I was back in the Bordeaux area to visit the Cordouan Lighthouse and decided to swing by the Vezere Valley for the third time. The first time was for Lascoux in 2004 and the second time was for Font-de-Gaume in 2009. My initial motivation to go back was to visit the National Museum of Prehistory, as it was closed on the day I visited Font-de-Gaume in 2009.
 
But then, by staying overnight in Les Eyzies, I managed to visit three more components of this august WHS: Abri de Cro-Magnon, Les Combarelles, and La Madeleine. 

Arriving in Les Eyzies by train in the early afternoon, I first visited Abri de Cro-Magnon, which supposedly  opened to the public only in 2014. It is a very easy visit, as it is located right by the train station. Indeed, the prehistoric bones were discovered when they dug the area to clear for the train station in 1868. Although the main thing here is just Abri (shelter) created by the overhanging rocks of a cliff (See Aspasia's photo below), it's got to be very important as it is where Cro-Magnon Man, human ancestor, was first identified. 

Then I walked over to the museum, but more about this later. 

In mid-afternoon, I had a pre-booked, time-allocated, 8-Euro entrance ticket for Abri de Cap Blanc, but after realizing that I had packed too many activities within the 24 hour period of stay in Les Eyzies, I decided to forgo it. Well, there is always the next time... It's hard to believe that even though Abri de Cap Blanc is managed by a French state entity, they don't refund in case of cancelation even a few weeks in advance. 

For Les Combarelles you also need to pre-book your ticket, retrieve the ticket from the office for Font-de-Gaume (See Els' photo on top of this page) and then go further east for 2 km on the same road to Les Combarelles. I could have walked but a local French lady gave me a ride. The English-French guide for Les Combarelles said that Les Combarelles had been similar to Font-de-Gaume, but the pigments that gave color to the paintings unfortunately had come off due to more water entering the Les Combarelles cave than the Font-de-Gaume cave. (But the ticket price was the same as Font-de-Gaume at 11.5 Euros.) So, most of the things you see in this cave are engravings. They are rather difficult to identify without the pigments, but the guide did his best to show them to us. Photography was not allowed in the cave. 
 
The next morning my plan was to visit La Madeleine, but it is about 10 km away from the center of Les Eyzies. I was initially planning to walk both ways, but the owner of the abri where I stayed informed me that the area was hilly and I could rent an electric bicycle. I was at first reluctant because I had never used an electric bicycle or a now-ancient Segway or a now-ubiquitous electric skateboard with a handle, or whatever you call it. But in the end I had no choice but to rent it, as I did not get up early enough to walk to La Madeleine. The bicycles are parked right at the main square of Les Eyzies, meaning they are available 24/7. I had to quickly figure out how to rent it (Creating an account online, putting deposit, receiving a code to unlock the bicycle, and so on) and, once rented, how to operate it. I had thought that in the electric mode it ran like a motorcycle and I didn't have to wheel it, but that was not the case. Electricity only aided my effort to move the bicycle forward (hybrid?). I thought it would help if the panel on the bike showed how many calories I burned. With the ubiquitous device you don't need such an info. But thanks to the electricity, it took me only about 30 min. to get to La Madeleine. 
 
I was told by a staff on site that La Madeleine was named after a chapel for Madeleine/Magdalene that has existed in the middle of the village since 14th century. But La Madeleine today refers to many troglodyte abri in the area (Abri de la Madeleine) or to the whole small village developed around the abri (Le Village de la Madeleine) overlooking the Vezere River. La Madeleine is the type site for the Magdalenian Culture from 17,000 BP to 12,000 BP, during which most of the cave paintings / engravings (Lascoux, Font-de-Gaume, Les Combarelles), reliefs (Abri de Cap Blanc), and sculpted items (La Madeleine) as we know them in the Vezere Valley were created. 

On Saturday, May 20, 2023, when I visited, some sort of Magdalenian demonstration was going on, and the ticket price was twice as much as the listed price on the official website that didn't announce the special price (13 Euros). Who knows how authentic those demos were, but the food they were serving was certainly not Magdalenian or Cro-Magnon and was rather futuristic. But one thing undeniable is the fact that in this village have been discovered many Magdalenian artifacts. 
 
The National Museum of Prehistory houses such artifacts and is a first class museum by any means. The museum structure is built under a rock cliff with abri, onto which you can climb up after seeing the exhibitions. One of the most famous Magdalenian artifacts here is an item known as "Bison from the Madeleine" from 15,000 BP (left photo).  Archaeologists say an existing fragment of a reindeer antler was engraved to depict a bison turning its head and licking its flank . 
 
There is also another new museum-like facility called "Pôle d'interprétation de la Préhistoire" with rather an extensive exhibition space farther east on the same side road where the National Museum is. The entrance to this facility is free.  

After leaving the Vezere Valley I was often thinking about the Bison from the Madeleine because I saw it at the museum and then next morning went over to La Madeleine where it was found. 
 
4 days later on May 24, I took a boat tour of the Gulf of Porto WHS in Corsica. During the tour, we stopped at the village of Girolata for 2 hours for lunch where many cattle were roaming on the beach. I approached a docile cow and managed to pet her. Then, to my absolute amazement, this is what she did suddenly (right photo). I don't believe in act of God or anything, but I can't help thinking what happened was more than just a coincidence! The similarity also comes from the fact that this cow was brownish unlike the usual black and white cows. A brief internet research showed that cattle were known to turn their head to lick their body, which I wasn't aware of. Bison and cattle are in the same family of species. 

Comparing the two photos, one more thing I'd like to say is that, as mentioned above, the fragment of reindeer antler was there first, and the creator most likely saw a real bison turning its head and projected that image on the fragment ... in 15,000 BP. It may have been a similar process to when they used 3D rock surface for animal paintings / engravings (Font-de-Gaume / Les Combarelles) or reliefs (Abri de Cap Blanc). In any case the creator must have been quite imaginative. 

Les Eyzies has definitely been adjusting to the tourists' demand, and now the main street is aligned with one restaurant and souvenir shop after another. A huge change since my last visit in 2009, but I'm so glad that I made this pilgrimage. 

What misadventure?