J’adore Rocamadour

We left Limogne-en-Quercy, travelling the picturesque back roads towards Rocamadour. The weather continues to change on a regular basis and we experienced pouring rain through to blue skies and sunshine. Before driving at our hotel, Jerome stopped outside the city near a viewing platform so that we could get our first view of this beautiful town perched high on a cliff. For about 1,000 years this town has been an important pilgrimage destination as it was built on the site of a shrine to Madonna. The “healing” powers associated with this have drawn pilgrims, and the town flourished as a result.

We arrived at our fabulous hotel after Jerome skilfully manoeuvred the bus through one of the four narrow town gates. (Ed - centimetre perfect!) We check in and then met Mary and the rest of the group to climb the Great Staircase up the side of the cliff, visit the Sanctuary - made up of 8 chapels including the Chapelle Notre Dame - and the “Vierge Noir” statue which was carved from the wood of a walnut tree in the 12th century. Above this, the 9th century iron bell is said to ring on its own when somewhere in the world the Virgin performs a miracle. Many recorded miracles are linked to sailors in peril at sea, hence there are boats hanging from the ceiling. Next to the chapel against the cliffs lies the Basilique Saint-Sauveur, built in the Romanesque-Gothic style, and the medieval city is also home to the crypt of Saint-Amadour, just below the basilica. As an act of penance in previous times, pilgrims would do the 216 step climb to the Sanctuary on their knees. We climbed the steps but using our feet!

We also visited the 12 stations of the cross that are part of a lovely shady walk from the Sanctuary up the cliff to the castle. This was built to defend the village’s Sanctuary in the Middle Ages and sits at the top of the village in an extraordinary balancing act. We climbed up onto the castle ramparts which afforded us breathtaking views over the village and the Alzou Valley. Even though we didn’t do a walk today we ended up doing more than 10,000 steps visiting this site.Read more