Just a short train ride from Montpellier is the town of Arles, in the south of France, where Vincent Van Gogh lived for a year. Artist Paul Gauguin joined him there for two months, a turbulent cohabitation. Van Gogh created over three hundred paintings there, many so iconic we know and revere them today, althoughContinue reading “Arles”
Category Archives: history
Montpellier
On the last day of my tour across the south of France to see prehistoric painted caves, we arrived in Montpellier. It had been a week since we were in a real city; I admit to being a bit reluctant to leave those picturesque villages and charming country inns behind. Our historic hotel, the GrandContinue reading “Montpellier”
Petroglyph National Monument
Along seventeen miles of the escarpment west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the Rio Grande valley, an estimated 24,000 petroglyphs, images carved into rock by ancient Pueblo peoples are protected in this preserved park. I have read dates for these rock carvings as far back as 5,000 to as recent as 400 years ago. TheContinue reading “Petroglyph National Monument”
Old Town Albuquerque
A destination site on my list for this March road trip was just outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, so I stayed in the city. My arrival afternoon was spent wandering the restored Old Town area, filled with shops and galleries in its historic adobe structures. The nationally designated historic site was founded in 1706, generations beforeContinue reading “Old Town Albuquerque”
Chaco Canyon
The historic civilizations of the Americas have left many of their structures to tell their stories. Chaco Canyon has been well excavated and preserved in what is now called Chaco Culture National Historic Park in New Mexico, situated in Navajo country. Created in 1907, the park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.Continue reading “Chaco Canyon”
Chauvet, 200th post!
Chauvet-Pont d’Arc in Ardèche, France, an enormous, stunning, prehistoric painted cave, is closed for preservation. Its replica, called Chauvet 2, opened to the public in 2015. The original cave is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The oldest site I visited on this journey across the south of France, it is dated at approximatelyContinue reading “Chauvet, 200th post!”
L’Aven d’Orgnac, Sarlat
The painted caves I visited in the south of France did not, for the most part, exhibit the concretions usually seen in caves formed, and still forming, by water. It is thought that the lack of moisture and leaking or dripping water that created other caves served to preserve the paintings and etchings of theContinue reading “L’Aven d’Orgnac, Sarlat”
Les Combarelles, Pech-Merle caves
The next two days, on this south of France journey, we ventured into two more natural caves that had been open to the air for thousands of years. Like Font-de-Gaume, the caves were preserved as much as possible, once their significance was realized, with minimal lighting used sparingly and floor gratings to protect gravel andContinue reading “Les Combarelles, Pech-Merle caves”
Lascaux
In 1940, four teenage boys and their dogs explored the grounds around the old Lascaux castle, in the Périgord region of France, looking for treasure. Robot, the dog, fell into a hole. They were able to rescue him, and could see there was an underground cave. The oldest, Marcel Ravidate, age 17, returned with some otherContinue reading “Lascaux”
Les Eyzies, Font-de-Gaume cave
Picturesque Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, which calls itself the Center of Prehistory in Dordogne, France is surrounded by cliffs and rock formations, and is home to caves, shelters, and remains from tens of thousands of years and more in the past. It’s situated in the Vézère Valley, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. Up aboveContinue reading “Les Eyzies, Font-de-Gaume cave”
Ruth Rosenfeld 