Cahors' Pont Valentre

After Alcantara, I would not normally do a bridge that has not stood the test of time and doesn't carry heavy goods vehicles. But Cahors' Pont Valentre is 14th century, it is a fortified bridge, and is said to be the most photographed bridge in France. And it was only a few hundred meters away. A fortified bridge, unlike sherry, has to do with warfare, and in this case the bridge's three towers were used for the Medievals' favorite mode of warfare, namely, throwing crap down on people (cf. any scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail that ends with "run away..."). Thus...

Standard view; not a postcard nor grabbed from the web 

Little side-stream that actually provides Cahors' drinking
water

View from the far shore

Just downstream, another dam and lock for boats

OK, it's not the Yellowstone, but you do see a Lot of fisherpersons

There's even a Federation for Personnes Who Fish a Lot (nyuk)

Nice place, but we're moving on to Sarlat

Fun At Cahors Cathedral

Cahors Cathedral was consecrated very early in the 12th century and is approximately half Romanesque and half Gothic. Fashions change. Mid-stream. We have seen worse. Said to be the first of the Aquitaine Gothics. It's the older stuff that is interesting inside, and then the sculptural program outside that is fun.

Cathedral again from the market

Another welcome model; the two rotundas are the old part

Nice old frescoes high up in the entry

The western rotunda is painted with the zodiac, or the twelve tribes or apostles,
or possibly the stoning of Stephen

Interestingly, the eastern rotunda is not painted; according to our completely
trustworthy guidebooks, these are the two largest rotundas in Christendom,
apart from Hagia Sofia; I think the relevant emphasis is on "two," as in "set"

Nice old-looking glass here and there

This is the Chapel of the Holy Coif; very rustically-painted, etc;
we are still not entirely sure what a coif is, possibly something
French;  anyway, here is one, and it's on, you can tell, because
the little red light is glowing

Out in the very nice cloister, you can see the tower and twin rotundae

Also in the cloister is this appealing sculpture of Mary as a girl

It's outside, on the north porch, above the tympanum, where things get weird, and
fun, in the sculpture program

On the archivault (?), Medieval back-end stabbing

A little bestiality maybe?

Higher up, a kiss...

Happy about something, maybe the kiss

I could have stayed and collected the whole set; it's with these
exterior secular items that you can really see what fun-loving
folks our Medieval ancestors were

But Vicki said it was time to go taste more wine

And so we moved on

Noting, finally, the Cathedral Garden (seriously), for decorating the altars, white
and blue for Mary, orange and red for the sufferings of Jesus, and yellow and gold
for the "mysteries of the Resurrection"; too bad for the Florists Guild

Six Flags Over Cahors

We decided to head into the interior. We saw most of the coast in 2010; and the weather seemed more agreeable on the inside. After bypassing rainy Bordeaux we landed at length in Cahors, the capital of the Lot (the local big famous river and its political subdivision). We were in Cahors in 1989, with Rachel and Rebecca. Just a campground between stops at Lascaux II, Peche Merle, Rocamadour (in the bosom of Abraham), and St. Cirq LaPoopie. The Cahors campground was the one with the outdoor pissoir right next to our site. Very educational.

This time, we drove right into Cahors looking for one of the three aire de camping-car sites on the big river, and we found one. Next day,Wednesday, we thought we'd cross the bridge and go to the Wednesday market, assuming there was one. It was May 1, Labor Day in France, a very big political holiday with just about everything closed except bars and tabacs, restaurants and hotels. Then see the cathedral and then the bridge for which Cahors is most famous, then head on to Sarlat. But no holiday is too big for the marche. We spent an hour or two there, then an hour or two looking at the cathedral and the Renaissance buildings of the old town, then a couple more doing internet at a bar, then a couple more seeing the bridge. Then we decided to spend another day in Cahors, resting, doing more internet, more research for the France segment of the trip, and enjoying relatively warm and dry weather.

Oh yes, nearly forgot: Cahors was the capital of the traditional province of Quercy, Gallic, then Roman, then held for a time by the Moors, then French, then English (Henry IV & Falstaff sacked the place), then French again. Then of course the German occupation during WWII. Then French again. Is that six?

1989, St. Cirq LaPoopie: the issue here, as we recall, was discovering that the
pizza had goat cheese on it and picking out the edible parts

Fast forward to 2013: market day, Labor Day, Cahors; we'll get to the cathedral
later, of course; the market was wonderful, much more food than crap; and it's spring:
white asparagus

Spring weather is here too, and the day turned out sunny and nice

Cahors is situated on a U-turn of the river Lot; here's one of the dams...

In the old town, a cobbler's shop

Serious cobbler's chop

Street scene (OK, it's a holiday, everybody's having lunch...)

Rotary meets here (click to enlarge sign)

For sale, tower included

Another likely fixer-upper; but look closely: this one's got a Renaissance window
that is probably worth more than  the whole building...

Main square and statue of Gambetta, local political hero
(1870 and all that)

Land of contrasts: the tourist hay-ride guy takes a call

The real problem with Cahors is this is where they perfected the Malbec grape
and you can hardly walk half a block without someone demanding you try a taste
of the Carte Noir...well, it's a problem for some people, I understand

Into France

We drove east from Donostia on congested blue roads, noting the license plates' change from E to F. In Bidart, we found an ingenious parking place right on the sea (most are blocked off to RVs), and took an hour's walk along the beach and bluffs above. It was cool and gray again, but we wanted some beach and seascape. After that, we found the same laundromat we'd used in August, and did some more wash there. And then more of the congested roads through Bidart, Biarritz, and Bayonne (and that's just the Bs), until, as the congestion finally cleared, we found a French Carrefours. And so the next hour we spent assembling a repast to celebrate our return to Frogopia. We spent the night at an aire de camping car en route up the coast.

Pebble beach, at first, then sand

On the hill, looking to the interior, a map showed the location of Pique Iparla, which
I  climbed last August...I had no idea it was this close to the sea

Looking back toward Donostia

Would-be surfers merely paddling around

Real-Time Update

We're now in Cahors, France, enojying some of the first good weather we've seen in a while. The Wednesday market was superb. As was the cathedral, the bridge, and...the Malbec! More in a while.

Adios, Espana

We enjoyed our month with you, even more than 2010. We hope to get back....

Donostia-San Sebastian, 2013

And so after a night of rain and high wind, perched atop the mountain, we left Bilbao, heading for Donostia-San Sebastian and our final visit in Spain, this year. But first we stopped at the big Eroski in Bilbao, a super/hiper/mercado I now know almost as well as the Safeway in Menlo Park. We stocked up on jamon, sangria, and gazpacho. Also Ribera, Crianza, and Rioja. In an hour we got to Donostia and our usual camper-stop at the University, a 15 minute walk to the beautiful harbor. I spent most of the day and the next blogging at a bar just a few hundred steps from the camper-stop, while Vicki read and worked on the camper. That night we did the usual tapas/pintxos crawl, getting to know the old town almost too well. It is a lovely place we still enjoy, even on the 4th visit.

Camping at the university is always interesting; could this
be the chemistry building?

Thus, at the camper-stop, mostly people passing-through this time of year

Teeny-bopper street: beer only, loud music, no tapas, no tourists, no parents

At Rick's Tapas Bar Americaine; people actually order this stuff...

Cafe Bar Ostadar; all neighborhood bars should be this popular, friendly,
generous; and have wifi

Bilbao's Basque Museum

Our last stop in Bilbao was the Basque Museum, one of the best such cultural museums we have seen. Alas, not much of it is in English, but the exhibits are sufficiently clear and interesting, and very well done, that it doesn't matter. If you see one other museum in Bilbao, see this one.

Old entrance to the museum, formerly a convent or somesuch

Much of it is life-sized dioramas; normally I don't care for such, but these were
exceptionally well done

Thus

Let's roll, Dude

They had a no fotos policy, and thus my few pix won't do justice to the place

The maritime displays were particularly good

The KO was this topo representation of Basque country, encompassing much of the
3rd floor, Bay of Biscay, Bilbao, Guernica, almost to Donostia

Cloister