The high point of the trip was the low point. We descended deep into the Pyrenees into the Grotte de Niaux, one of the some 350 caves in Western Europe with Neolithic paintings. And Niaux is one of the few that are open to the public and that actually display the originals.
You must go on a guided tour. And there is just one English tour a day. On this day only five of us showed up: a cranky, unfriendly Brit, a cheery Australian couple, and us. I'll let others describe us.
The guide was French, but his English was good enough and he was a clear and humorous speaker.
It was a long walk through sometimes narrow passageways, over uneven and often puddled ground. We had to carry lights and step carefully.
About 20 or 30 minutes of walking brought us to a large, domed chamber. As the guide illuminated sections, we saw one after another 14,000 year-old drawings of bison, horses and ibexes (ibices?). These are apparently the most dominant figures in Neolithic cave art.
We've all seen reproductions of these, but the setting and the size of the real things were astonishing. I could have stayed down there in the dark and damp for hours more.
Unfortunately, photos were not allowed, so I'll try to post some reproductions. I have a few shots of the area in front of the cave, which is high above the Pyrenean valley.
Almost worth the whole slog.
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