Grotte de Font-de-Gaume, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, France

I cannot say enough about how amazing this cave and the paintings contained within are. It is a deeply moving place to visit, even if you are not a student of Cro-Magnon man, or art, or the civilzations that existed before man largely lived in communities. The caves were not inhabited--even though they were quite warm and cozy on a blustery fall day--perhaps there are quite a few of them, enough for everybody and these were used as canvases to demonstrate the art of the hunt or the behavior of the animals depicted, or something else altogether. They are beautifully rendered, demonstrating prespective and utilizing the bulges in the rock to give three dimentional quality to the animals.

This is the only cave with paintings in the area that you are allowed to go in, and the number of people allowed in each day is limited, even before COVID. No photos allowed, but you will remember this without them, it is simply that beautiful. They do sell tickets on line, and I would encourage doing so, and getting the first tour of the day to lessen the total number of people around.