La Roque-Gageac

At the end of our trip, we stayed in the small town of La Roque-Gageac on the Dordogne River and used that as a base to explore the region.  The town faces south and has the natural advantage that the sun warms the rock cliff during the winter creating a microclimate warmer than the rest of the area.  Springs never freeze during the winter.  Because of this, the site has been lived in for thousands of years.  In earlier times people lived in troglodytic dwellings higher in the cliff to defend themselves from Viking raiders.

During the summer, this little town and others near it such as Domme across the river are overrun by visitors.  Canoeing on the Dordogne is popular and in peak season as many as 4 to 5 thousand canoes will pass by La Roque-Gageac during the day.  However, in mid October there was only handful of visitors and it was very peaceful.

Sa.Qua.Na

One of the high points of our trip to France was dinner at Sa.Qua.Na in Honfleur.  The chef is a Frenchman who trained in Japan.  The specialty is seafood.  They just received their second Michelin star and reservations are not easily come by.  It is one of the most original and unique restaurants we have ever encountered.

We had a nine course tasting menu (accompanied by a 4 part amuse-boushe and half a dozen desert items not on the menu). There is no point listing the menu items because the words give no hint of what any dish looked like or tasted like.  Each item was a complete and pleasant surprise.  There is a case to be made that Sa.Qua.Na deserves three stars.  The original definition of two stars was a restaurant worth a detour and three stars describes a restaurant worth a special trip.  Because of its uniqueness, Sa.Qua.Na deserves a special trip.

Alas, although this was the best restaurant experience of our trip in terms of food quality and service it was the worst in terms of ambiance.  A large, drunken, loud, and obnoxious French party invaded the restaurant  shortly after we arrived.  For two and a half hours we had to listen to them scream and yell at each other. Katherine and I, facing each other a few feet away at a table for two, could not hear each other speak.  Three times in the last 50 years I have encountered a party like that at a fine restaurant in the United States and each time they were forcibly ejected.  Not so here. Katherine put it best when the hostess apologized as we were leaving.  Kat said, "Thank goodness they were not Americans."