Chauvet Cave 2

Hello Peopleeeeees,

first of all: I'm doing well. Getting suitable Wi-Fi combined with a power outlet is not that easy and besides, in the last few days I've seen and experienced so much that I mostly just wanted to go to bed in the evenings.

So here are a few updates from the last few days.

After staying with Jakob in Grenoble over the weekend, I continued driving south on Sunday. I used Saturday completely for planning and booking my accommodations. I have to say that my French is sufficient for daily communication, but when it comes to phone calls and the person doesn't understand me, I'm a bit lost. But luckily there is DeepL (translator) and something called e-mail. So if it doesn't work on the phone, just write an e-mail. In the south, I actually wanted to visit the Calanques, but the detour along Marseille's coast would have taken a whole day and at least 5 hours of driving, which I currently didn't want to invest, as I have to be in Barcelona by August 18th. So there was an alternative program in the Ardèche Valley - the Grotte Chauvet 2 (a replica of a Stone Age cave with cave paintings) and a kayak tour on the Ardèche.

So off to the car and towards the campsite to check in, so that I get a good spot with shade. Generally, the French are always a bit later, which works to my advantage and I always get relatively good places.

After the 2.5 hour drive through a really beautiful landscape, I arrived and then went straight to the cave. I had booked a tour of the cave at 5:50 p.m. and didn't want to miss out on the additional activities. At least one advantage of traveling in the main holiday season of the French - the additional offers in the cities are quite practical.

Right at the beginning, I saw an exhibition that showed animated and beautifully drawn and brought to life animals. Both the present ones and those that lived in the region of the Ardèche in ancient times.

I was particularly taken with the dragonfly and it would certainly look good on my skin, wouldn't it?

I would like to have that one hanging in my living room.

After the exhibition, I continued into the park. Here I had the choice between an active presentation of how people used to live in their camps or trying to hunt down a mountain goat or roe buck using prehistoric methods. Guess what I decided for?

And you won't believe it, but on my second try I hit the mountain goat! Since I'm traveling alone, I unfortunately don't have any video evidence, but my primitive need for survival has been strengthened a bit and I imagine that I wouldn't starve to death in a spontaneous time travel. (That's probably not correct, but I continue to imagine it! :D)

After that, I went to the exhibition on how people used to live, how they could express themselves through art, and what spirituality meant to them.

In summary: The people were true artists and they were always inventive! It is always amazing to see where we have evolved from and where we have developed. From a stone spearhead to artificial intelligence. The only thing we should be inspired by from the past is the interaction between nature and humans!

But now it's time for the tour so that I don't miss the time slot and the cave paintings. The cave was not made accessible to the public due to conservation reasons, but was replicated true to the original and really well done in cooperation with 35 companies and countless artists. Therefore, it is located about 3 km as the crow flies from the actual cave on a hill - with a great view of the region.

In the cave it was very dark and unfortunately no photos are allowed, so I only have a good photo of the souvenir shop. But the art in the cave is truly amazing and it gave me goosebumps. (Not just because it suddenly got 21 degrees in the cave!)

The people used the lines and contours of the cave to paint unique representations of animals and symbols on the walls using paint and charcoal. With smudging techniques, they were able to depict animals facing the observer and saying, 'Beware! I'm coming for you too!'. On the other hand, entire herds of animals are depicted over several meters and I was really impressed with how good the drawings look! It's definitely worth a visit and for €18 I could also practice throwing spears.

After the visit that lasted several hours, I went back to the campsite.

This one was right next to the vineyards and I felt very very comfortable here. After a delicious dinner with baguette, I had to prepare the car because I had to get up early the next morning to go kayaking.

More about that in the next post.

With a Raaaaawr to all of you,
Yours Britta