Lost in France: Part Six - another bridge, more food and a cave

We had checked the weather forecast online several times last week to make sure that we had matched our activites to the weather. We planned a trip to Millau on Friday when it was due to be a sunny and only partly cloudy day. As we drove to Millau through fairly thick fog, we wondered whether the internet had got it wrong. Surely not, not the internet. It knows everything. So we drove on.

When we arrived in Millau, the weather couldn't have been further from the forecast. There was low, thick, grey cloud and it was cold and windy. Oh internet, how could you let me down!?

We did the best we could, but unfortunately the contrast between the white bridge and grey skies isn't great for photos, so you'll have to take our word for it that the bridge is amazing. It's an engineering marvel. It's taller than the Eiffel tower, at 343m, and is almost 2.5km long. It took 3 years and 400 million Euros to build. Insane! I mentioned previously that they didn't build bridges like they used to... well this one is definitely as impressive as the Pont du Gard, if not more so.

After admiring the bridge from several angles, we drove on to Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, the home of Roquefort cheese. This cheese is made in the caves in the hillside that were formed during a rockslide. The largest of the cheese producers is La Societe, who produces over 70% of the world's supply, but only 30% of which is exported - how much cheese does France eat!? We took a tour of La Societe, which included a tour of several of the 13 levels of caves, an animation, a sound and light show and a cheese tasting at the end. Let's face it, the latter is what sold it. Even the lonely planet said that the sound and light show were feeble, so we weren't expecting much. It might have been more interesting if the commentary came with subtitles, but we made up our own storyline to tell how the Abbot came to Roquefort and decided to make cheese in some caves. Judging by everyone else's reaction to the actual commentary, ours was much more hilarous. It could have starred Ben Stiller as the Abbot in the movie version.

One thing that the lonely planet didn't prepare us for was the fact that the rows and rows of cheese in the caves that we visited are all plastic! I was devastated! Fortunately the cheese tasting at the end managed to ease some of my pain. We weren't allowed to take photos in the cave - presumably so that no-one will be able to recreate their patented plastic cheeses, so you'll have to make do with the photos of the cheese that I bought. Three types of roquefort and roquefort pate. That's 660g of cheese that we had to eat in 5 days. PS, that's the plastic cheese on the bag - don't be fooled!

On Saturday morning, we visited the Carcassonne markets again to buy some more fresh produce. There's a whole stand dedicated to pumpkin/squash. There are varieties I've never seen before. Of course, I had to try some.

This is the Jambon that we've been eating. It's cured and then dried, so it's like a cross between ham and prosciutto.

I love these olives!! They're buttery, and not too mushy and not too salty or vinegary. Absolutely delicious!

I'm guessing this is similar to a cauliflower. I really wanted to buy some and try it, but the queue for that stall was really long and there was only one person serving. My attention span couldn't hold me there long enough!

Monday is All Saints Day, where everyone visits the graves of their loved ones, so carnations are everywhere.

After our trip to the markets, we visited a winery that came recommended, Chateau de Pennautier. We had lunch there followed by wine tasting. If you're ever in the area, you have to go. It was fabulous. Just simple, regional food cooked really well. My confit duck was one of the best I've had. Melt in the mouth meat and really crispy skin. Paul's tartare for entree was delish and his lamb and fig tagine-thing (that I can't remember the French word for) for mains was superb.

The wine tasting we did afterwards was great. The sommelier was lovely and the wine was really good. We tried a number of reds, made from different blends of atlantic and mediterranean (this region sits right in the middle) and ended up buying a couple of bottles of a Shiraz / Cab Sav blend that we're hoping to bring home safely. Although, with the restrictions on liquids in your hand luggage, we're trying to figure out how to best to pack them in our suitcase.

As a bit of an aside, we keep seeing these signs for an Australian Park. We think the Kangaroo looks a bit funny. Must be a French one.

We were told by some locals that we should check out the Cave at Cabrespine, because it's massive and very impressive. We turned up there on Sunday morning, just before opening time and were the first ones into the cave. They weren't running tours for a reason that the man's English and our French didn't stretch to, but they had electronic information panels that spoke when you hit the correct sequence of buttons on the touch screen. So we started our tour. It took a while for our eyes to adjust to the darkness, and after a while we could just about see some rock features. We thought we could see the ceiling, but could only see a big black hole where the ground would be. We peered like this around the whole of the cave, thinking that yes the size was impressive, but we wish we were there when there was a guided tour, because we were sure they'd have a torch to highlight all the impressive features that the interactive guides were talking about.

Just as we were finishing up our journey through the cave, a large group of French people came through and after them one of the guides came running through and turned on the lights. Now it all made sense and it certainly was impressive. We went back for another walk through and it was amazing. It is too difficult to capture the sheer size of the cave in the photos, but here are some of the features. For a reference, the Eiffel tower would fit in there.

After the caves, we drove on to another natural wonder, the longest drop waterfall in Europe (or so we were told). You wouldn't know it from any of the signs or the road leading up to it or even the look out deck. It could have been just any other waterfall. Considering they have so many tourists without any real publicity, I guess they don't need to advertise all of their natural wonders.

We're now in the final stages of our holiday. I don't want to go home! I'm having too much fun exploring France!!