Come stroll with me …

… through the old town of Cordes-sur-Ciel. It has a fascinating history and a scrumptious place to visit …

I’m camped in Villefranche-de-Rouergue and taking the D922 out of town and south to Cordes.  As I pass Najac and Languépie, I have to stop to snatch a pic or two of the ruins of the old fortifications on each promontory.  And there will be more from those locations in later posts.

The road sits in the valley bottom, so as you draw closer to Cordes, the old fortified town seems to rise out of the ground.  The place seems to float on the clouds when there’s an early morning mist in the valley.  Hence the name, which translates literally as ‘ropes in the sky’.  The town’s original name was just Cordes, derived from the ancient word ‘corte’, meaning rocky heights.  In 1993 the name was officially changed, and sur-Ciel was added.  As you drive towards the location, you can see instantly how well the revised name fits.

Built as a bastide in the thirteenth century, the town received its charter in 1222 from the then Count of Toulouse.  It is widely believed to be one of the oldest bastides in southwest France.  It was also part of a regeneration project following the Albigensian Crusade.  The Crusade, instigated by Pope Innocent 3, was an attempt to annihilate the Cathars, a religious community that had broken away from Catholicism and considered to be heretic.  As a period of French history, the rise and fall of the Cathars is a massive subject and far too big to include here fully.  But I can recommend The Yellow Cross by René Weis if you want to read more.  Perhaps it is a subject that I will return to in future posts.

The gates of the old town are a climb from the surrounding modern suburbs.  But well worth the effort for the views across the valley.  The town took seven years to build and was populated by people displaced by the destruction wreaked by the Cathar Crusades.  The new town replaced the village of Saint-Marcel, which was raised to the ground by the troops of Simon de Montfort.

Cordes prospered until the fifteenth century when it was pillaged during the Hundred Year’s War – a long-lasting series of skirmishes – and escaped damage during the religious wars at the end of the sixteenth century. This little town survived, and today, you can find some marvellous examples of properties from the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. Check out the La Maison Prunet with its arched gothic windows.

Grand Rue Raimond 7 takes you right through the ancient heart of the place from Porte de Rous to Porte des Ormeaux.  This road will take you past one side of the old market place - see pic to the left - which still hosts a substantial market at the weekend. The street will also take you to the Musée des Arts du Sucre et du Chocolat.  A whole museum dedicated to chocolate and sugar work!!!!  What is there not to like about that?  And yes, I did visit.  How could I not?

If you enjoyed this post you might also be interested in my meanders through Chenonceaux  Blois  Ancy-le-Franc Tanlay and Lapalisse