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!”
Tag Archives: history
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”
Saintes, Saint-Césaire
The themes for this week-long tour across the south of France were Neanderthals, early humans, and prehistoric painted caves. As someone who has a degree in art and has studied art history, I signed up for the cave art. But we had one more day to go before we found those places. I would learnContinue reading “Saintes, Saint-Césaire”
Teotehuacán
The archaeological ruins of Teotihuacán lie just thirty miles (50km) northeast of Mexico City. Although people lived in the area before then, the civilization developed in the first century CE, along the San Juan River, and grew to become the largest city in the Americas, home to over 100,000 people and covering 7.7 square milesContinue reading “Teotehuacán”
Mexico City
Riding from the airport, so many colorful murals along the highway caught my eye. My hotel was near the city center. As I walked the city streets, I felt like I was back in Guatemala, where I had lived for three years a couple of decades ago. The street scenes were so similar, framed byContinue reading “Mexico City”
Newport Cliff Walk
Looking for an interesting day trip from Cape Cod, I decided to check out Newport, Rhode Island. Newport is well known for hosting the America’s Cup, an international sailing regatta, the Newport Jazz Festival, and massive mansions. An upscale hangout for the rich and famous, those that can afford yachts and mansions, considered summer cottages,Continue reading “Newport Cliff Walk”
Medieval Ávila
On the way back from a week-long English language immersion retreat in rural Spain in 2014, I asked the bus driver to drop me off at the Ávila mirador, or lookout. As I stepped down the stairs to collect my suitcase, I could hear others on the bus—students and tutors I had just spent a weekContinue reading “Medieval Ávila “
Ruth Rosenfeld 