Fotografi a Rocamadour

Rocamadour is one street, one staircase and one cliff, which makes it the simplest location in the southwest to plan and the hardest to share. The village clings to the wall of the Alzou canyon in three layers: a single lane of medieval houses and gates at the bottom, the cluster of chapels and the Grand Escalier above it, and the castle and its ramparts on the rim about 120 metres up. The classic frame is not taken in the village at all — it is taken from the Hospitalet belvedere on the opposite lip of the canyon, where the whole stack lines up with the gorge dropping away below. Go at sunrise. The cliff faces roughly west, so early light lands on the plateau and leaves the village in cool shade with the canyon still full of mist; the stone warms up through the afternoon and the last two hours before sunset are the other good window. In between, from around ten to five in high season, the single lane and the 216 steps of the Grand Escalier fill up and stay full. The sanctuary terraces are a working religious site, quiet dress is expected and services take priority, so anything beyond a couple walking through is worth clearing with the sanctuary first. Below the village, the Alzou valley floor and the walking paths out onto the causse — dry limestone, low walls, oak scrub, shepherds' huts — give twenty minutes of open country with nobody in it, five minutes from the crowd. April to June and September to October are the months; July and August are hot on bare rock and the valley is at its busiest.