So East it's Ouest

What do foie gras, Josephine Baker and canoeing have in common?  Except being amazing?  They all can (could) be found in an interesting little corner of France known as the Dordogne also known as the Périgord which is about 2hrs north of Agen.  The area is known for its good food, the beautiful towns,  and for being a canoeing/hiking summertime hotspot.  It's known as being the area in France the best preserved of the 14th century.  My three main goals of the trip:  visit Sarlat known for its amazing market, visit La Roque Gageac on of the most beautiful villages in France, and visit Josephine Baker's castle.   Sarlat is beautiful.  Sarlat is frozen in time (except for the tourists) and one reason for this is that it was actually an old town that lost its prosperity during the hundred year war between England and France fought in this area (Protestant/Catholic), during this time while Sarlat was catching up again it was quite effectively cut off from the rest of France.  Usuall

Hitchhiker, vagabond, drifter...pilgrim?  That's not a word you get to use every day.  In the very religious land that is France...psyche!  France although very catholic is not very religious anymore but do you remember the old French adage assume to never assume?  Every year pilgrims, not the buckle mayflower ones, make a trip to north western Spain.  The goal of the pilgrimage is the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela where supposedly lies the final resting place of St. James also known as James the son of Zebedee.  Spanish tradition goes that after preaching in Spain, James was subsequently beheaded in Jerusalem where apon his fellow disciples returned his body to Spain.  With the muslim moorish invasion of Spain the tomb of James was kept miraculously safe there apon beginning a pilgrimage to the very cathedral.   Its one of the 3 major pilgrimages the other two being Rome and Jerusalem starting in the 10th century.  Along the marked pathway the pilgrims find boarding houses wh