Le Puy Camino: Cahors

April 21, 2023

We arrived in Cahors via taxi from Bach and luckily for us the hotel allowed us to check-in early. We had reservations at the Hôtel-Restaurant La Chartreuse. The hotel sits on the banks of the Lot River across the waterway from the center of town.

I continued to feel sick for much of the day and spent a good bit of time in the hotel room trying to secure lodging for our next few days. As the main season for walking the Way was upon us, it was becoming increasingly harder to find lodging that would keep us within a certain manageable kilometer range each day. After working out the next several days, I ventured out into the city to explore.

A short walk from the hotel is the bridge (with a pedestrian sidewalk) that crosses over the Lot and deposits visitors into the main downtown area of the city. It was quite a shock to be in a “city” after walking through quaint, medieval villages for days on end! Since Cahors is considered the half-way point of the walk between Le Puy and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, we needed to get another Miam Miam Dodo guidebook. The Miam Miam Dodo is divided into 2 sections. It was somewhat of a milestone to be done with Section 1!!

We located the Office de Tourisme de Cahors and purchased our Section 2 Miam Miam Dodo and wandered around town exploring the architecture and visiting the main church – Cathédrale Saint-Etienne.

There was a courtyard behind the main part of the church with a formal garden surrounded by long columned hallways. The garden is adorned with lavender and white lilies certain times of the year to honor the Virgin Mary.

Cathédrale Saint-Etienne was built in the 12th century and has had many facelifts since that time. It is a UNESCO world heritage site due to its importance along the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.

Another interesting spot in the city was the Agora d’agriculture urbaine – a community garden located near at the end of a wide, open paved plaza.

While much of the city looks fairly modern, walking along some of the side streets gave a sense of how the ancient town appeared in the past.

There is a visitors booth on the city side of the bridge and I stopped in there to get my pilgrim credential stamped. I noticed a walking path along the river from this spot. I spent some time on my own exploring and took a walk along this urban path that follows the Lot River. It was peaceful and I found some fig trees!! I love the foliage and fruit of this marvelous plant that grows in moderate climates.

We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant that night and prepared for our next day’s journey to Labastide. I wish I could say I enjoyed my time in Cahors – but feeling ill and being frustrated with finding lodging put a damper on my mood! Perhaps I will visit the city again and view it differently. But the bustling atmosphere with increased traffic and people were not really a welcome sight for me at this time. Onward!