Being one of the most famous sites in France, and at only 40 km from Blars, we had to visit Rocamadour. It’s a small village, but the second most visited pilgrims destination in France, after Lourdes.
We leave the car at the carpark above the village and take the shaded zig-zag path down. At every bend, there is a picture depicting a scene of Christ’s Passion.
Bird watching: vultures!
We are only a couple of bends down when we spot a big bird in the air. And another, and another. They are four in total and as they draw closer, they turn out to be vultures. We enjoy watching them soar through the sky on silent wings for a couple of minutes. What a magnificent view!
Descending further, we arrive at a place in the rock where the perfectly conserved body of Amadour was found some 800 years ago. It’s what gave the place it’s name.
The chapel of the Black Madonna
We visit the chapel of the Black Madonna and the church attached to it. Both breathtakingly beautiful. As we descend further into the village proper, we meet a procession of marriage visitors, led by the bride and groom. After what I image was a sumptous meal, they head into the church to be properly married before God.
The village itself is lovely, hugging the mountain and sporting numerous beautiful houses and other buildings. Everything is proper and well maintained. It’s riddled with tourist shops, and we cannot image that all those shops, who sell more or less the same things, sell enough to make it worth their while. However, it must be, otherwise they wouldn’t be here.
Tourist prices…
We buy water at one of the bars. Would have liked to sit down for a drink, but the prices are thus that it takes the fun out of that. In all the villages we have visited so far, one scoop of ice cream costs € 2,50, and two € 4,50. That’s theft and we won’t go for it.
It’s around 34 degrees in the shade, and the walk back to the car is up and in the sun. Fortunately, there is an escalator, so we take that. Unfortunately, it only takes us half way. If we want to take the other escalator for the other half of the way, we would have to pay again. Since the second half of the way is the shaded zig-zag path with the pictures of Christ’s Passion, we slowly walk up. Which takes us only 10 minutes, so that’s no too bad.
As always, Christophe took lots of pictures, so here’s a selection of them.
