To discover
THE HOLE OF BOZOULS AND ITS CANYON
Yes, a canyon in Aveyron! A geological wonder 400 m in diameter and 100 m deep. It is hard to imagine that it is the modest Dourdou flowing at its bottom that has dug for millennia this surprising natural circus in the shape of a horseshoe in the middle of the causse.
Several points of view are available to you to admire it from above. But you can also experience it from below. Indeed, the terrain is suitable for hiking and a botanical trail allows you to identify more than a hundred varieties of plants.
Discover Conques, classified among the Most Beautiful Villages of France, on the way to Saint-Jacques, the goldsmith's treasure, the Sainte-Foy abbey, the tympanum of the Last Judgment and the light of the stained glass windows of Pierre Soulages.
Conques is a village that has managed to preserve its authenticity. Stretched on the mountainside, the agglomeration encloses the abbey in a vast arc. The original plan, that of the Middle Ages, has been broadly preserved.
A CLOSED CITY
From its origins or shortly after, Conques became a closed city, probably one of the first in Rouergue. The construction of the ramparts dates back to Roman times, as evidenced by the architecture of the three enclosure gates, which still exist.
The layout of the enclosure (a rectangle of 250 meters by 150 approximately, oriented northwest / southeast) remains perfectly visible, in the upper part of the village, near the European Center, and especially in the sector bordering the cemetery current and the cloister, overhanging the Ouche ravine. There, the ramparts also served as a retaining wall for the abbey buildings, which explains their huge shale device and their buttresses, unknown elsewhere.
THE ROMAN DOORS
The Iron Gate, a simple postern, has a lintel in a building identical in shape to that of the south portal of the abbey church, while the other two, the doors of Barry (or faubourg) and Vinzelle, barrel vaulted , open externally by a semicircular arc lined with a discharge arc.
Only a few towers remain in place, almost intact, notably that which defended the Porte de la Vinzelle, to the northwest and the corbelled turret of the cemetery.
ESTAING CLASS AMONG THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VILLAGES IN FRANCE
In the heart of Aveyron, in the upper Lot valley where the Aubrac mountains are born, nestles in a natural setting of green hills, Estaing, classified one of the Most Beautiful Villages in France. Located on the GR65 “Via Podiensis” of the paths to Santiago de Compostela, it is one of the milestones.
The history of Estaing merges with that of its majestic castle which emerges and dominates the secular borough with the bluish gray colors of shale stones.
At the bend of its picturesque alleys, come and go back in time to discover the small and great history of Estaing!
