Today, get to know Sandra, by reading our portrait of one of our best guide of the Dordogne Valley. She is a passionate guide who will introduce you to the Dordogne Valley! Sandra has graduated from the University of Toulouse, France, with specialties in history and art history. She is licensed as a French national tourist guide. After many years of guiding all over France, she is now specialized in Southwest France and particularly in prehistoric sites of this area!
I was born in Southwest France and I am a licensed guide, graduated in history and art history. Exploring countries and traveling became a part of life. My passion for history, culture, food and wine makes me always search for more! I started as a free-lance tour guide in Toulouse, working for different companies. Over the years I traveled all over France and Europe, in North America and in Asia. When one day visiting the Dordogne Valley, I fell in love with this area of Southwest France and decided to move and work there. I built up in the past 30 years of unique and outstanding travel experiences a sense of organization and management that guarantee smooth running tours. I became an expert in prehistory along with other subjects related to this stunning area of Perigord.
The covid-19 has definitively changed my touring experience. For example, as a tour guide I incorporate more space for social distancing, hygienic and sanitarian measures. It is important to restore confidence for people traveling again. The pandemic is likely to increase and speed up two trends that have been in the air for some time: the first one is to offer more private tours and tailor-made trips, the second is to avoid crowded sites or areas. Combined, these trends will ensure safe & enjoyable travel in France.
Some years ago, I already decided to offer tailor-made and private trips to my clients. Simply because if you want to open doors to some unique private properties and make discover most famous, stunning monuments and sites and give a sense of authenticity, it is the only way to do!
Today more than ever, the key to establish confidence again with our clients is to tour with fewer people, to offer more in-depth experiences and meaningful experiences out of the beaten paths, and make all our tours take place mainly in the outdoors.
The Dordogne Valley concentrates various sites to explore, from Prehistoric sites such as Rouffignac, Font de Gaume, Lascaux IV, to medieval fortresses, with the outstanding castles of Castelnaud, Beynac or Commarque, beautiful villages and towns with amazing historical buildings like Domme, La Roque-Gageac, Monpazier, lovely fresh food markets to stroll about and to grab some local food in the must-see town of Sarlat. This region also offers a wide range of leisure activities to experience with friends & family, such as canoe or kayak, mountain bike, hiking trail… The wide range of choices will make everybody happy.
It is hard to name just one of my favorite spots, I have several, but above all my favorite one is a panoramic viewpoint from where you can admire the village of “Les Eyzies-de-Tayac”, nestled against a kilometer-long rock shelter at the footstep of the Vézère river, inhabited from 25 000 years ago (Paleolithic period). The outstanding view of the village and its incredible valley helps you to imagine the life of our ancestor, Cro Magnon.
Today, one of the most important sights tourists tend to overlook in the Dordogne valley is the area you see from Domme: a great vista of La Roque-Gageac, Marqueyssac, Castelnaud and Beynac along the winding Dordogne river.
A guide needs to have specific natural talents and strong communication skills, should be knowledgeable, a storyteller, enthusiastic and punctual. Our job is to make our clients’ dream come true. So you need to know precisely what the area can offer to various kinds of visitors: from leisure to cultural sites, places to eat etc… if you can add a sense of humor and a lot of flexibility, it will definitively help you to be a good guide!
Oh… I love to experience local food when I travel! It is hard to say, they are so many choices in the area I am living in! My local dish is a homemade confit of duck or magret of duck with some potatoes seasoned with fresh truffle. These are some of our local products you can eat when you are travelling in the Southwest France. When it is well prepared, this dish is delicious, not too rich or fat!
Above all, a good loaf of bread, a juicy and tasty tomato along with a local goat cheese, and some local strawberries called ‘Maras des Bois’ will make me so happy!! Or a slice of a good foie gras prepared by my grandmother on a slice of bread is even better.
In this area we are so lucky to have a range of fresh fruits and vegetable such as strawberries, raspberries, white asparagus along with good meat, confit of duck, foie gras, or rillettes d’oie being some local specialties. On top of the food, there is a wide range of wines to taste… from Cahors to Bergerac, the area provides white, red and rosé, and all match well with local specialties.
A memorable day trip is probably when I brought my clients early in the morning to Sarlat and make them discover the outdoor market. We met some farmers and quickly chat, sample some cheeses and fruits with a fresh organic bread and of course a glass of wine in our hands. We continue visiting a French garden, the light was perfect to take pictures! Then, after a ride through bucolic landscapes, talking about life in France, history, economy, etc… We stop at one of the most sacred and religious places, Rocamadour, a vertiginous citadel of faith. I lead the clients through the charming narrow streets or spending time exploring some of the many religious monuments, talking about the global context of our history, why and how it became one of the four holy places of Christianity, along with Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela…
The day went by so fast, and when driving back home, we ended up having dinner at one of the best farm inns of the area and surprisingly met the farmer and his wife whom we met in the morning at the market in Sarlat! Life in the Dordogne Valley always seems to pass at vacation pace, like time is suspended…
Tough question for a local guide who loves her region! I love to go to the village of La-Roque-Gageac at the end of the afternoon, to take the last boat ride and enjoy the sun, strolling through the pedestrian streets facing the Dordogne river. It’s amazing how the light against the limestone rock gives a different atmosphere at the end of the day. You feel like merging into a medieval village attached to the limestone cliff along the riverbank of the Dordogne river. Romantic, authentic, these is one of the villages to explore at the right moment!
I have several other places I love to go early or late in the afternoon when only few tourists are around. The village of Domme, the medieval fortresses of Castelnaud or Beynac are breathtaking sites ever encountered elsewhere!
Last but not at least, I love to experience an immersion in some of the Prehistoric sites listed as WHS by UNESCO and concentrated along the bucolic Vézère river. Every time I go there, I am in heaven to share with my clients as an expert-guide or just to be there and talk with other people about this amazing period of humanity.
No matter your personality, traveling is one of the most rewarding experiences in this world. If you ever travel with us, you might encounter Sandra for one or many of your tours. Do not hesitate to contact us or check our sample itineraries 100% customizable directly on our website.
I hope you enjoyed our portrait of one of our best guide of the Dordogne Valley. Do not hesitate to check out our previous articles like this interview of Claire: a specialist of Chamonix.
