Cahors
Home to a Prime Minister, a Pope and the Devil!
The ancient city of Cahors (pronounced Caor) can be found on a meander of the river Lot in the Bas Quercy and is famous for the so-called Black Wine produced in the Lot Valley.
Through the centre runs the Boulevard Gambetta, named after perhaps its most well known citizen Léon Gambetta the former Prime Minister, with its plane trees giving such vital shade during the heat of summer in this archetypal southern French town. Its other famous son is Jacques Duèze, better known as Pope Jean XXII, the second Avignon Pope.
There are many fine buildings to see in Cahors including the splendid domed Cathedral and other medieval structures but the most spectacular of all is the magnificent Pont Valentré, sometimes called the Devil’s Bridge, over the Lot on the west side of town.
This splendid example of French military architecture from the medieval period was so imposing that both during the Hundred Years War and the Wars of Religion it was never taken. The enemy had to invade the city by another route.
The Pont Valentré