« April 2012 | Main | June 2012 »
We are spending some extra days in Figeac France, to give Julie some time to recover from a nasty cold that does not want to go away. We were lucky and managed to locate a self contained apartment only meters from the old city center. Figeac is a busy little town of approximately 10,000 people with an active old city centre, a maze of narrow lane-ways that one can easily get lost exploring.
For some Conques is considered one the highlights of walking the Chemin du Puy - many of the French hikers we had met had planned to finish here. A UNESCO site it is home to the Abbey of Saint Foy. Perched on the edge of a deep valley hidden away from forests that surround it, you only discover it at the last moment as you slowly make a steep descent down a narrow rocky path.
Only a handful of people actually live here - you won't find a group of old men hanging outside the local cafe, or an old lady struggling up one of the many cobble stone lane ways to the local food shop - instead you cross paths with either bus loads of French tourists on holiday weekends or pockets of pilgrim hikers spending the night here. You won't even find a stray cat or dog wandering looking for scraps.
Instead the entire town is a museum, frozen in time, a monument to the power of EU monies used to restore and preserve France's medieval past.
Personally I found the experience of staying here disquieting, strange like I had visited some Hollywood movie set. Other than the dozen or so people working the one or two bars, cafes and restaurants - there wasn't even a food shop, bank or pharmacy - the were just us and about a dozen people that administered the abbey itself. If it wasn't for the fact that approximately 100 plus pilgrims arrived here each day, most days Conques would lie empty devoid of any life and human activity.
We arrived in Conques yesterday after a long 23 km walk from Massip. We are spending two nights at the Abbey Saint Foy so Julie can hopefully recovery from her cold. We have finally managed to find some internet access, to upload some photos taken from a few days ago. You can view more photos on our Facebook fan page :
http://www.facebook.com/LittleGreenTracs
