They are about twenty kilometers from each other and undoubtedly those who built them would never have imagined that they would one day become tourist spots, frequented each year by hundreds of thousands of visitors.
To discover
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The poverty of the industrial fabric of the south of Corrèze and the north of the Lot, (historically lower Limousin and Haut Quercy), a territory that remained agricultural for a long time, has favored the conservation of large towns, which have never completely devoted themselves to tourism. mass, keeping a part of the population sedentary which today makes up its entire soul.
Destination the Dordogne Valley.
Also read: 13 “most beautiful villages in France” accessible by train
Authoritative
The village of Autoire, in absolute calm, shines with an architecture of blond stones, covered with Roman tiles.
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Nestled at the foot of the cliffs, this large town, about twenty minutes from Curemonte, is isolated as if in the middle of nowhere, set in a prodigious mountainous cirque.
The absolutely calm village - there are few shops apart from one or two restaurants - is distinguished by its architecture of blond stones, covered with Roman tiles.
We walk through narrow streets to discover an astonishing building like this castle below, flanked by a medieval staircase tower, pierced with dormer windows.
The half-timbered houses huddle around a church with a square bell tower and form an ensemble immersed in nature.
Amazing.
Our favorite place:
The Autoire waterfall which we reach by a pretty walk in the undergrowth (allow around thirty minutes of walking).
The waterfall falls 30 meters high, into pools dug into the rock.
The children love...
Also read Rocamadour, Padirac, Saint-Cirq-Lapopie... Holidays in the Lot in complete freedom
Collonges-la-Rouge
Saint-Pierre church and Vassinhac castle.
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The best known, located in Corrèze, just a few kilometers from the Lot, is the most popular.
We are talking about 500,000 visitors each year.
Its mayor was Charles Ceyrac, to whom we owe the creation of the label “Most beautiful villages in France”.
To all honor, Collonges-la-Rouge was the first of them.
It owes its color, red, to the sandstone in which it is built.
It formerly housed the officials of the Viscounty of Turenne, hence this opulent habitat, manors, castles and large houses which characterize it.
A long, steep street crosses it, with shops and restaurants opening onto it.
Our favorite place:
Maurice Biraud's house (6, rue Noire) where the former actor lived until his death.
We don't visit it, but reaching it allows you to get lost in a tiny maze of a few streets, away from the crowds.
A plaque marks the location.
Curemonte
The small town of Curemonte is built on a hill crowned by two feudal castles with a tall silhouette.
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Second stop on our journey less than ten kilometers away, the charming little town of Curemonte, built on a hill crowned with two tall feudal castles.
We owe the first to the Plas family, high and powerful lords of the place, the second to Bishop Jean de Plas, who wanted to get closer to his nephew.
The two buildings were connected together until the Revolution by a gallery which has now disappeared.
The castle complex was the property of Henry de Jouvenel who married Colette.
The writer lived there during the Second World War and wrote her
Journal à rebours
there .
His daughter nicknamed “Bel-Gazou” inherited it.
Private property, we do not visit it.
Only the church and its beautiful altarpiece, as well as a superbly restored old market hall, are accessible to the public.
But it is above all the site which remains magical.
Our favorite place:
The Branceilles road (there is a parking lot), from where the view of Curemonte, a real postcard, is of a strange and mysterious beauty, like this timeless village.
Loubressac
The small village of Loubressac, a few minutes by car from Autoire.
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5 kilometers from Autoire, the village of Loubressac is located on a rocky spur which it crowns with a circular habitat, in the style of ancient fortifications.
The view is prodigious over the Dordogne valley, with the Castelnau castle in the foreground and, further in the distance, the town of Saint-Céré.
A street winds through the center of the village, of which the large square is the heart.
There we find the Cantou, both a small, recently renovated charming hotel and a restaurant selling local products.
The village is small and you can get around it quickly.
The castle, whose location occupies a point of the spur, cannot be visited.
We will only regret the solid door which prevents us from seeing some of its spectacular architecture from the street.
Our favorite place:
It's a hiking trail that starts in front of the Loubressac tourist office and takes you, for 16 km (you can just walk there for an hour), through the landscapes of the Causse to the Padirac chasm. , by the Cross of Helen.
Read alsoHiking in the Lot, between Quercy blanc and Causse de Limogne, in the land of tamed limestone
Rocamadour
Rocamadour stands out on the mountainside, on three floors.
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It's difficult to talk about the Dordogne Valley without ending with its most beautiful village, also classified among the Most Beautiful Villages in France.
It houses the Marian sanctuary of Notre-Dame de Rocamadour.
With a million visitors per year, or more, the site is carved out of the mountainside, half troglodyte, on three floors.
The lowest is the village, without much interest, and is reduced to a single street lined with temple merchants, with products guaranteed
Made in China
.
On the second floor, the most exciting, resides the Sacred City made up of seven sanctuaries, including the basilica (mass every day at 11 a.m. in season).
Finally, a top floor, which is reached by a steep Stations of the Cross, houses the castle, the former summer residence of the bishops of Cahors.
You can, with your heart set, take a walk on the rampart which offers a dizzying view.
Our favorite place:
The chapel of the Black Madonna houses a 12th century statue of Mary and the child Jesus, blackened by the smoke of candles or carved in dark wood, the mystery remains!
Saint-Louis and his mother Blanche of Castile, who came to Rocamadour on pilgrimage, prostrated themselves before his fragile figure.
In video -
In the footsteps of a hiking marker