Luzech, Puy L'Évêque and the Château de Bonaguil
France > Dordogne > Lot > Downstream > Luzech
Twenty kilometres downriver from Cahors you come to LUZECH, with scant Gaulish and Roman remains of the town of L'Impernal, and the Chapelle de Notre-Dame-de-l'Île, dedicated to the medieval boatmen who transported Cahors wines to Bordeaux. the town stands in a huge river loop, overlooked by a thirteenth-century keep, with some picturesque alleys and dwellings in the quarter opposite place du Canal.Several bends in the river later – 15km by road – PUY-L'ÉVÊQUE is probably the prettiest village in the entire valley, with many grand houses built in honey-coloured stone and overlooked by both a church and the castle of the bishops of Cahors. For the best view, stand on the suspension bridge which crosses the Lot. For an overnight stay, the refurbished Bellevue (tel 05.65.36.06.60, fax 05.65.36.06.61; €55–70; closed two weeks in Nov and four weeks in Jan/Feb), perched on the cliff edge, has stylish rooms and a good restaurant (from €30, or €12.50 in the brasserie). For something cheaper, at the bottom of the town, the Henry has cheap and decent rooms (tel 05.65.21.32.24, fax 05.65.30.85.18; €30–40), or there's a campsite, Camping Les Vignes (tel & fax 05.65.30.81.72; closed Oct–March), 3km south by the river. With your own transport, follow the Lot as far as Duravel and then cut across country via the picturesque hamlet of St-Martin-le-Redon to reach the Château de Bonaguil (daily: Feb & March 11am–1pm & 2.30–5.30pm; April & May 10.30am–1pm & 2.30–5.30pm; June–Aug 10am–6pm; Sept 10.30am–1pm & 2.30–5pm; Oct, Nov & Christmas hols 11am–1pm & 2.30–5pm; closed Jan; €4.50) some 15km later. It's spectacularly perched at the end of a wooden spur commanding two valleys, about 8km northeast of Fumel. Dating largely from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with a double ring of walls, five huge towers and a narrow boat-shaped keep designed to resist artillery, it was the last of a dying breed, completed just when military architects were abandoning such elaborate fortifications.
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