First, a big thank you to my new subscribers and those who have been supporting me as I get France in Between up and running. If you want to know more about my project, you can get a glimpse in my first post, From Bucket List to Wine Glass List.
I’m starting my travel adventures with Cahors. Less than 2 hours from home, it had made the first draft of my wine glass list, which is reason enough.
And then there’s this:
I do things methodically, so I’ll be kicking off every trip idea with a pre-France in Between audit.
The Sum Total of My Knowledge about Cahors, May 2024
Préfecture of the Lot department (inland SW France) and the Lot’s largest city
Le Pont Valentré – a famous medieval bridge with towers; spans the Lot river
Cahors wine, produced in the area (but not in downtown Cahors)
Something about rugby
Hmmm. It was clearly time to get a move on in the research department.
Researching the History of Cahors
I’ve confessed to you that I’m no history buff. However, I recognize that one needs min quals to write about a town. Much to my surprise, duly reading up on the history of Cahors absorbed my after-work attention. The Gallic era, Medieval times, the Renaissance, the Resistance – whenever history happened to be happening, Cahors had shown up big-time: building major bridges, birthing an Avignon pope; becoming a major European financial hub, and so very much more.
Fun Facts to Know and Tell about Cahors
Léon Gambetta, a well-respected 19th-century statesman perhaps best known for the many rues and boulevards named after him, was born there.
Marcel Marceau retired there in 2005 and died 2 years later in a rest home. The local paper headlined the story “La mort silencieuse du mime Marceau,” which I find a bit tacky
Cahors was the first town anywhere to officially declare itself a citizen of the world.
Another medieval bridge, Le Pont Neuf, or New Bridge (as in “13th century-new” ) once rivaled Le Pont Valentré’s glory, but was demolished in 1906 to great public outcry.
The Wall
Pages of notes later, as my mind strayed from the Napoleonic era to next week, I went into overload when I hit the list of the town’s 44 official historical monuments.
Doubt set in.
Was I even qualified to visit this city, much less write about it?
Sallying forth
A click over to the Office du Tourisme website would certainly clarify issues for any Cahors ignoramus. There I found a wealth of sites to visit as well as two self-guided tours totaling 7 hours of walking. I learned I was heading to “an oasis of humanity,” which sounded darn cool. Not to forget the preeminence of Le Pont Valentré: I was ordered to “take the time to admire it, to listen to it, to feel it.”
My 2-day schedule swiftly filled up, and my tidy to-do list got unruly as I started scoring tips from Cadurciens through diligent social networking.
After a week of evenings researching for an overnighter, I had nothing but a slew of messy notes and a pounding headache to show for it. What if I really needed to just move there for, say, a month?
I closed my tablet, took a deep breath, and simply jotted down what had intrigued me the most. This laid a much clearer base for the days to come.
Because yes, in case you are wondering, I AM finally getting out from behind the computer, off my duff, and on a trip!
I can’t wait to share my discoveries with you — and I’m expecting plenty.
A word about my sources
I’ll be writing several editions about Cahors, and rather than link to all of my sources at the bottom of each newsletter, I’m developing a separate Cahors links/source entry. It will be published only on my Substack space at the end of the series and won’t be emailed out to you, unless I make some horrible technical error.
I’ve been there many times on the way to Domme, one of my favorite villages in France. We ate a wonderful lunch there at a restaurant whose name escapes me but which served the most fabulous omelette “nature” that I have ever had. Quick question, can you phonetically explain how to correctly pronounce Cahors? That middle H always exasperates me. Is it “cower”?
Horrible technical errors are my speciality Betty… don’t worry, I think they add character.! 😉
Cahors is one of my favourite bigger towns in the region, not that I’ve had opportunity to spend any real amount of time there so I shall look forward immensely to you discoveries. Isn’t Le Pont de Valentré amazing, this I have taken time over with my dear friend Gabs who lives in Figeac (a town worth your mention perhaps?) we sometimes take a day to drive along the river from Capdenac down through Cajarc,another favourite small town and on via St Cirq Lapopie to Cahors… it’s a glorious run out as I’m sure you know already…