Day 73...Castles and Chateaux's - 7th September

Got up early and had breakfast of bread and croissants – again. Its hard to eat a crunchy bread roll early in the morning. It grates your tummy, even though the coffee must wet it a little. Not the best, but saves us looking around.
We drove south east to Azay-le-Rideau (where I had the wine from yesterday remember?). The Chateau there was built in the early 1400’s I think, King Charles VII visited there in 1418. The Cheateau was built onto an island in the River Indre and was very elegant. It was a fairy-tale castle like yesterday, with rounded towers. But it was less fortified and medieval. More mansion and palatial styles abounded here. Half of it was built onto a lake, pond and its reflection in the still water was lovely. The rooms weren’t as detailed as yesterday, but there were some fine tapestries and a great old kitchen. Nates favourite: a big billiard and card playing room! Awesome.

After that we headed southwest to Bordeaux, trying to get as far as we could. Near Azay though, we stopped at a troglodylic dwelling from the 1400’s. It was cool, but what was much cooler was down the road – a farmhouse was one too, and someone still lived there! And as we drove southwest for a while, we’d pass small towns where you could still see people living in houses inside the yellow cliffs. The cliffs were only 2 storeys or so tall, but seeing houses inside them (sometimes just a window or door frame) was so cool!

We drove for the rest of the day, aiming to stop in Periguex as it was almost to Bordeaux. On the way, the sky was beautiful. First it was Renaissance blue and cloudy, then it bunched and grew stormy. The sun shone directly out from behind the dark clouds, shooting out massive gold rays among the rest of the skyscape. Then we got drenched (or our car did anyway haha). It poured!!! Nate drove very well though.

We stopped in Periguex which is known for its foie grass and truffle market but the place was a shit hole. Well I wouldn’t say it was bad, but there was nothing good about it either. The TIC couldn’t book anything for us, so we drove around and most places were booked out. We realized we weren’t that far from Bordeaux itself, so ran away from Periguex and arrived in Bordeaux around 7pm. The sky was still light, but the TIC was closed. We drove around town asking everywhere and they were all booked!!! We were getting worried. I asked at one place, and a nice old guy who reminded me of Harvey Keitel told me he was booked. However he called around for me, calling 5 or so places which was most kind. He found one, which was a triple for 70 bucks. That hurt but I said we’d take it.

We drove there and parked nearby. It was right in town in a nice little area with restaurants and cafes. When we arrived we had good news – they had a cancellation! We got a double for 55 bucks instead. Yay! It had its own bathroom too, which we always find a luxury. We were pleased.

It was quite late by the time we were settled in our room. About 10ish I think. So we went and ate at one of the restaurants underneath our window. We ended up in bed around midnight/1am. It was sooo hot though! In our room, the windows opened very little so there was not much circulation. I ended up wetting a bath towel and used it as a blanket!