See the cave paintings at Niaux, France

Refreshed and revitalised after a week off among the vineyards of Southern France, your author will be back to writing about London tomorrow. Until then, one truly inspiring French place is definitely worthy of a mention, for deep within the caves at Niaux in the Ariège department of southwestern France is the Salon Noir, a echoing chamber where it is possible to see art painted on the walls by humans like us more than 10,000 years ago.


The experience is other-worldly, as a small group of visitors make their way through tunnels and chambers of the caves, passing more recent graffiti from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries before climbing a sand dune deep within the caves to reach the Salon Noir, passing red and black symbols left on the walls by visitors during the Magdalenian period, before a torch lights up images of bison, horses and ibex, some as fresh as if they had been drawn the day before in black pigment on the stone walls. It was an experience your author will never forget.

For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Niaux

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