s walls are covered with human hand
taken from the caves tracings, as well as a set of footprints, left behind by an
themselves: look out for adolescent artist between 15,000 BC and 10,000 BC.
the famous one of a bison Guided tours are in French, but explanatory sheets
licking its flank. Panels in English are available. Reserve ahead, as visitor ATLANTIC COAST 35 CAVE ART OF THE VézèRE VALLEY
are mostly in French, but numbers are limited to 700 per day.
explanatory sheets in
English are available.
‘Chapelle des Bisons’
54 p383 TRIP HIGHLIGHT (Bison Chapel). Reserva-
The Drive » To get to Font de 2 Grotte de Font de tions are essential, with
Gaume from Les-Eyzies, follow Gaume only 78 people allowed
the D47 east towards Sarlat, in per day. The 8-person
and look out for the brown signs Now you’ve got the back- 45-minute tours are
pointing to Font de Gaume. ground, it’s time to see usually in French, but
some real cave art. Just English tours are offered
1km northeast of Les- in summer.
Eyzies is Font de Gaume
LINK (%05 53 06 86 00; www. The Drive » Continue along
YOUR eyzies.monuments-nationaux. the D47 for 1km from Font
TRIP fr; 4 av des Grottes; adult/ de Gaume and turn off at the
child €7.50/free; hguided brown sign for the Grotte de
Combarelles.
y Gourmet tours 9.30am-5.30pm
Dordogne
It’s easy to combine this Sun-Fri mid-May–mid-Sep, 3 Grotte des
9.30am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm
trip with our gourmet Sun-Fri mid-Sep–mid-May),
guide to the Dordogne – an underground cavern Combarelles
take the D47 to Sarlat-la- that contains the only Prehistoric artists weren’t
Canéda. multicoloured paintings just skilful painters – they
also knew how to sculpt.
| The Lot Valley still open to the public. About 1.5km further
Around 14,000 years ago,
From Cabrerets, the prehistoric artists east of Font de Gaume,
you’ll be roughly halfway created a gallery of more this narrow cave (%05
along our Lot Valley than 230 animals, includ- 53 06 86 00; www.eyzies.
route, 3km west of St- ing reindeer, horses, monuments-nationaux.fr; adult/
Cirq-Lapopie and 32km mammoths and bears, child €7.50/free; hguided
east of Cahors. tours 9.30am-5.30pm Sun-Fri
as well as a dramatic

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