I must admit that I entertained the idea of just spending the rest of the vacation at the "farm", but we both decided that there was not enough to do in the area to justify that, and there were only a few acceptable restaurants close by. (But I should add that we did not get to have dinner in the gite--the host, Richard, is a chef, and we wish we'd had time to sample his work!) So we showered, packed, said goodbye to our hosts, and headed out towards Cahors, which had been our headquarters during our Christmas visit to France a few years ago. There, we headed straight for the little restaurant Gambetta (now in summer sporting a very large outdoor cafe area)--on the main square of Cahors. I had my usual good salade niçoise, but lunch was somewhat spoiled by the sudden arrival of a downpour that sent us running for a different table-with-umbrella.

We decided to stay just outside Cahors in Pradines in a much-advertised Hotel Le Clos Grande. There was on-site parking, a good restaurant, etc., and we were only 10 minutes drive from the center of town. On the other hand, the room was small, badly decorated, and somewhat difficult to take after our sumptuous room on the farm. We took pictures in the cathedral, walked our old neighborhoods in town, then returned to the hotel for some needed rest. Before dinner we drove up the very steep road to La Flottes to confirm that Chez Flottes was still there, and to remember some memorable meals we'd cooked in that lovely house. We had one of the best dinners of our vacation in our hotel: Cahors red wine, duck, and F. had two of her favorite things in the world: real soupe de poisson, and pizza Quercynoise (with goose gizzard, duck, truffles, etc.) Cahors is a comfortable town enclosed by a river on three sides, and enough of a working town to avoid the feel of wall-to-wall tourism. Since we have lived in Manhattan and in Portland, ME, I somehow feel at home in towns with water on three sides.