Dordogne & the Lot: Full-color travel guide to the Dordogne & Lot (Footprint - Destination Guides)

The Dordogne takes you by surprise. Green and calm and quiet, at first glance it seems just another corner of rural France designed for good food, fine wine and easy living. Then you notice that it holds humanity's first great works of art, provocative paintings on the walls of its caves that go back over 15,000 years BC. It's been a busy crossroads ever since. The 'land of a thousand castles' has cinematic medieval donjons and turreted Renaissance châteaux to rival those of the Loire.  A dramatic history hasn't kept the Dordogne from polishing the arts of everyday life. There's an inviting cuisine based on duck, foie gras and truffles, and lovely villages of warm golden stone that complement some of France's most civilized landscapes.