
Your day will end in a magnificent garden, overlooking the Dordogne river.We also plan for you to take a gabare boat tour on the river.
It will be the occasion to learn about the Hundred Year War (which was opposing the French to the English during the Middle Ages). In the afternoon, you will tour a quaint village from the Middle Ages, with an impressive fortress hanging on the cliff above you. You will savor a traditional lunch Périgourdin made of duck confit and walnut cake which are food specialties from Dordogne. This is an out of time experience which will take you back to the roots of humanity. Then, your private guide will take you to a prehistoric cave and explain you about how men were drawing and painting there about 20,000 years ago. You will take a short tour to Sarlat paved streets and get up the Cathedral’s tower elevator to get a unique view over the city lauze-stone roofs. If you are there on a Saturday, then you will witness the bustle of Sarlat farmers market. Sarlat historic city is a great base to explore Dordogne and to start your day. Beautiful view of the villages, rocks and cliffs. It was warm but the sunscreen provided the necessary shade. Tip: come early in the morning when it is still fairly quiet." It is an hour by boat and during the trip you have a beautiful view of the gorges, the castles and the river. Les Gabares Norbert offer 55 minute boat trips from La Roque Gageac allowing you to admire the Chateau de Castelnaud, the Chateau de Marqueyssac, the Chateau de. Nowadays boats with tourists sail on the whole Dordogne, from Argentat to the Atlantic coast. All kinds of goods are transported in it: oak and chestnut wood for the coopers in the wine-growing region of southern Dordogne, cheese from Auvergne, chestnuts from Limousin and wine from Domme and Bergerac.ĭams were later built in the Dordogne, leaving much more water in the Dordogne than before. Your day will end in a magnificent garden, overlooking the Dordogne. One of them is the Gaberot where the name Gabarre comes from. We also plan for you to take a gabare boat tour on the river. There are different types of "argentats". If the current is not too strong, the ships are sometimes towed back with ropes to the starting point, but usually they were used only once. The skipper then walks back to Argentat to go down the river with the next boat. On arrival they are cut into pieces and the boards are sold as firewood. These ‘argentats’ are only made for sailing down the river. These boats are long and have flat bottoms so they can sail in shallow water. Boats are made to be able to transport goods to the west. Shipping around Argentat started to flourish from the 18th century. The lower Dordogne: from Castillon towards the Atlantic coast. There you can sail for a longer period, about 6 to 8 months. The middle Dordogne: the part from Souillac to Castillon (between Bergerac and Bordeaux) is deeper.
In the summer the water is too low (with a draft of only about thirty centimetres) and in the winter the current is too strong. Boating is only possible in spring and winter when the water is high enough, on average about 30 days a year.
#Boat tours dordogne river download#
The upper Dordogne: this is the part from Argentat to Souillac. Download this stock image: Tourists on a boat tour on the Dordogne River looking at the Chateau de Beynac, Beynac-et-Cazenac, France Europe - DCJKK8 from.It winds westward and at Argentat, northeast of Souillac, it is possible to sail with boats.Īt the time the navigable part of the Dordogne was split into three parts: The Dordogne starts as a small stream near Clermont-Ferrand. In the past, people were mainly dependent on the rivers for transportation of goods and people. The Gabarre is a type of boat that is characteristic for the Dordogne region. About 50 people are allowed to go on the boat and a guide will tell you about the area in various languages. You arrive at places that you cannot reach by car. After every bend there is a different landscape with castles, fortresses and beautiful villages. You sail for a bit upstream or downstream, after which the boat returns to the boarding point. There are boarding places at the places Beynac et Cazenac and Roque Gageac. In one of the most beautiful places in the Dordogne it is possible to take a boat trip in a Gabarre.