July 28th, 2007 
Sheila Simkin The Figeac Tourism Internet site is unfortunately all in French. Could pick out a few words here and there but got the gist of what they were saying. Then I discovered “France for Visitors which gave a lot more information. Rocamadour was only 20 miles away and that is what I wanted to see and the main reason for visiting Figeac. (Rocamadour is another site in French only.) Rocamadour is the second most-visited site in France after Mont St. Michael and still a holy place for many pilgrims on the Way of St. James. Some pilgrims even climb up the stone staircase’s 216 steps leading to the sanctuaries…ON THEIR KNEES! A very famous medieval village.
On the train from Albi to Figeac, it was upwards of 90 degrees, the supposedly air-conditioned train’s air conditioning wasn’t working and the windows didn’t open. The conductor came through the car and made an announcement in French (didn’t understand a word). ex-Marine and I stick out like sore thumbs in these regions and a woman instantly asked if she could translate for us (without even asking). The problems were just in this car and everyone was welcome to move elsewhere on the train. Didn’t have to ask us twice…
Once in Figeac (albeit, very sweaty), it was a short walk from the train station (God bless wheelies) to Figeac’s hotel of choice, La Hostellerie de Europe. A rather dumpy place (an old coaching inn on the Pilgrim Route) but with with free WI-FI. (There’s a bright side to everything.) And we discovered my first mistake on this trip (believe me, there’s always a glitch somewhere). This one was definitely my own creation…the bad news…made the reservation with an incorrect date…four weeks from today! The good news…they had plenty of room (or the bad news was that they had plenty of room).
Dropped our bags…correction…schlepped the bags up several flights of stairs, down a long hallway to another less than beautiful room and went to explore.
First stop at the extremely helpful Tourist Office (Tourisme) to find out that the entire reason we detoured to Figeac, Rocamadour, was impossible to accomplish tomorrow. There were no buses to Rocamadour and the train schedule wouldn’t mesh with the train to Le Puy. What can you do…the best laid plans, yadda yadda… Maybe next year… Armed with booklets and maps galore, we set off to discover Figeac.
Figeac began as an Abbey towards the end of the 13th century and was one of the most flourishing towns in the south during medieval times. The plague and 100 Year war put an end to the development of Figeac by the end of the 13th century. Only a little over 9,500 people live here now. Figeac is also part of a nationwide network of “Villes et Pays d’Art et d’Histoire” (towns of art and history). This term is granted to towns where the local authorities undertake conveying their heritage. There are only 120 towns across France in this network.
The Hotel du Viguier (a Viguier represented royal authority), consists of three medieval houses that all belonged to the Viguier: the 14th century tower; the 12th century house on the corner; and a 13th century house. It is now a luxury hotel with, I’m sure, luxury prices.
Two, timber-framed houses, on the Place Gaillardy, were good examples of building techniques during the 15th and 16th century. The top …View image…floor was an open loft called a “solelho,” used for drying and storing cloth, vegetables and fruit.
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