Loire Valley & Central France - Discover France: Experience the Best of France - page 437

CHÂTEAU DES MILANDES
( www.milandes.com ; Castelnaud-la-Chapelle; adult/child €8.50/5.50; 10am-7pm)
This 15th-century château, 8.5km southwest of La Roque, is less famous for its ar-
chitecture (impressive though it is) than its former owner: glamorous African-Amer-
ican dancer, singer and music-hall star Josephine Baker (1906-75), who took the
Parisian cultural scene by storm in the 1920s with her raunchy performances.
Baker purchased the castle in 1936 and lived here until 1958.
The château houses a museum documenting the life of the great Ms Baker, and
her famous tunes tinkle out from the speaker system as you stroll around. Between
May and October there are also 30-minute-long daily displays by the château's
birds of prey .

Castle

Detour:
Gouffre de Padirac
Gouffre de Padirac ( 05 65 33 64 56; www.gouffre-de-padirac.com ; adult/child €9.20/
6; 10am-7pm) has glittering caverns that are among the most breathtaking in France.
Discovered in 1889, the cave's navigable river, 103m below ground level, is reached
through a 75m-deep, 33m-wide chasm. Boat pilots ferry visitors along 1km of the subter-
ranean waterway, visiting a series of glorious floodlit caverns en route, including the soar-
ing Salle de Grand Dôme and the Lac des Grands Gours , a 27m-wide subterranean
lake. From Rocamadour, the caverns are 15km to the northeast.

Activities

GABARRE CRUISES
A timeless way to explore the region's scenery is aboard a gabarre , a flat-bot-
tomed, wooden boat traditionally used to transport freight up and down the rivers of
the Périgord and Lot Valley. Trips generally last about 55 minutes and cost €8.50/6
per adult/child; advance reservations are recommended.
Operators in and around La Roque Gageac include Gabarres Caminade ( 05
53 29 40 95; [e-mail] Le Bourg, La Roque Gageac) ; Gabarres
de Beynac (

05 53 28 51 15; www.gabarre-beynac.com , in French; Le Port, Beynac-