Tightwad Travel

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Tightwad Travel Tip – Items We Wish We'd Taken

On our most recent trip to France, there were two items we wish we'd tucked into our suitcases. We would have liked a small roll of tape to repair maps; our wonderful Paris city map was torn in three places after only a few days. We also wish we'd had one of those tiny staplers, because it would have helped us attach receipts to brochures and organize our papers.

Tightwad Travel Tip – Item We're Glad We Packed

Tightwad Travel Tip – Item We're Glad We Packed

We packed a small, 5X7 inch, yellow legal pad and used it for a couple important purposes. In Paris, David noted our Metro route on a sheet each day so we wouldn't have to re-think our connections. Having a paper with the Metro stops clearly defined was especially helpful at the end of a long, tiring day. In the Dordogne, we used it to record our driving route each day. We still consulted maps, but it was easier to find our way with a tentative route in hand. We also used the pad to list items we needed from the grocery store or market.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

France on $70 a Day – Font de Gaume Cave

This was written in the Dordogne, but, because Internet cafes were difficult to find, it was posted from California.

Last night we took chairs outside to study the sky. It was an especially clear night with little light from the new moon. When we both saw the shooting star, we knew it was a good luck sign commemorating our 21-month anniversary. (Okay, so maybe nobody else would have thought so, but, then, it was our shooting star so we still stand by our interpretation!)

This morning we got ready for our second trip back in time. We had tickets, purchased from the Tourist Bureau in Sarlat three days ago, to the Font de Gaume cave. It is necessary to purchase tickets in advance because only 180 visitors are allowed per day. Even with this limitation, our English-speaking guide hinted that it might close, too, eventually, if the cave develops the same problems that closed Lascaux.

Knowing this cave is the only one of its type (the others are Lascaux in Montignac, France, and Altimira in northern Spain) still open to the public adds a certain excitement to the visit. And, even though the Lascaux II reproduction—called the Sistine Chapel of Caves—may have been more vivid, we were looking at the actual drawings made by man over 19,000 years ago.

Our guide was particularly reverential in the cave, implying, as had the Lascaux guide, that the cave drawings probably had a spiritual purpose for Cro-Magnons. At one point, he stood silently to allow us the opportunity to absorb the knowledge that we were staring at drawings our ancestors had made thousands of years ago. What compelled these people to communicate will always remain a mystery, I suppose, but I will never forget the connection I felt to them that day in the dark cave.

Wanting to know still more about our ancestors, David and I headed to the Musee National de Prehistoire just up the road a mile or so in Les Eyzies. This lovely and unusual museum, seemingly hewn from the cliff itself, traces the history of mankind's development over the past 400,000 years. There are English information sheets in every section to help you understand the many displays.

As we studied the rocks, called flakes, that early man used for cutting and for weapons, I was struck by this comment from the information sheet:

What distinguishes man is not walking on two feet (chickens do, too) but
the refusal to accept biological limitations. Man uses tools to shape his
existence and maneuver the world's resources for his uses......tools
indicate that there was, consciously or not, a refusal to accept the place
in nature determined by biology: an evolved primitive primate transforms
materials to his needs and endows it, through cleverness, with a power
inaccessible to his own body.

We looked at as many displays as we could before hunger drove us back to the car for our ham and cheese croissant sandwiches. After finishing lunch on a pleasant park bench, we explored Les Eyzies, a one-street tourist town, in hopes of finding a memento of this special day.

We discovered a store, owned by an archaeologist, that sold remarkable, to us at least, fossilized creatures trapped in rocks millions of years ago for reasonable prices. David bought a sea-oursin (looks like a sand dollar) which is 165 million years old, and I got an orthoceras (ancestor of the cuttlefish) which is 380 million years old.

With much to think about, we let our car meander through the countryside to Le Bugue, a pleasant but not remarkable town, and then headed back to our home in the countryside.

Practicalities -
Because only 180 visitors are allowed to visit Font de Gaume daily, it is necessary to make reservations in advance. Purchase your tickets from a tourist bureau in the area, or before you go by telephone (33-05) 53.06.86.00 or by fax, (33-05) 53.35.26.18. The ticket costs 7.50 euros and entitles you to a 1.50 euro discount (3.50 instead of 5 euros) at the nearby Musee National de Prehistoire.

Note that there is a steep climb to reach the cave that some visitors might find too difficult. It might be wise to check the ascent before you make reservations because no refunds are given. Also, cyclists should note that bike shoes are not allowed in the cave.

We were not allowed to take photos inside the cave, but this site displays many and provides more information.
http://www.donsmaps.com/fontdegaume.html

Tightwad Travel Tip – Night Lights

David and I are blind without our glasses or contacts. Rather than stumble around a dark vacation accommodation at night, we use small three-inch-long flashlights to find our way if we must get up. The tiny flashlights provide just enough light to find the bathroom without awakening a sleeping partner.

Monday, October 5, 2009

France on $70 a Day – Sarlat-la-Caneda

This was written in the Dordogne, but, because Internet cafes were difficult to find, it was posted from California.

To celebrate our 21-month anniversary today, we ate breakfast in town at one of the bakeries where you place your order at the counter and then enjoy your petit dejeuner at one of the tables on the sidewalk. Then we wound our way through the market-day streets clogged with merchants selling bread, wine, cheese, pastries, herbs, paintings, and wine to the tourist bureau for the tour of the town.

Our English-speaking guide led us through the historic center of this town that's existed since Gallo-Roman times. It was the first town to benefit from culture minister Andre Malraux's law which was designed to protect and preserve historic buildings, and, thanks to a major restoration, it is now perhaps the best representative of a town from 14th century France. I could write more, but it's probably best to experience this beautiful town in photos.

Practicalities -

The English-language tour is offered every Wednesday at 11:00. Go to the tourist bureau around 10:45 to pay your 5 euro fee and then wait outside for the guide.

Tightwad Travel Tip – Secure and Unique Way to Carry Money

On his first trip to Europe, David's greatest fear was being robbed. After weeks of research, he packed a neck pouch as well as a money belt, but both of them proved unsuitable for different reasons.

He used the neck pouch only two days because it chafed and added a strange protrusion to his chest. The cumbersome waist money belt didn't work much better. At the end of one long, exhausting day when he was reaching for the belt to pay for some dinner croissants, he found himself absent-mindedly undoing his jeans zipper while trying to get to his money. The money belt certainly kept his cash secure, but being arrested for indecent exposure would be too high a price to pay!

That night he developed a solution that worked beautifully for the rest of the trip. He inserted his belt in the cord that held the neck pouch and then wrapped the cord several times around his belt. (Use a belt that's the same color as the pouch cord if you can.) Making sure he left enough slack to allow easy use, he slipped the neck pouch deep into his front jeans pocket.

This technique worked beautifully. The pouch was easy to reach in David's front pocket, but it was secured by the looped-many-times-around-the-belt cord. Also, the unusual position (David usually carries a wallet in his back pocket.) was comfortable yet kept him aware of the wallet's whereabouts. I suppose a pickpocket could have tried to rip the wallet out of David's front pocket, but he would have had to drag a 6'5” man behind him to get away with it!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

France on $70 a Day – Lascaux Cave II and Forte de Reignac

This was written in the Dordogne, but, because Internet cafes were difficult to find, it was posted from California.

We slept so well that it was almost 8:00 before we got up, and then we had to scurry to reach the cave site before the office ran out of tickets. Our most important reason for visiting this valley of prehistory was to study what we could of Cro-Magnon man, and our first stop would be, perhaps, the most famous cave, Lascaux II.

We drove to Montignac where we easily found free parking and a short walk to the ticket office. The clerk assured us we'd be able to get to the 11:45 tour because the caves were only a five-minute drive away. She was right.

We joined the small group of fifteen or so and were led into the cave reproduction by our English-speaking guide. She explained that the caves were discovered in September, 1940, by some fourteen-year-old boys. When they rescued the dog, Robot, that had fallen down a hole, they stumbled upon the cave. The boys' vow to keep the cave a secret lasted all of a few days (They were fourteen-year-olds after all.), and soon archaeologists and scientists were studying these amazing 16,000 year old drawings.

The cave opened to the public in 1948 but was closed in 1963. Visitors' shoes were tracking in contaminants, and the breath of so many guests was causing damage to the paintings. In the mid-70s, though, when it was decided that a re-creation of the caves could be made available to the public, work began on Lascaux II.

The caves were painstakingly reproduced using resin and modern materials, and then one artist labored six years to create the drawings and etchings. The artist discovered the methods used by Cro-Magnon painters and employed them herself in the re-creation. One technique involved putting the pigment material in her mouth to mix with saliva and then blowing the result on the cave wall. Obviously, she was dedicated to her craft.

As we stood in Lascaux II, which surely is every bit as fascinating as the actual cave, our guide explained that Cro-Magnon man lived outside in the forest and used the cave walls for his art. Scaffolding must have been used because the drawings are high up on the walls, with light provided by primitive animal-fat “candles.” It is assumed, because of certain variances in style, that five artists created the drawings and signs that depict bison and the almost-extinct oryx. In the Lascaux cave, there is only one drawing of a human figure and no depictions of the deer that was hunted for food. No one knows why the artists chose the subjects they did for their drawings, but our guide hinted that there must have been a spiritual reason.

After leaving the cave, we blinked outside in the sunlight as we thanked our guide and gave her a 2 euro tip. Much as we'd loved seeing Lascaux II, we were anticipating our drive down the sinuous D 706 and whatever surprises it might hold for us.

We ate our picnic lunch on the grounds of a castle—there seems to be a castle every few miles in the Dordogne—then drove on until we reached the Maison Forte de Reignac.

This unusual castle, built high up on the cliff under an escarpment, has been home to man for 20,000 years. The brochure says it is, “...the only monument in France of the 'Chateau Falaise' type totally intact and preserved in exceptional condition, with period furnishings throughout.” It was not open to the public until 2006, so David and I felt almost like pioneers as we climbed the hill to reach the entrance.

The View from the Upper Floors

The entire back of the mansion is a cliff, of course, with walls and floors added to the front to comprise the mansion built during Louis XIV's time. We saw dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and even a tiny chapel and a dungeon. The period furniture was fascinating, and I was particularly intrigued by the huge chair, beside the lady of the house's bed, that contained the chamberpot. She evidently had one of the first en suite bathrooms!

The En Suite Bathroom

After leaving the mansion, we toured the exhibition space next door which housed items of torture from the Middle Ages to today. This traveling exhibition, which has been shown in Mexico, San Francisco, Tokyo, Madrid, and Florence, contains authentic instruments of torture and execution. The aim of the presentation is to make people aware of the use of torture; judging by David's and my horrified response, the presentation certainly succeeded.

When we go outside tonight, I hope we'll forget the worst man can do with torture devices, and think, instead, of the beauty he can create with cave paintings. Cro-Magnon artists don't have much in common with David and me, but I'll bet we both looked at the same stars. That's what I want to remember tonight.

Practicalities-

For a thorough explanation of Lascaux, see http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/00.xml
Tickets must be purchased in the village of Montignac (not at the tourist bureau but close by), 8.50 euros, and the cave is a short drive away.

For a brief explanation of Maison Fort de Reignac, see
http://scenicdordogne.com/Forte_de_Reignac__g67.htmlTickets were 6.50.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

France on $70 a Day - Finding a Gite

This was written in the Dordogne, but, because Internet cafes were difficult to find, it was posted from California.

After a fitful night's sleep, we were out the door before 8:00 this morning. On a side street cafe in Sarlat, David and I discussed our options over coffee and croissants. We really didn't have many choices, though, as a hotel would have been too much for our budget and not provided any of the amenities we needed, like a kitchen and washing machine, and a large house rental would have been prohibitively expensive. Still, no matter how reasonably priced, we knew we did not want to spend another night, let alone a week, in Tapis Vert 2.

Fortunately, I remembered that the tourist bureaus in most French towns help travelers find accommodations. As we finished our petit dejeuner (Doesn't that sound more romantic than breakfast?), we decided to try our luck at that office. We hoped to find a gite that would work for us.

I'd been studying gites (pronounced zheet and rhyming with beet) for some time and knew there were many English websites that listed particularly desirable ones, but we had neither the time nor a computer for a thorough search. Still, a gite would be the perfect answer for us. Though the term originally referred to rudimentary shelters, gites today can be converted barns or workers' cottages which offer basic one-star accommodations all the way up to luxurious four-star mansions with swimming pools and tennis courts. Gites are usually located in rural areas far from public transportation, but that typically is not a problem for travelers since a car is required to visit the more bucolic areas of France anyway. There's further reassurance about this type of accommodation because the French government encourages the development of gites to improve tourism, and they require gite owners to comply with their rules, regulations and insurance requirements.

We were first in line when the tourist office doors opened and were quickly being helped by Stephanie, who spoke fluent English. We told her what we needed—a place with a kitchen, a washing machine and a bit of charm—and she found three choices. The one we chose was a two-star gite, ideally situated midway between the towns of Sarlat and Les Eyzies, with two bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen, washing machine, and garden terrace with picnic table. The cost was 290 euros for the week, plus a 22 euro processing fee. This translates to 44.57 euros a night which, for each of us, amounted to 22 or so euros per night. That's less expensive than most hostel rooms!

We paid the fees, got a map, and walked out of the office somewhat dazed. We had been going to pay 400 euros a week for the shabby, 484 square foot Tapis Vert 2 in Sarlat, but now we had a veritable mansion of 1184 square feet for 88 euros less per week. More square feet, another bedroom and bathroom, and $127 US less money! Now all we could do was hope the place was as charming as Stephanie had made it sound. David muttered that he hoped we hadn't gone from the frying pan into the fire. Before we could find out, though, we had to settle up with Pierre-Henri and give him the unpleasant news that we would be leaving.

We found him outside his chambres d'hote, the historic La Maison du Notaire Royal, in central Sarlat and explained our problem; the apartment was not what we expected and David kept hitting his head on the bathroom doorway. Pierre-Henri was gracious and accepted our explanation and the 56 euros we gave him for last night's stay.

After we shopped for groceries at the Carrefour, we drove the seven kilometers to the easy-to-find gite just off the main road. We'd been told the caretaker would be waiting for us. Jean-Francois led us through the house, not speaking a word of English, but explaining by gesture and demonstration how to operate the washing machine, stove and heating system. When he left, David and I whooped with joy.

We were in a simple, rustic farmhouse that was exactly what we were hoping for. The rooms were huge and furnished simply with beautiful, sturdy antiques. There were two sets of French doors in the dining room and one set in the living room leading to the terrace, so sunshine flooded the whole house. But, at night, when we wanted privacy and darkness, there were wooden shutters we could close.

We sat at the picnic table for a minute admiring our view of the rolling hills in front of us and the pond, complete with four geese, on our left. David, always a country boy at heart, was so excited I thought he'd never unpack. In fact, as I write this now, he's been out for an hour taking photographs of the entire property. Every once in a while, he pops back in to tell me of a new discovery—There are horses and a donkey out back beyond the fence! The road in the distance must lead to a small village! There are fish in the pond! Tonight, he tells me, because there's a new moon and will be little light, we'll be able to see all the stars.

The city of Paris dazzled us with her many charms, and, now, I guess, it's Mother Nature's turn.

We'll sleep well tonight.

Our Pond at Dusk

Practicalities -
Gites can be wonderful and inexpensive accommodations. There are many websites dedicated to helping you find the right place for your vacation. You can also access the French government's site at http://www.gites-de-france.com/gites/uk/rural_gites
If you'd like to take a look at the gite we called home for a week, here's the link. Enter this number in the direct access blank 04 0050 in the lower right hand corner of the page.
http://www.visitperigord.com/cgi-bin/web/default.asp?p=resa&lg=gb

Friday, October 2, 2009

France on $70 a Day - On to the Dordogne

This was written in the Dordogne, but, because Internet cafes were difficult to find, it was posted from California.

Sundays have travel disadvantages because most shops, restaurants, and car rental agencies are closed, but one advantage is that there is little traffic on usually busy city streets. Instead of taking forty-five minutes to get to the Montparnasse Rail Station, the taxi took only twenty and cost just 20 euros, not the expected 25-30.

David and I were there early, but that did not prove to be an advantage. While you can find your platform number ahead of time in the smaller train stations,--at least an hour in advance--in the larger stations, the voie, or platform number, is not listed until twenty minutes before boarding. Then there's a mad scramble to validate your ticket in one of the machines (Don't forget to do this as an unstamped ticket results in a fine.), find your coach number, and heft the suitcases into the train. We sat around for an hour, bored and restless, and then rushed to get on the train.

The train system in France is impressive, but one area ripe for improvement is the system of numbering coaches. The coaches do not progress in an orderly numerical fashion, so finding your coach can be confusing. Number five might be followed by twelve. You must find the right coach, though, because often a train "splits" by leaving some cars behind. If you're not in the right car, you might find yourself in Poitiers instead of Bordeaux!

So, use the coding system you will find on the platform itself. This electronic bar organizes the coach numbers and groups them with letters so you can find the general area of your coach. For example, coaches 10, 11, 12 and 13 will be in section "C." Once you know what area you need, consult the letters you see posted alongside the train platform and go to that section. (In this example, the corresponding letter C.) Once you're in that section, and looking only at three or four coach numbers instead of forty coach numbers in the train, it becomes much easier to find the one you need.

The TGV, fast train, is a joy to ride. There's ample seating in second class, especially when compared to airline seating, and there's a club car with a bar and restaurant. Of course, we had our own sandwiches (croissants with ham and Emmentaler cheese), but it was a pleasure to "picnic" while watching the countryside speed by.

Our Peugeot 207 was ready and waiting for us in Bordeaux, and after getting a map and checking out the car for dings, we set off. I hadn't driven a stick for five years, but the car shifted so effortlessly, I had no problem driving.

I did have problems, though, with heavy rain (Note that the speed limit on toll highways is twenty miles slower during inclement weather. 110 k instead of 130)and toll booths. I didn't realize that when I approached the toll booths, I should have entered one of the ones on the left. I went to the far right one which turned out to be an exit. After ten miles, with David constantly consulting the map and saying, "I think we're on the wrong road." we realized our mistake and backtracked to get on the toll road again. It was supposed to be a two-hour drive to Sarlat, but it took us three.

Entering Sarlat at dusk was also frustrating. This beautiful, medieval city is lovely to look at and amazingly easy to get lost in! We finally gave up trying to find the Toulemon Gite and parked near the center of town at a hotel. The hotel let me borrow the phone and Pierre-Henri was quick to walk over to find us. Turns out we were only a block away, but it might as well have been a dozen. We would never have found the place on our own.

Pierre-Henri graciously led us to the apartment and flipped on lights and the refrigerator, explaining the door locks as he went. When he left, though, and David and I were alone in the apartment, we were disappointed. The Toulemon gites in the center of town were highly recommended, but this apartment just 300 meters away was not what we expected. The "living room" had two single beds with one wicker chair and a table. Low wattage lights dangled precariously from the ceiling. The bathroom doorway was so low, 6'5" David hit his head every time he went through it. The window blind in the "living room" fell down if you tried to raise or lower it, and the rest of the rooms (only a kitchen and a bedroom) had lacy curtains that would not shield us from the sun or prying eyes.

The Living Room

We put sheets on the bed and knew, when we discovered the pillows, that this place would not work for us. The pillows seemed to be a hundred cotton balls gathered in a cloth covering. Neither one of us felt like punching our pillows into some semblance of normalcy every night.

We walked into town where, at 9:00 at night, we could not find a single open restaurant. We sat on the plaza sharing a beer to discuss our situation. Pierre-Henri had been kind to us, every e-mail had confirmed his pleasant disposition, and he'd even offered to fetch us from the train station in Sarlat for free before our plans changed. He hadn't even asked for a deposit for our eight-day stay. Still, as nice as he'd been, we knew we could not stay in that apartment. After just having come from Paris, where we had every amenity that made us feel so at home, this place in Sarlat was an especially disappointing place.

We slowly climbed the cobblestone street back to the apartment worrying the questions over and over again. Would we have to stay in a hotel that would destroy our budget for the trip? Would it be possible to find an apartment on such short notice? How would we explain to Pierre-Henri that we could not stay in his gite? If he demanded a significant penalty for cancelling our reservation, would we be stuck in that awful place?

Maybe tomorrow, when we're fresher, we'll find some answers.