Day 11, July 20, 2025

Jul 20

Day 11 of the French adventure for Sunday, July 20th was a day spent at a local landmark for dancing, music and fun. Last year as we were in the town of Castillon-la-Bataille and were on the banks of the Dordogne River, I scanned my eyes across the river and saw a sign I couldn’t make out and asked Eric about it. He squinted and once he recognized the words on the sign became excited. It was a “Guingette de la Plage” or a place for dancing on the riverside.

We then crossed the bridge and Eric made reservations for us to attend that Sunday. We had a wonderful lunch and a fabulous time dancing to French songs in an outdoor dance hall that was covered.

I definitely wanted to go back there again since we had so much fun.

This week we had the former owner of the maison, Valerie, visit us and had a light lunch with us. I invited her to join us at the Guingette and she became excited about it.

She had a girlfriend from Belgium visiting her, so both joined us.

Valerie enjoyed herself, and I asked her how long it had been since she had last been there and it had been over twenty years. She was born in the village of Castillon-la-Bataille, has lived in this area her whole life, and hadn’t been there for years. Until I invited her.

The Salade Périgourdine was as decadent as I remember it being from last year.

It was a rainy overcast day, so the turnout of dancers was a little depressed but it was still fun. Here are some pictures showing the dance floor and the inside of the restaurant as well as the riverfront tables.