Clinging to the rocky cliffs, Rocamadour has been a holy site and pilgrimage destination for 1000 years.
Getting close to Rocamadour, I warned Greg that the GPS might tell us to drive somewhere that looks like cars are not allowed.
"I'm supposed to drive through there?"
Sure enough, she tells us to drive through the narrow gate to La Cite Medievale. It was 5pm and what was left of the tourist crowd stared at us like we were driving on the sidewalk! The hotel owner and 100 degrees greeted us with a warm welcome!
A very relieved driver
We are staying along La Cite Medievale - the pedestrian street lined with shops and restaurants.
After dinner Greg and I explored the Cite Relgieuse.
The Grand Escalier is 223 holy steps up from La Cite to the sanctuaries.
Greg liked that it was built into the side of the mountain. Although the churches were closed, we were able to walk around and see the rusty Sword of Rolan stuck in the side of the mountain and the tomb where the body of St. Amadour (reputed to be Zaccheus) was found in 1166.
Judging from the size of his tomb, Zaccheus was not a wee little man.
The sword of Charlemagne's nephew. Religious sites draw more pilgrims if they have multiple miracles ... Roland was about to die in battle. Not wanting his sword to fall into enemy hands, he hurled it from the far south of France and voila ... it landed here!
A floodlit Rocamadour
After I returned from my walk to view Rocamadour from the opposite side of the narrow valley, Jeremy was still up and waiting for me. He wanted to see the Sanctuaries too, so I went back out with him. Instinctively, he reached for his phone to take a picture. "Oh, it doesn't look as good on my phone as it does with my eyes." He thought it was pretty cool that we were spending the night here.
This is the view that Jeremy couldn't capture on his phone.
