Cahors

The Lot River makes a sharp U-turn, with maybe three quarters of a mile between the arms of the U. The main part of Cahors is on the inside of the U. The old stone Pont Valentré (bridge) is beautiful, but the sourdough bread we found on our first visit to Cahors was even better — simply the best sourdough we’ve ever had. Makes us wonder what the baker had for breakfast that morning. When we arrived at that Boulangerie a few years later, the bakery was closed for vacation. The third time, while the bread was delicious, it was not as good as we remembered from years before.

We walked along the outside of the river U to the six-arched, three towered stone Valentré Bridge, a fine example of mediaeval military architecture, built 700 years ago as part of the city’s fortification. All over Europe, rivers large and small have been engineered into canals, with locks and dams to facilitate boat traffic. Right next to the bridge, I pointed and told Emmy, “There’s the locks.” Her response, “Wonderful, where are the cream-cheese and bagels.”

Near the Valentré Bridge there was what looked like a paddle-boat, with a large paddle wheel on each side, at the center of the boat. Later we found it was really a mill-boat. That is, they anchored it in the middle of the river, the passing water turned the paddles, and operated the mill inside.