Category: Via Podiensis

After spending some time in the church, I resolved to visit the castle that stands watch over the center of the village of Estaing. I’ll have some photos of the castle, now very much a museum, in the coming days. But first, I was struck by this warning sign posted on the castle gate. The castle is old, y’all, and […]

This is the view walking out the doors of the church of Saint-Fleuret d’Estaing. This is a pretty typical street in this old and beautiful village. You can see a shop and a café. The building on the right is a boulangerie. The street at the bottom of the hill is Rue François d’Estaing, effectively the village high street. Date: […]

The church of Saint-Fleuret d’Estaing is named after its resident saint. According to tradition, Saint Fleuret was Bishop of Auvergne, about 180 kilometers north of here. He may have also been known by the name of Avolus. He died during a visit to Estaing in about the year 621, after converting the people of the village. What I love about […]

Here you can see the modern furnishings in the sanctuary of the church of Saint-Fleuret d’Estaing. I really don’t understand what’s going on here. None of these modern furnishings match the fabric of the building or, indeed, any of the other furnishings in the place. I’ve seen plenty of churches with a multitude of successive artistic – even architectural – […]

From my journal: “This is a grand church, with many beautiful, if over-the-top Baroque altars. And yet, the main altar is made apparently of plexiglass with mirrored sides. The ambo looks like it came out of a corporate conference room, and the seating for the clergy is stainless steel or possibly chrome. They all look cheap and easily broken. Impermanent […]

This remarkable 15th-century Crucifix stands just outside the church of Saint-Fleuret in Estaing. On the bottom left, you can see the figure of a kneeling pilgrim, complete with floppy medieval hat, praying. This is our first clue that this church has been visited by pilgrims for a long time, indeed. Date: 25 August 2023 Place: Estaing, Aveyron Département, Region of […]

In Estaing, I stayed in my first gîte communal, which is a large facility run by a town or community. And this is it. It was very clean and almost empty, probably because of the heatwave of previous days. Mary, the hostess, was extremely helpful and friendly, and she quickly got me sorted into a room with three empty beds […]

On the way to my gîte, I saw this wheel up against the side of a building, and I did a double-take. As I mentioned yesterday, Estaing is home to a plethora of art made from common items. This one gave me pause, however, as one-half of it very much resembled a character – the title character in fact – […]

The village of Estaing is home to a plethora of art made from common household items. This was the first one that I saw, just after running into Marten and Nina sitting at an outdoor café having coffee. I joined them, and we had a great conversation before they left to do their last 7 km of the day. Although […]

As I mentioned yesterday, Estaing’s bridge over the River Lot has two pieces of art at its center, facing each other across the bridge. On one side there stands a Cross, and on the other side facing the Cross is a statue of Blessed François d’Estaing, the Bishop of Rodez who was responsible for the construction of the bridge. And here […]