Lot delivers everything you’d desire on a campervan trip
The medieval town of Figeac provides the perfect setting for the second part of our trip to the Lot department: a bustling Saturday market, hearty food, interesting driving and gorgeous autumnal colours.
Beautiful architecture in Figeac on a perfect autumn day
There’s so much to tell you of our recent wonderful weekend away in the Lot department that I made it a two-part story; last week featuring ‘Day 1′ at Rocamadour and today ‘Day 2’ at Figeac.
Lot is in the northern part of the Midi-Pyrenees region (technically now part of one of the newly formed mega-regions called Occitanie), which is in south-west France. It sits on the south-east border of the hugely popular Dordogne department in northern Aquitaine.
After spending an amazing first day in the famous village of Rocamadour, we headed 40 kilometres south-west, further into the Lot region, to stay with friends at their home near the medieval town of Figeac.
This whole area is very much like its close neighbour Dordogne, with pretty villages and spectacular countryside all around. We visited Figeac town on Saturday morning to explore the medieval market, and found we loved this town with its exceptionally well-preserved medieval architecture. Figeac is an important stopping off point on the Way of Saint James (or Camino de Santiago), which goes from le Puy en Velay to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain.
Local people shopping at the busy Saturday market in Figeac, Lot
We were lucky enough to see Figeac in brilliant sunshine, with most of the inhabitants out enjoying the café terraces and bustling Saturday market. I must say, I preferred this day to our day in Rocamadour as it represented the French way of life we love and we felt surrounded by the people of the region rather than just tourists.
We had lunch in Figeac in a lovely little restaurant near the market, tucked away off the main square. Le Petit Savoyard (they don’t have a website but are at: 6 Rue du Consulat, 46100 Figeac, Tel: 05 65 38 84 14) was fun, inexpensive and served big portions of superb food. As the name suggests, they specialise in hearty, mountain food such as tartiflette, but also had magnificent salads and local cuisine too. Some of our friends didn’t speak French, but the waitress spoke English and was very helpful and patient with us, taking care to ensure the vegetarian in our party was well catered for.
After lunch we took a long walk through the splendid autumnal countryside, enjoyed a few glasses of the local cider in a rural village bar, then spent a second night with our friends before heading back home.
We left feeling we must come and see much more of this region as it has a huge amount to offer the motorhome traveller with interesting drives, great cuisine, fascinating history, lively towns and some of the most beautiful villages and countryside in France.
“Au revoir for now Lot; love you, miss you already, see you soon!”
Resources:
- Figeac Tourist Board: www.tourism-figeac.com
- Areas where you can park a campervan or motorhome in and around Figeac
- Campsites in and around Figeac