Saint-Geniez-d’Olt, France – Day 7

April 30, 2023 / Touch Of Cinnamon / Leave a comment

Les Plus Beaux Villages de France – The Most Beautiful Villages in France Tour

Tuesday the 25th of April 2017 and ‘Day 7 ′ of our travels.

Today was another early start. We had breakfast and checked out of the lovely Chateau de la Falque in Saint-Geniez-dʼOlt our home for the last 3 nights.

We did a short stop in Saint-Geniez-d’Olt on our way to Rocamadour as we’d not had a chance to explore the town before today. It didn’t really appeal to us, it seemed a little shabby and run-down but we’d been spoiled by visiting so many beautiful towns and villages that we probably didn’t give it a fair chance, plus the bad weather didn’t help.

Below is Château de Galinières, we only stopped for a quick photo and then got back on our way to Rocamadour.

In France, around every corner, there seems to be a chateau, a beautiful town or village, and stunning scenery. So if you haven’t visited France, do so, it’s an amazing country. It definitely rivals Italy for the number one spot in my humble opinion.

All photos and videos are the property of myself and Amanda.

Thanks for visiting.

Touch of Cinnamon

Conques, France – Day 6 Cont…

April 29, 2023 / Touch Of Cinnamon / Leave a comment

Les Plus Beaux Villages de France – The Most Beautiful Villages in France

Monday 24th April 2017 and ‘Day 6′ cont…

A bit of background on Conques:

“Conques is a former commune in the Aveyron department in Southern France, in the Occitania region. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Conques-en-Rouergue.”~Wiki

“Conques has a documented history that goes back to the year 500. Charlemagne gave some money for the building of an Abbey where hermits had been. This was a really secluded place, surrounded by woods. Then in the 700s Louis, the Pious gave money for a bigger Benedictine Abbey.” ~Join Us In France

“Conques, listed as one of the most beautiful villages of France, is about 30 kilometres east of Figeac and 35 kilometres north of Rodez, in the Aveyron department in the Massif Central.

Conques sits on the edge of the gorge of the River Dourdou, in a beautiful setting surrounded by mountains and forests. The approach from the south is along an especially attractive stretch of river.”~France This Way

Our Thoughts on Conques

One glimpse and Conques was up there as one of our favourite villages on this trip. We wrote little bullet points of why we liked it so much so I’ll share those with you below:

A stunning, hidden valley location made the treacherous drive worthwhile – thanks Sat Nav.
There was the remarkably well-preserved abbey ‘Church of Saint Foy’ that was built in 1041 that was embellished with beautiful and interesting stone carvings over the main entrance.
Apparently, this village provided inspiration for the 2017 version of Beauty And The Beast film.
This beautiful village has largely been untouched since the early 1800s thanks to its inaccessibility and a few very protective locals. Hallelujah!
There are less than 300 people still living in the village.

We parked slightly above the little village but it’s only a short 3-minute walk to reach the heart of the village and its beautiful abbey. I’ll add a Google Maps screenshot image of where we parked. There was also parking at the other end of the village, it’s just out of shot on the left-hand side of the map below.

What I saw of the village was beautiful but I couldn’t go any further than the abbey as I was in agony with my knees.

Crêpe with Champagne cream, syrup, and almond flakes. Conques, France – April 2017

Apologies for the large photos, the very dodgy videos, and the total butchering of the village name ‘Conques’. It’s meant to be pronounced like ‘Conk’ but I didn’t discover that until my return home.

All photos and videos are the property of myself and Amanda.

Thanks for visiting.

Touch of Cinnamon

Estaing, France – Day 6 Cont…

April 29, 2023 / Touch Of Cinnamon / Leave a comment

Apologies…

It’s been a long time since I last made a post and I’m still trying to work out how to use all the new and altered features on WordPress, so bear with me. I have no great excuse for not finishing my France trip back in 2017 other than my priorities altered and life got in the way. So apologies to anyone that was following this trip, I’ll try to finish it once and for all.

Now my memory isn’t great at the best of times so I may have forgotten some of the details but luckily Amanda and I both did a travel journal, well, I ended up copying most of Amanda’s as she was far more dedicated to the task, I just altered a few bits with my own take on each place we visited. Right, I’ll waste no more time and crack on with it, thankfully this first post will be a short one as we only stayed a few minutes in this pretty town as we passed through on our way to Conques.

Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (LPBVF) – The Most Beautiful Villages in France

LPBV is the abbreviation I’ll be using for Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, which in English means The Most Beautiful Villages in France.

Monday 24th April 2017 and ‘Day 6′ of our travels cont…

A bit of background on Estaing:

Estaing is one of the ten LPBVs in the Aveyron region. The village is about 25 kilometres north of Rodez in the Aveyron department of the Midi-Pyrenees and sits at the base of the Aubrac mountains and the mouth of the Lot River gorges in the northern part of Aveyron.

There’s a beautiful Gothic bridge ‘Puente d’Estaing’ that straddles the Lot river that is now classed as a UNESCO world heritage site. Each year, it is crossed by pilgrims on their way to St Jacques.

We didn’t spend very long in Estaing, it was pretty much just a quick stop for a few photos before carrying on to our main destination of Conques.

I remember there were a few large buildings that soared over the village and river. I believe one was a castle, the other a chateau. Amanda’s notes say there was a monastery but I can’t confirm this, we just thought the place looked beautiful and wish we’d had more time to explore its centre.

The three photos below show a couple of shots of Estaing and the last one is of Entraygues-sur-Truyère that we only got to drive past. One day I’d like to go back and explore this village too.

That’s all for this post, I did say it was a short one. 😀

All photos and videos are the property of myself and Amanda.

Thanks for visiting.

Touch of Cinnamon

Sainte-Eulalie-d’Olt, France – Day 6

May 19, 2019May 20, 2019 / Touch Of Cinnamon / 4 Comments

Sainte-Eulalie-d’Olt – April 2017

Les Plus Beaux Villages de France – The Most Beautiful Villages in France

Monday 24th April 2017 and ‘Day 6′ of our travels.

A bit of background on Sainte-Eulalie-d’Olt :

‘Sainte-Eulalie d’Olt is a pretty village listed among the ‘most beautiful village of France’ at about 30 kilometres north-east of Rodez in the Aveyron department of the Midi-Pyrenees, just one of several picturesque villages that lie on the course of the Lot River in the region.’ ~France This Way

Sainte-Eulalie-d’Olt, France – April 2017

Today we were meant to rest after such a busy few days but the weather had threatened to be bad the following day so we decided to get out and visit the village close to where we were staying in Saint-Geniez-dʼOlt and I’m so glad we did.

Sainte-Eulalie-d’Olt, France – April 2017

The church of Saint-Côme d’Olt houses a reliquary containing a fragment of Christ’s crown of thorns that was gifted to the town by a Templar and gives rise to a procession held each year on the second Sunday in July. All the village’s inhabitants, in period costume, re-enact the main phases of the crucifixion of Christ. The festival lasts the whole weekend with a traditional dance, meal and fireworks.

Catholic Church – Eglise de Sainte-Eulalie-d’Olt & the Symbol of Christ’s thorns that were gifted to the town.

This quaint, little known village was a real joy to walk around. There were so many beautiful buildings and pretty features like the small stream running alongside the sandstone coloured, chocolate box houses and pretty flowers just coming into bloom that we decided to sit and enjoy the scene for a while in one of the few cafes that was also a hotel.

Hotel, bar & cafe in Sainte-Eulalie-d’Olt, France

Sainte-Eulalie-d’Olt is a small but truly beautiful village full of charm with some buildings dating back as far as the 11th to the 18th century. Take a look at the photos and make your own mind up. For me, personally, it was up in my top five for beauty.