May 12 - French countryside, Martel, Aurillac

 It has been a joy to drive through the French countryside.   Small historical villages are found every few kilometers.   We left Rocamadour and headed to Martel, the town whose seven towers rise above the houses.    The weather changed, became cloudy and cooler,   It felt refreshing.   This is the view as we approached Martel.

It was a rich trading town in the early 12th century.  It was an important trading post on the pilgrim way to Rocamadour.   Its coat of arms with three hammers indicates that it was also populated by many craftsmen.

Martel enjoyed a second period of great prosperity in the 19th century thanks to the trade in truffles.   This hall was built just for that.

Here's some more pics from our walk around town.

We headed out of town on small country roads stopping from time to time to take pics.

Here's Jan's pic from the window as we descended down into a valley.   This was Village de Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne.

Then we climbed back out of the valley on the other side.

The cows and us had some great views.

These roads were 1-1/2 car widths wide most of the time with many switchbacks.   It's amazing that the traffic engineers thought that 80-km/hr was OK .. ???!!!   The French !!

We arrived in Aurillac in the early afternoon and headed to the city center.   The city was started in 885 when Gerald of Aurillac founded a Benedictine monastery.    Here are some pics of .. Eglise Notre-Dame-Aux-Neiges, built in the beginning of the 14th century.

The central square had a welcoming park area with a busy swan.

Here's some more pics of another church and some of the medieval old town streets.

 

It was time to check into our lodging for the night, the Chateau of La Moissetie, which started construction in the 13th century.

We're up on the third floor.   Very historic looking 'manor house' and furnished similarly.  We're looking forward to a good night's sleep.  We appreciated the 60-70's coolness today!

Tomorrow, Friday, we look forward to exploring more of France as we head East towards Le Puy-en-Velay and then to Lyon.