Day 36, Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Bob is out early exploring the streets of Sarlat and he comes home to tell me how interesting this medieval town is. We both go out in the afternoon for a walk. Sarlat Cathedral, just around the corner from our apartment is a Roman Catholic church.  It is a national monument and was established in 1317!  We hear its bells chiming several times a day. It is a nice wake up call at 7:05 am when the bells chime for several minutes.  The ringing of the bells at 7:05 am and 7:05 pm each day is called “Angelus,” and that it is an ancient pattern of bell-ringing that is a call to prayer for Catholics to pray a particular prayer.  This is the back of the church, with several ancient sarcophagi, which I discovered is the plural form of sarcophagus.

We climb the steps behind the church and I notice a light shining through the stained glass window, although the church is closed at the moment.

At the top of the steps behind the church we find this Lanterne des Mortes, which means Lantern of the Dead. Lanternes des Mortes are small stone towers. “Pierced with small openings at the top, a light was exhibited at night to indicate the position of a cemetery, hospital, or leper colony. These lanterns were originally constructed to warn passers-by of the danger of infection, as well as to illuminate cemeteries where it was feared that repenting souls, ghosts, and criminals could hide. Later, they were also erected at the intersections of important routes and roads.”  ~Wikipedia

Bob checks it out but there are no repenting souls, ghosts or criminals about.

We continue to explore the old narrow streets.

This very large dog just quietly watched us peek through the gate, even when I called to him he didn’t move a muscle.

Someone cemented a little piece of art onto the wall on one of the side streets. It makes me smile.

Everywhere we look the old buildings are crammed together, often one on top of another up the hillsides.  This one looks a bit castle like.

This charming little stained glass room is on the roof of the Présidial, which was built in the17th century.  At the time it was a sort of Court House where a Royal Officer would hear complaints and make rulings.  

I have mentioned that I love peeking in windows and courtyards whenever it is possible.  I don’t think this is being renovated, it just sits empty.  

A block or so away a renovation is definitely taking place. there even was a box with old dishes sitting on the sidewalk, free for the taking.

There are so many old houses boarded up and for sale.  I think we could probably buy one quite reasonably, but the renovations would be terribly expensive. If they are historic buildings, which they probably are, there are many restrictions on what renovations are able to be done and how they are done.  Guess we will pass on owning a little piece of Sarlat.

Most of the yards in this area are very overgrown and unkept.  Tidy gardens are not the norm here.

This narrow street ends in an abandoned overgrown yard and building with a lot of ‘stuff’ lying about.  Kind of creepy but just before the broken gate leading to this are doorways to apartments with new mailboxes and doors.  I wouldn’t want to be walking home at night here.

I don’t know what it is about French doors, but so many of them are very very old, and have peeling paint like this one.  But notice, it has nice new hardware…just not a new paint job.  There seems to be some sort of pride in having a very ancient looking door.

I forgot to take a daytime photo from our apartment window but this is the view when it is dark.