On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
On the Road: Week of September 14 (5 am)
Albatrossity – Caves and Birds in France, Part 2
Captain C – Captain C Goes to Japan, Spring 2019: Tokyo 1
?BillinGlendaleCA – Sunset at Leo Carrillo
Wag – Architectural Details
BigJimSlade – Yosemite 2020Paris After Dark: Week of September 14 (10pm)
Empress of the Known Lute World – Paris through A Life
Ceci n est pas mon nym – Montparnasse, Paris
randy khan – Paris
slipz – Paris: Dame de Cœur
J R in WV – Roman Ruins Under the Notre Dame Parking Deck?
Friday night marks the end of our Paris After Dark feature.
One week from today will be the start of our Farewell to Paris After Dark, where we’ll show a collection of some favorite places and photos from the series. We’ll have two “Farewell” nights next week, with the final goodbye on Tuesday 9/22.
Then on Wednesday 9/23 we will head to Chile After Dark – with lashonharangue – who will take us on an 8-part road trip to Southern Chile while we figure out where we want to go after Paris. Favorite City? Favorite Trip? Something else entirely? Start thinking about that, and we’ll talk about where to go next, and come to a decision by the end of next week. How does that sound?
And now, let’s get back to Albatrossity. I love how we don’t just get gorgeous photos – we get background and interesting history, too. P.S. don’t be alarmed by the second-to-last photo, no one stepped out of their clothes and walked into the sea.
Albatrossity
After the visit to Chauvet we ventured west to Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, in the valley of the Vezere in the Perigord region. This town is centrally located in a region of France that is littered with prehistoric caves (including Lascaux), and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is also the site of the marvelous Musée National de Préhistoire, which was relatively new in 2005 when we were there. In Les Eyzies that we found several 4-5 star restaurants, the best truffle risotto on the planet, and it is also where we really perfected the waddle and sleep technique for visiting France. One of the excellent restaurants we visited had an outdoor balcony overlooking the river, from which you could see La Madeleine cave, the type site for the Neolithic art and tool assembly of the Magdalenian culture. Perfect!
One of the birds I most wanted to see was this one, the European Hoopoe (Upupa epops). This is a young bird, recently fledged, so it was willing to sit still and be photographed. The adults were much more surly.
The Museum in Les Eyzies was fabulous, and I am sure that it is even better now. All of the tags and labels were only in French in 2005, and I am told that they are also in English these days. One of the more impressive displays is this Irish Elk (Megaloceros giganteus), one of the largest deer that ever lived, and a former inhabitant of this region. But they also have many galleries devoted to stone tools as well as jewelry and other wearable art of the Neolithic.
At the time these Eurasian Magpies (Pica pica) had just been reclassified; formerly they were thought to be conspecific with our North American Black-billed Magpies (now Pica hudsonia). So I was happy to find a new species, and particularly happy to find these youngsters, which still had the steely blue-gray eyes that many corvid fledglings exhibit.
There are a number of species of wagtails (genus Motacilla), and all are found in the Old World. Since I had not been to Europe prior to this trip, I had not seen any of them. This Pied Wagtail (aka White Wagtail) on a rock in the river was a nice way to be introduced to the family.
After we left Les Eyzies we headed south to the Pyrenees, and to the town of Tarascon, directly north of the tiny country of Andorra. The Pyrenees region is also littered with Neolithic sites, and this ancient town is centrally located for a visit to several of those, including one which had an entrance large enough that WWII aircraft could land and take off from there
We had an appointment to visit a cave known as La Bastide, which was then and still is closed to the public. Again Elizabeth’s contacts (and her excellent French language skills) paid off, with an invitation to join Yanik Le Guillou, along with a professor and her archaeology students from UC Berkeley, to visit this site. We were told to bring “boots” because the cave floor might be muddy, but international travel does not readily allow muck boots and waders to be packed, so we just had hiking boots. This is Yanik’s outfit, shed like an exoskeleton, after the expedition. We were less well-equipped, which meant that about halfway through the tour, the rest of the group headed down a river of mud, leaving us to meditate silently for over an hour, alternately in the dark and then with our lights illuminating a magnificent polychrome horse painting (not my picture, amateur photography in these caves is strictly prohibited). I am not religious, but this experience, in a dark cave with a work of art that was thousands of years old, was mystical, magical, spiritual, or some other adjective that combines all of that with a sense of one’s own mortality. It was profoundly moving. More images of La Bastide are here
After that, we took a day to go to Andorra (just to say we have been there), and our trip up through the higher Pyrenees was punctuated by numerous stops to see waterfalls like this one. Those are beautiful mountains, and I’d love to go back someday.
Betty Cracker
Wonderful photos. I especially like the image of the European Hoopoe — what a marvelous bird!
OzarkHillbilly
Oh ye of little faith… Pro tip: Keep your essential caving gear in your carry on.
That cave suit is shamefully clean. Looks like he hardly even tried. ;-)
Caves can have that affect on people.
evodevo
The Perigord region is my favorite…I’d love to go back, but circumstances have not cooperated in the last few years…
Sab
I love that hoopoe. And that’s with the crest on its head down. Really impressive when the crest is up.
greenergood
Many (many) moons ago, I bicycled/camped through bits of Europe on a post-B.A. foundation grant, photographing neolithic sites. I spent about 3 weeks in the Dordogne in November (so no tourists), based in a farmhouse outside of Les Eyzies. My habit was to go to the museum in the morning opening hours, and then cycle to a nearby cave or site in the afternoon. Most of them were looked after by local farmers, who for a franc or two (pre-Euro!) would give you a lantern and a key to unlock a primitive gate guarding the site. Some were meh, some were amazing – my notes were lost in a long-ago house clearing, but one I remember was a small cave face, with just one line on it, that followed the curve of the cave wall, and revealed a magnificent lioness. These artists knew their stuff!!
After about two weeks of this, the museum curator noticed I’d been in every day and said he would wire the ministry in Paris responsible for archaeology and get me admittance into Lascaux, which had been closed to the public for years – the replica Lascaux was still on the drawing board.They only let 4 people each month for only an hour – so off went me and my travelling companion, and two resident archaeologists, one of whom had been one of the young boys who discovered Lascaux! It was the most amazing hour of my life – I remember everything very clearly, but what I didn’t realise until my friend told me, was that I had tears streaming down my face the whole time.
A few years ago, Werner Herzog’s film about Le Chauvet was premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival, so of course I went along. The hall was packed, and I was sitting between complete strangers. We were given glasses, as the film is shot in 3-D. As long as the film footage was outdoors, or someone giving an interview I was fine, but the minute we went into the cave, the tears streamed down my face again. Outdoors, they switched off; in the cave, back on again. The people on either side of me must’ve thought I was a bit crazy. I asked my psychologist consultant friend what could it be, and she thought it might be akin to PTSD, but rather than a Stress Disorder, it might be PTBD: post-traumatic Bliss Disorder. I think she might be right.
I can look at photos of cave paintings and love them, but don’t weep. But I think there’s something about the immersion experience that sets me off. Perhaps a bit like when you were sitting in the cave in the dark and feeling the thousands of years that connected you to the painters, not separated you. Not long after I’d been in Lascaux, I went to an exhibit at either the NY Met or the Natural History Museum about paleolithic art, and the exhibition included the reconstruction of one of the chambers of Lascaux. The inevitable noisy gaggle of schoolchildren arrived, and as they wandered off into the next room, I was watching the wonder on the face of one little boy who’d stayed behind. Eventually the teacher noticed him missing and from the other room shouted his name. His concentration broke, and he shouted as he ran off after his teacher: ‘But I always live here!’ I know, pal, I know …
eclare
Wonderful photos!
Albatrossity
@greenergood: I wasn’t weeping, but I know exactly how you feel. Prints of cave art can be gorgeous, but once you have seen the real thing in situ you will never forget the difference.
We went to a lot of those little private caves as well. And yes, we did see the lioness you mentioned, looking lithe and supple on that hard rock wall. As I recall the artist used a pebble in the cave wall that became her eye; it was an amazing work. And the owner/proprietor told us that the original cave was not tall enough to stand in; the artist had to crawl on his belly for a kilometer or two to get to that site and use that exact wall for the lioness installation. In the dark, and not knowing if there was a cave bear or some other carnivore around the next bend…
Barbara
I went on a tour of the caves at Les Eyzies nearly 30 years ago. They were the only polychromatic caves open to the public in France, and of course no pictures. These images are astonishing because they are so beautiful, but also because, like looking up at a starry sky, they unite us in experience and purpose with people who lived thousands of years ago. They saw what we see in the sky, and they conveyed sentiments we recognize when they memorialized the natural world in caves. What I remember most was that they used the contour of the caves to make drawings seem three dimensional and they showed young animals nuzzling with their mother.
It’s hard to get to these caves, but Lascaux Deux (reproduction) is open to the public and I am told is very worthwhile.
Lapassionara
@greenergood: What an amazing adventure!
I had thought, before I saw the caves themselves, that the people who made the drawings were living in the caves, but they were not. The drawings were not made as decoration of their home, but for some other reason. What ever prompted them, they are so entrancing. They speak across the millennia.
MazeDancer
Great photos!
Denali
@Greenergood’
Thanks for your story- I have always wanted to see Lescaux- a miracle really that the cave paintings have survived. Gives us hope when the world itself seems so threatened.
neldob
Wow. Really nice to see these great beasts and art. Sometimes my tiny life seems so shriveled then these. And yes it is tiny, but part of this more glorious thing, or at least a witness around the edges.
J R in WV
Thanks so much for sharing your trip to the paleolithic age with us, and fellow commenters for wharing your experiences as well. Our trip to Basque Spain and the Dordogne region of France was with an AIA group of 12 or so, and a guide (Paul Bahn) who knew every detail about the art, and every twist and curve in the caves.
Of course there were many questions Paul had a common answer to: “We will never know that!” which is a common answer to so many questions about the deep past. The small hotel we stayed at, Hôtel Le Cro-Magnon, in Les Eyzies, was built with only 3 walls, the back was against the same rock wall that formed some of the many ancient sites in that small town.
With archaeological digs right in town, a good museum, and surrounded by medieval castles, wonderful palaces, fields of wine grapes, and the caves!
Paul shared one of his favorite questions to which there is no possible answer: “How many of these caves remain to be discovered?” We all got a good giggle at that one.
Thanks again, David, for sharing your trip with us, poor people trapped here, away from the rest of the world~!~
phdesmond
@greenergood: that’s an amazing and uplifting story. thanks for sharing it.
greenergood
@Albatrossity: Oh! Albatrossity – do you remember the name of the cave with the lioness?? Would love to see her again – and hope I could find her on the Google! x
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Ooh, the Hoopoe! I’m jealous of your whole wonderful cave trip, but especially for seeing a Hoopoe. I’ve been to Europe several times and have never seen one, although they are supposed to be relatively common birds.
Another Scott
@greenergood: Is this it?
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/les-combarelles-cave.htm
Cheers,
Scott.
Albatrossity
@greenergood: @Another Scott:
Yes, it was Les Combarelles.
greenergood
@Another Scott: Yes, I think it is!! I will look more closely tomorrow (it’s late here) Thanks so much – I remember now being in les Combarelles. As I wrote earlier, I lost all my notes in a house clearing years ago, so trying to replace them is difficult. 3 cheers for the intertubes and all those who use them wisely!! Again, thanks!! jx
Albatrossity
@greenergood: From here.![]()
Picture of the lioness
Sab
@Sab: At some point in my misspent youth I had a hoopoe couple in my yard. Everything about their existence made me forgive myself for the choices that got me there.
Which was stupid, because they would be fine without me. But they were impressive. Crest sticks straight up with every feather, apricot color with black tips. Exremely distinctive. Gorgeous birds.
ETA I think they were eating bugs in the yard.
greenergood
@Albatrossity: OH! Thank you!! Such a magnificent beast! Such a wonderful memory that you have restored for me – might start crying again, but will only be a happy cry …
Tallgrassity
Loved reading your story, @Greenergood!!!
I (being Elizabeth) can point out that the Irish Elk in the display was not actually an Irish Elk, such beast being long extinct. It was a marvelous construction. The display designer/taxidermist had combined elements from contemporary moose and elk specimens. It’s linguistically confusing, because a European “elk” (Alces alces alces) is pretty much an American “moose” (Alces alces Americanus). Irish Elk (Megalaceros giganteous) was utterly ginormeous! Antlers 12′ across! They stood 7″ high at the shoulder! I never could figure out whether the antlers on that display creature were actual fossils or fabulous fabrications.
DaveInOz
At a conference in Melbourne in 2017, I met two French guys and asked them independently that if they were going to month a month’s vacation in France in October where would they go. They both said the Pays Basque. So we booked a place for four weeks in 2018 – it is stunning. I’ll have to send some photos in.
WaterGirl
@Tallgrassity: Hi Elizabeth!
WaterGirl
@DaveInOz: Yes you will! :-)