![]() ![]() But La Madeleine today refers to many troglodyte abri in the area (Abri de la Madeleine) or to the whole small village developed around the abri (Le Village de la Madeleine) overlooking the Vezere River. I was told by a staff on site that La Madeleine was named after a chapel for Madeleine/Magdalene that has existed in the middle of the village since 14th century. But thanks to the electricity, it took me only about 30 min. With the ubiquitous device you don't need such an info. I thought it would help if the panel on the bike showed how many calories I burned. Electricity only aided my effort to move the bicycle forward (hybrid?). I had thought that in the electric mode it ran like a motorcycle and I didn't have to wheel it, but that was not the case. I had to quickly figure out how to rent it (Creating an account online, putting deposit, receiving a code to unlock the bicycle, and so on) and, once rented, how to operate it. The bicycles are parked right at the main square of Les Eyzies, meaning they are available 24/7. But in the end I had no choice but to rent it, as I did not get up early enough to walk to La Madeleine. I was at first reluctant because I had never used an electric bicycle or a now-ancient Segway or a now-ubiquitous electric skateboard with a handle, or whatever you call it. I was initially planning to walk both ways, but the owner of the abri where I stayed informed me that the area was hilly and I could rent an electric bicycle. The next morning my plan was to visit La Madeleine, but it is about 10 km away from the center of Les Eyzies. They are rather difficult to identify without the pigments, but the guide did his best to show them to us. (But the ticket price was the same as Font-de-Gaume at 11.5 Euros.) So, most of the things you see in this cave are engravings. ![]() The English-French guide for Les Combarelles said that Les Combarelles had been similar to Font-de-Gaume, but the pigments that gave color to the paintings unfortunately had come off due to more water entering the Les Combarelles cave than the Font-de-Gaume cave. I could have walked but a local French lady gave me a ride. It's hard to believe that even though Abri de Cap Blanc is managed by a French state entity, they don't refund in case of cancelation even a few weeks in advance.įor Les Combarelles you also need to pre-book your ticket, retrieve the ticket from the office for Font-de-Gaume (See Els' photo on top of this page) and then go further east for 2 km on the same road to Les Combarelles. In mid-afternoon, I had a pre-booked, time-allocated, 8-Euro entrance ticket for Abri de Cap Blanc, but after realizing that I had packed too many activities within the 24 hour period of stay in Les Eyzies, I decided to forgo it. ![]() Then I walked over to the museum, but more about this later. Although the main thing here is just Abri (shelter) created by the overhanging rocks of a cliff (See Aspasia's photo below), it's got to be very important as it is where Cro-Magnon Man, human ancestor, was first identified. Indeed, the prehistoric bones were discovered when they dug the area to clear for the train station in 1868. It is a very easy visit, as it is located right by the train station. My initial motivation to go back was to visit the National Museum of Prehistory, as it was closed on the day I visited Font-de-Gaume in 2009.īut then, by staying overnight in Les Eyzies, I managed to visit three more components of this august WHS: Abri de Cro-Magnon, Les Combarelles, and La Madeleine.Īrriving in Les Eyzies by train in the early afternoon, I first visited Abri de Cro-Magnon, which supposedly opened to the public only in 2014. The first time was for Lascoux in 2004 and the second time was for Font-de-Gaume in 2009. I was back in the Bordeaux area to visit the Cordouan Lighthouse and decided to swing by the Vezere Valley for the third time.
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