Saint Cirq Lapopie

Location: 30km east of Cahors on the D40, on the south bank of the river Lot.
Restaurants and shops: There are some pretty shops as well as cafes and restaurants.
In a nutshell: The village of St-Cirq Lapopie is perched on a cliff 100 metres above the river Lot and is one of the major beauty spots of the Lot valley. Combine your visit to St-Cirq with a visit to Cahors, or to the caves of Pech-Merle (you must reserve in advance as the daily number of visitors to the cave is limited).

In the Middle Ages, St-Cirq Lapopie was the main town of one of the four viscountcies that made up Quercy. It was divided between four feudal dynasties, the Lapopies, Gourdons, Cardaillacs and Castelnaus and was dominated by a fortress made up of a number of castles and towers.

A path on the right of the mairie eads up to the remains of the château Lapopie on the highest point of the cliff. From the rock is a remarkable view of the village of St-Cirq and the river.

Below the fortress, now ruined, the village streets lead down to fortified gates. Many historic houses have stone or half-timbered fronts going back to the 13th-16th centuries. The houses are narrow with steep tiled roofs. The gabled houses fronting on the street are separated by a narrow space called an entremi, which carried away rainwater and waste from sinks and latrines. Some street names have kept the memory of the crafts that were once the wealth of St-Cirq Lapopie. There were hide merchants in the Rue de la Pélissaria, metalworkers in the Rue Payrolerie, and boxwood turners, or roubinétaïres, with workshops producing button moulds, trenchers, goblets and spigots for casks.

In the past many painters came to live and work in St-Cirq Lapopie. First the Post-Impressionist Henri Martin, then the Surrealists, along with the poet André Breton.

Below the St-Cirq Lapopie cliff, on the river Lot, the old watermills, weirs, harbours, locks and haulage path are testimony to the days of river transport. If it's not too hot you can approach the village on foot from Bouziès by taking the footpath upstream along the old haulage path.

	Looking down onto the village square
	An architectural detail - one of very many interesting features of the beautifully preserved houses
	The 16th century church of Saint-Cyr et Sainte-Juliette is built on a rocky terrace overlooking the Lot.
	The view down to the river
	The haulage path from Bouziès towards St-Cirq