SAINT CIRQ LAPOPIE, GREAT TOURIST SITE IN MIDI-PYRÉNÉES

ST CIRQ LAPOPIE, LOT

Contacts

Starting from Cahors, a cliff-lined road winds through the Lot valley leading to an unforgettable spectacle: that of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. This medieval village, wonderfully preserved, hugs the rocky wall 100 metres above the river. What's more, it was voted 'France's Favourite Village' in 2012.

Upstream from Cahors, the Lot valley opens up to a winding gash where yachts and pleasure boats ply the river. The cliffs come together, high and white. They tightly hug the river cooled by trees and meadows. The road is at times cut into the rock. It runs close to the enchanting waterway, one of the most beautiful rivers in France.

One soon enters the Causses du Quercy Regional Nature Park. A crossroads indicates the neighbouring valley of the Célé: one shouldn’t miss a visit, amongst others, to the magnificent ornate Pech Merle cave.
But for the moment, let us stay in the Lot valley. A veritable jewel box containing a rare pearl: Saint-Cirq-Lapopie.

Perched above the river, the medieval village fits beautifully into its cliff. It unfurls in an intoxicating cascade of paved alley ways, Gothic facades, fortified gates and hollyhocks.
Previously witness to a flourishing ferryboat life, renowned for its wood turners, Saint-Cirq-Lapopie is a listed site including 13 historic monuments. The village has retained the whole of its heritage, but also its charm. Market stalls, restaurants and cafés are sheltered from the sun by the shade of Gothic doors, whereas the site is striking in its overall harmony.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the village attracted artists, Parisian gallery owners and, from 1950, numerous artists from the surrealist movement. This artistic dimension is still clearly present as evidenced by the contemporary art route, not forgetting the international artists’ residence installed in the Maison Daura.
The poet and writer André Breton was the one who put saint-Cirq-Lapopie on the map. On the subject of this village where he came to live, he said: “I have stopped wanting to be elsewhere”. We easily understand him!