Rocamadou

Clinging dramatically to the top of a 490 foot cliff, the castle dominates the scene at Rocamadour. Half-way down, on the Place St.-Amadour (Parvis des églises), there are seven sanctuaries including the Chapel of Notre Dame. From the mid 1100s (when miracles are supposed to have occurred) to the time of the Reformation, a pilgrimage to Rocamadour was one of the most significant in Christendom. Legend says the publican Zaccheus (a disciple of Jesus) and his wife Veronica are buried at Rocamadour.

An ride, or 216 steps below the Place St.-Amadour, there’s a colorful confusion of gateways, old houses and stores on Rocamadour’s main street. We looked in shop windows, watching store-keepers get ready for the day’s quota of tourists. The shopping street contained restaurants, bakeries, and stores filled with all those things tourists are likely to buy.

The Office de Tourism, Syndicat d’Initiative, is in two buildings constructed about 20 years ago. They are round, built of stone, and the roof is made with flat stones laid flat, and piled high and overlapped, to the peak. These are copies of buildings that were in use in this area hundreds of years ago. It is said some still exist in the nearby countryside, but we didn’t see them. They reminded us of the Trulli houses we saw in Alberobello, in the “heel” of Italy. We have no idea if there is a connection between the people who lived in Rocamadour and Alberobello, or if they each had the same building material, so came up with the same idea.
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Place St.-Amadour, with a corner of the castle above.

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Another View of Rocamadour