Rocamadour - 29 flights of stairs

A long drive ahead of us to a new region and a town on the Rhone river, we made a stop early on the trip to visit the pilgrimage site of Rocamadour. I knew the site was steep but had no idea that by the end of the day Stephen's phone would tell us that we had climbed the equivalent of 29 flights of stairs. As you drive down the steep winding road to the bottom of the valley from which you can climb (on foot, you can't drive there) to the sanctuary the view is just stunning. You can see the streets below the sanctuary and the church tucked into the side of the cliff. Towering above is a small castle. The drive down is very narrow and you pass through tunnels hewn in the rock. We actually parked right at the foot of the valley and had to climb a lot of stairs before even getting to the street of shops at the foot of the pilgrims stairs. In earlier times pilgrims would have wended down the path from a village above to the bottom before climbing up again. Here you can just see the top of the cliff towering above our parking place
And here you can see the height above the street of shops
After we reached the street of shops we found the pilgrims stairs. Neither of us felt we are sinful enough to do it on our knees as pilgrims would have. I can tell you it was punishing enough for me without.
After stairs, stairs, and more stairs we reached the sanctuary and the church and chapels. Most famously, and the reason it is a site for pilgrimage is the statue of the black Virgin Mary, prayers before this statue have resulted in miracles.
The main church and chapel of Divine Mercy were also lovely but we were most bemused by a small chapel, apparently dedicated to rugby. There was a big rugby ball in front of the altar and lots of rugby jerseys, mostly from french club sides but we did spot an all blacks jersey. This was dedicated in 2011 to people who have been injured or died playing. The jerseys are those of injured or deceased players whose families have provided them.
The exterior environment was also very beautiful and you can see how the complex was built into the cliff. If you look at the photos above looking towards the back of the church and in the rugby chapel, the cliff wall is clearly visible as the back wall of the church and side of the chapel.
The sacred site is not at the top of the cliff. There is a lovely walk up (yes, more climbing) the steep hillside to the top. Along this walk are the stations of the cross. Very timely for us as it is Easter week.
At the top is a castle and a magnificent view. We did not visit the castle having seen a few recently but enjoyed the view before starting the descent to our car and the long drive ahead
It was a long drive, we discovered that while there are fabulous highways it costs a lot in tolls to use them and spotted many castles along the way before we joined the big roads. Like this one
Our apartment in Vienne is also in an ancient building (although nicely modernised and very comfortable inside) and overlooks the Rhone river and the medieval town centre of Vienne. You walk down through a garden and gate to the town. Monday seems to be a very quiet night and most restaurants were closed and we had to stroll a long way to find somewhere we felt like eating. The town felt quite deserted in places except by a few homeless and unsavoury looking types. However the route we took home was more salubrious and as we strolled back along the river side we admired the view of the ruins on top of the hill just above our accommodation. Our place is between the buildings that are lighted up and the ruin on the hilltop.
. View from our balcony

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