Rocamadour

In 1991 when we left Wales we did a 6 week tour of Great Britain, France, top of Italy, corner of Germany and Switzerland.
In France we happened upon a Village called Rocamadour, we only viewed it from the ramparts of the Abbey and I so wanted to go down into the Village but it just didn’t work out that trip. So I have waited 34 years and finally fulfilled my bucket list dream of going back and it was spectacular. We hired a car in Sarlat so we could visit this beautiful area, Neil did exceptionally well driving on the other side of the road, my job navigating takes on another dimension ensuring he is on the correct side of the road. We left at 7:30am which was a wise decision as we had fulfilled our sightseeing desires when the majority of the tourists were arriving.
Rocamadour is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (Most beautiful villages in France), it is famous for its sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary which has attracted historical and anonymous pilgrims from many countries, among them Kings, bishops and Nobles (thanks Wikipedia)
We parked in a car park down the bottom of the hill, walked up many steps to reach the main street then carried on up 216 steps to the Cathedral where a group of Girl Guides were singing, it was surreal, I have put a video below. They were also cleaning the cobblestone pathway with vacuums, it looked like a painstaking task. We then carried on up some ramps under the trees, with shrines at each corner, where I presume the pilgrims prayed on their way to their Abbey.
David and I popped into the Cathedral on our way down, where we sat for a while listening to a prayer session, it was so peaceful after the bustle outside. Refreshed we carried on down to the main street. I have to say it was very funny as we were watching Neil pop his head in the door of the church and did an instant pirouette and was out of there. He is a bit allergic to churches and cathedrals. The views from the top were magnificent and the drop over the edge of the ramparts was steep!! I was terrified of dropping my phone 😬

I will do another post with the rest of the photos as it was a special place.

Getting out of the car park was a bit of a mission, Neil couldn’t get the ticket to scan so we could pay with our card at the machine, after I had a go as well we had about 4 cars up behind us so we backed into the carpark and I went to the ask the attendants at the entrance why it wasn’t working. They took one look at my ticket and said NOT OUR TICKET. Back across the other side of the carpark I told Neil, wrong ticket. Oh, he said, and lifted up his phone and retrieved the correct ticket. He had put the Sarlat parking ticket in the tray as well. Anyway, back to machine, me standing beside the car using the machine, I thought it worked so started moving to get into my side of the car and then had second thoughts, did it work? In the meantime the bar had gone up and I was standing in front of the car with Neil yelling GET OUT OF THE WAY. What a debacle 😂😂😂

After Rocamadour we visited Domme and La Roque-Gageac which are also listed beautiful villages, Domme had the best views of the Dordogne Valley then drove through La Roque-Gageac right beside the Dordogne River, there was an incredible amount of people there enjoying everything the river had to offer.
It was very hot by then (36 inside the car in parking lot) so we headed home to enjoy the cool of the apartment.Read more