With so many exquisite places to choose from, what makes you decide to visit one particular town rather than another? In the case of Cahors, it was because Roy had read about it in a book.
English author Peter May wrote a series of novels featuring a character called Enzo McCleod. A lecturer in forensics at Toulouse University, Enzo lives in the city of Cahors, in the shadow of the cathedral. (Roy has recently read all six novels in the series, and seems to have a bit of a soft spot for Enzo.)
So, as Cahors was about midway between Saint-Geniés and Moissac, why not stop off there on the way back from S-G for a peek at the cathedral and a coffee at Enzo’s favourite café, The Forum?
As a reminder of where in France we are, both Cahors and our home port of Moissac are in the Tarn-et-Garonne department – that’s the red patch on the map below:
Out and about in Cahors
Apart from its rich red wine, Cahors is most famous for Cathédrale St Étienne, a Gothic and Romanesque building with big domes, great frescoes and peaceful cloisters; and Pont Valentré, a medieval bridge with three towers that spans the Lot River.
The Forum Café (Enzo’s hangout, remember?) closes on Mondays, so we ended up lunching on tender slabs of pork with chips and vegetables at modest Le Coin des Halles Hotel. (Downwind of a chain-smoking, three-beer-lunching woman who, eventually, made the correct deduction from the look on my intolerant face and made a great show of moving away.)
Did you taste the Malbec?