My pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela (4) : Sinning in Quercy

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Leaving Rouergue the route enters in Lot which was the historical province of Quercy. Although Quercy has also medieval houses, the life has not stopped during the middle-age like in Rouergue. There are new buildings here and there, and even a "new" (created in the 1820's) city, Decazeville (no photo, it is depressing). Figeac has an interesting urban architecture, although it is a small town (less than 10000) famous for his foie-gras. A high place of French resistance, Figeac paid a heavy price during WW2, about 10% of its population was deported to Dachau and Ravensbrück in 1944. The covered market is in pure Baltard style, which is becoming rare, and surrounded by houses of the 15 and 16th C, telling us that this square has seen many covered markets in the past. Then I discovered Cajarc. I knew this name only from a funny sketch by Coluche in the 1970's, but I did not knew that President Pompidou, who was not my preferred one, had been elected in Cajarc, that Françoise Sagan, who was a writer that I always disliked was born in Cajarc, and that Coluche himself had a house near Cajarc (1100 inhabitants). I learned that on a sign and asked myself how I could have not heard of Cajarc before ! It was a market day in Cajarc, and I did my shopping for the lunch. I was intrigued by a woman selling a street food that I had never seen, and was told that it was a specialty of Quercy called "pescajoune". In Occitan, the native language of my mother, this means "a sin for times of fasting", and, looking at the woman and her daughter I noticed that they were big sinners. A well-fed cook inspires trust, I bought three pescajounes. It is a kind of pancake whith pieces of apples inside, but the dough is lighter than in pancakes. I also bought half of a bread and a local sheep cheese. I lunched on an "affût" for hunters (I don't know if there is an English name, it is a raised floor used to hunt wild boars). I was only lacking a bottle of local red wine to do a good lunch. Arrived in Cahors, the capital city of Lot, I committed another sin for a pilgrim : instead of going to the camping, I went to a hostel near the Lot river and asked for a room with a large bed having a bathroom with a true bath where I stayed 2 hours. It was so good ! Oh, well, a bit of comfort on the road to Santiago is not a big sin. The devil has a bridge in Cahors, a fortified bridge from the 14th C with three towers on it. It is splendid. Photos, from top to bottom : Figeac : the Lot river ; the square of the covered market Cajarc : the seller of pescajounes ; my lunch with pescajounes and sheep cheese Cahors : global view ; the Devil's bridge My hostel and room in Cahors