Rocamadour rest day

I’m taking a day off today. I’m sitting in the station waiting for the train ride that will take me to Rocamadour. The trip will take 40 minutes.

I’m starting off from Figeac and will post a couple of pics from this morning. I had breakfast at the hotel. It’s the usual fare: café crème, demi-baguette, butter, jam, plain yogurt, and applesauce.

This is my second trip to the Dordogne Valley. This is the second trip I failed (due to my ignorance ) to plan to visit this town. So I’m using my day off to correct this problem.

If I walk another path in the future, I will definitely incorporate Rocamadour in my plans. This place promises to be so rich that I cannot imagine ever feeling like I have seen and appreciated everything it has to offer.

Rocamadour has an old saying:: “Houses on the river, churches on the houses, rocks on the churches, castle on the rock.” And it really does sum it up. Each layer seems to sit vicariously on top of the next.

I think it would take a week to really get a sense of all the history here. It’s hard to comprehend that I’m sitting on the edge of a cliff that plunges almost 400 feet to the river below and on the entire face of the valley, the slope is jammed with streets, houses, shops, churches, and monuments. There’s so much going on at every level I don’t think I could really do much more than to post some pictures and leave here in the hope of returning to spend more time.

There are many attractions for the pilgrim. Probably the most significant is the sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The black virgin is very simple but she smiles warmly with Jesus sitting on her knee. It appears that the crowns were actually added later. The church dates the 12th century, It has been drawing humble souls like me and the famous including: Saint Louis IX of France, Saint Dominic, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and Henry II of England,Læs mere