The limestone caves of the Dordogne have preserved traces of early man. The most famous is the Lascaux cave, which is covered with prehistoric art. The cave is small, and the horde of tourists were creating conditions which were destroying the paintings. Lascaux is now closed to tourists, but you can visit a replica called Lascaux II.

We preferred to see the original, so we visited the cave of Peche-Merle which is much larger than Lascaux, so it is not as fragile. There are fewer paintings there, but there are also some wonderful caverns full of stalagmites and stalactites. This place really put our camera to the test! Available light photography in a cave is really tough!

We also visited the National Museum of Prehistory in Les Éyzies. Many of the exhibits were rocks that only an expert could tell bore the mark of human industry. The more recent carvings, on the other hand, were exceptional