3 George Sand - The Location

Location

Map for Chemin George Sand

If you zoom in, you should be able to see the pool on the satellite imagery!

Decazeville

Situated in a commune of the Decazeville Basin - Aubin. Historically the area was rich in coal. Today, the area has five communes, Aubin, Cransac, Decazeville, Firmi and Viviez, all have resolutely taken the train of modernity, each one developing its own assets. The commune of Aubin was created about year 193 by Claudius Albinus, Roman General whom the commune is named after. You can visit the fort, local markets, half-timbered houses, classified churches Historic buildings, its vaults and the Museum of the Mine.The house is attached to the forest of Vaysse the first European forest of acacias, with their ionizing properties throughout the season. The wood is home to a rich variety of wildlife - deer, birds of prey and even wild boar. For the nature lover and walkers, there are many circuits to discovered and appreciate the richness of the forest.

The Local Area

See the information from the local tourist offices (linked at the right of the page) for more information about what to do in the local area!

Cransac-les-Thermes

Just 1km away is the resort of Cransac Les Thermes. The healing powers of the waters of Cransac has been exploited from the nineteenth century. It was one of the first hydrotherapy centres in France. The Cransac Thermal Spa, constructed of wood, glass and zinc sits amidst the Forest of Vaysse, overhanging the valley of Enne and offers vast panoramic views of the commune and its neighbourhoods. The town offers many leisure facilities: parks and gardens the bassin de Passelaygues for fishing, promenading, viewing wildlife on the lake, local markets and fetes, swimming in the outdoor leisure pool, a karting track etc.

Conques

Conques is located at the confluence of the Dourdou and Ouche rivers. Built on a hillside and with classic narrow Medieval streets, vehicles other than those belonging to residents may not enter the historic town centre but must park outside. Consequently, most day visitors enter on foot and, as at least one overnight visitor has observed, the majority of the tourists depart in the late afternoon, leaving the town much less crowded. The town was largely passed by in the nineteenth century, and was saved from oblivion by the efforts of a small number of dedicated people. As a result, the historic core of the town has very little construction dating from between 1800 and 1950, leaving the medieval structures remarkably intact. The roads have been paved, and modern-day utility lines are buried.

The Sainte-Foy abbey-church in Conques was a popular stop for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela, in what is now Spain. Its construction was begun on the foundations of a smaller earlier basilica, directed by the abbot Odolric (1031-1065) and completed around the year 1120. It was built in Romanesque style, using a warm-colored local limestone infilled with a local gray schist. The daringly large dome that originally covered the crossing later collapsed and was replaced in the 15th century.

The main draw for medieval pilgrims at Conques were the remains of Sainte Foy, a martyred young woman from the 4th century. Her name has been assimilated into the general conception of 'Holy Faith.' In the late 9th century, a monk from Conques seemingly stole these relics from a nearby monastery in order to draw travellers (and wealth) to Conques. The church that was eventually built had a double purpose, to accommodate the flock of pilgrims and at the same time to allow a community of monks to gather for the divine office seven times a day. Thus Sainte-Foy has been designed like a pilgrimage shrine but also as an abbey-church. To serve the inhabitants of the town, a separate parish church was erected, dedicated to Saint Thomas of Canterbury. This smaller church is no longer standing.

In the 19th century, the author and antiquary Prosper Mérimée, appointed the first Inspector of Historical Monuments, inspired thorough restorations.

The Sainte-Foy abbey-church was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1998, as part of the World Heritage Sites of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France. Its Romanesque architecture, albeit somewhat updated in places, is displayed in periodic self-guided tour opportunities, especially of the upper level, some of which occur at night with live music and appropriately-adjusted light levels. A particularly interesting aspect of the church is the set of carvings of the "curieux" (the curious ones) who are peeking over the edges of the tympanum arch.

Rocamadour

The buildings of Rocamadour (from roca, cliff, and sant Amador) rise in stages up the side of a cliff on the right bank of the Alzou, which here runs between rocky walls 400 ft. in height. Flights of steps ascend from the lower town to the churches, a group of massive buildings half-way up the cliff. The chief of them is the church of Notre Dame (1479), containing a wooden Black Madonna reputed to have been carved by St Amadour. The church opens on to a terrace called the Plateau of St Michel, where there is a broken sword said to be a fragment of Durandal, once wielded by the hero Roland. The interior walls of the church of St Sauveur are covered, with paintings and inscriptions recalling the pilgrimages of celebrated persons. The subterranean church of St Amadour (1166) extends beneath St Sauveur and contains relics of the saint. On the summit of the cliff stands the château built in the Middle Ages to defend the sanctuaries.

This village by the wonderful beauty of its situation merits the attention of artists and excites the curiosity of archaeologists; but its reputation is due especially to its celebrated sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary which for centuries has attracted pilgrims from every country, among them kings, bishops, and nobles.

Belcastel

The village is apparently medieval in character, with cobbled streets and lauze-roofed (stone tiled) houses. The bulk of the village and the castle are situated on the steep North bank of the Averyon river. Several buildings including the 15th century church are on the south side of the river, with a similarly aged bridge (pictured) connecting the two. A ruined fort can also be found about a kilometer west of the village on the south bank of the river. It was nominated as one of the most beautiful village of France, Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, and the local council regularly hosts watercolour competitions and art exhibitions during the summer.

Rodez

Existing from at least the 5th century BC, Rodez was founded by the Rusyns Celts. After the Roman occupation, the oppidum (fortified place) was renamed Segodunum, while in late Imperial times it was known as Civitas Rutenorum, whence the modern name. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it was captured by the Visigoths and then by the Franks, being also ravaged by the Arabs in 725. Later it was occupied by the armies of the Dukes of Aquitaine and of the Counts of Toulouse. English troops occupied Rodez during the Hundred Years War.

However, in medieval times the city's history was marked by strong rivalry between the Counts and the Bishops of Rodez, who exerted their authorities in different sectors of the city, divided by a wall. The counts were able to defy the royal French authority until the submission of count John IV by the future King Louis XI in the 15th century. In the following century bishop François d'Estaing built the Rodez Cathedral.

The last count of Rodez, Henry VI, sold his title to Royal Crown in 1589. the city remained a flourishing merchant centre up to the 18th century, but it lost much of its importance when Villefranche-de-Rouergue was made prefecture capital in the wake of the French Revolution.

The main sights of Rodez include:

The notable Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rodez. One of its features is a completely closed western wall, which was part of the city's defence wall.
Chapelle Saint-Martin.
Historical and Archaeological Museum
Church of Saint-Amans (12th century, rebuilt in 1758-1761). The interior is in Baroque style. In the choir are 6th century tapestries representing the miracles of Saint Amand. The interior houses also a 15th century Pietà and a statue of the Trinity (16th century).
The Bishop's Palace

Rodez Cathedral is a national monument of France. Rodez was Christianized in the 4th-5th century AD, and the first mention of a cathedral dates from around 516. This edifice was rebuilt c. 1000: nearly nothing remains of this edifice after the decision to rebuilt it again from scratch in 1276.

The works were halted for many years by the Black Death and the Hundred Years War; they were restarted only in the early 15th century with the completion of the choir and its vault, as well as the transept and of the first sectors of the nave. After the fire of 1510, bishop François d'Estaing had it rebuilt in 1513-1526 under the direction of Antoine Salvan with a new majestic bell tower. The cathedral was completed around 1531.

Despite the long construction process, the cathedral is characterized by a remarkable unity of style, which is mostly the Gothic one imported by architect Jean Deschamps in the Midi from northern France.

Millau

Le Viaduc de Millau is a large cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France. Designed by French bridge engineer Michel Virlogeux and Foster and Partners, it is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with one mast's summit at 343 metres (1,125 ft) - slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 38 m (125 ft) shorter than the Empire State Building. The viaduct is part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Béziers. It was formally dedicated on 14 December 2004 and opened to traffic two days later.

Villefranche-de-Rouergue

Figeac

Jean-François Champollion, the first translator of Egyptian hieroglyphics, was born in Figeac, where there is a Champollion Museum. On the "Place des écritures" (writings place) is a giant copy of the Rosetta stone, by Joseph Kosuth. Louis Malle's 1974 film, Lacombe Lucien, is set there, with the setting being 1944.