Walking the Camino de Santiago
The village of Labastide-Marnhac was roughly the halfway point of the day, and I arrived there at about 10 AM. I saw four or five pilgrims leaving the village as I entered. They must have gotten an earlier start than I did. Or perhaps they didn’t get slightly lost earlier in the morning. I visited a charming little village church […]
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Rural France and Spain abound with ruins from all eras of their habitation. I’d like to think that this is all that remains of a medieval farmstead, but it’s just as likely to be a storage shed from the early 20th century. Date: 05 September 2023 Place: between La Rozière and Labastide-Marnhac, Lot Département, Region of Occitanie, France Maps!
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Somewhere near La Rozière, I passed this lovely little home. I remember thinking at the time that this was exactly the sort of cozy place I could live. It’s just delightful. But of course, my home at Pistachio House is cozy and homey in its own way, even if it’s not in rural France. Date: 05 September 2023 Place: near […]
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Once atop the cliff, the Camino continued its climb, much more gradually, up a woodland trail of rock and loose stone. Already, the land was feeling different than what I’d walked through the last week or so. It was about here that I realized I had forgotten to turn on my tracker. Hardest climb of my life, and I didn’t even […]
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The orange sunrise sky makes it look like the world outside of Cahors is on fire. In the town, we can see the Devil’s Bridge below us and the cathedral in the distance. It’s interesting to see the juxtaposition of medieval and 20th-century architecture in the buildings. Scrambling up that cliff was no joke. There were switchback stairs cut into […]
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As the pilgrim walks the Pont Valentré over the River Lot, he can’t help but notice that there’s a cliff on the other side of the river. Once, long ago, there was a tower built into the cliffside, and one would enter it and climb the interior steps to the top of the cliff. That medieval tower is long gone, […]
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The Camino leaves Cahors by means of the Pont Valentré, also known as Pont du Diable—the Devil’s Bridge. Construction began in 1308 on what has been called one of the most beautiful fortified medieval bridges still in existence. It was finally completed in 1378. Why the “Devil’s Bridge”? Legend has it that the master builder, exasperated by the slow pace of the […]
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It’s true that every society is a product of its history. While in France I was mostly drawn to the Medieval, it’s hard to argue that the First World War doesn’t loom large. Every village has a war monument listing the honoured dead. Nearly every church has an altar or statue of Saint Joan of Arc, who became a symbol […]
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After exploring the cathedral (and taking many, many more photos), I set out to explore the old town a bit and find a place for dinner. I absolutely loved the architecture in this particular neighbourhood, which I passed on my way to a very local place recommended by folks at my gîte. It was a little hole-in-the-wall place called Le […]
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The cathedral’s altar to Saint Joan of Arc obviously belongs to the early 20th century. The names of Cahor’s honoured dead from the First World War form the background to the saint. Throughout southern France, I found a chapel, or at least a statue, of Saint Joan in nearly every church. Joan, of course, was one of Francine’s favourite saints. […]
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