There's a Lot to Like....

I will never cease to be amazed , not only by the beauty of the French landscape, but by the vastness of it. Go on a journey anywhere in France and you will discover this. I was born in Great Britain, where a similar sized population is crammed into dense urban areas , and journeys between towns and cities are short in distance, but often delayed by heavy traffic. To drive anywhere in France, outside of the largest cities , is a dream. But, assuming you avoid the major motorways, don't expect to get anywhere fast, as changing vistas unfold before you of hills, mountains and rivers. Last weekend we visited our friends in the Lot Valley , and watched how the rocky limestone causses , box shrubs, and steep cliffs of our region gradually softened into rich green fields stretching before us. Luminous yellow crops of rape and thick carpets of dandelions crowdede the pastures. Cows grazed contendedly: a sight that we rarely enjoy in Hérault.

We by-passed the city of Rodez, and shortly afterwards we found ourselves in the region of Quercy and the Lot valley. A broad river wound its way through the landscape, and many of the fields were given over to neatly managed rows of vines, and small stone cabins.

Pretty villages boasted cottages of golden stone bedecked with wisteria.

On Saturday , we visited Cahors, the main city of this region. We parked beside the famous Pont Valentré bridge which lies on one of the pilgrimage routes to the Spanish city of Santiago Della Compostella. This fourteenth century, six span bridge with its three fine towers spans the wide River Lot . We walked across the five metre wide cobbled road towards the other side, and watched a tourist hire boat navigate the lock to bypass the large weir.

Le Pont Valentré is a UNESCO world heritage site.

From the bridge we followed the pilgrimage route into the centre of town, which was denoted by bronze scallop shells set into the pavement. Cahors is a fine city, and the Saturday market was in full swing.

On our final day, our friends took us to the charming village of Les Arques where we enjoyed lunch in a wonderful restaurant underneath an enormous flowering wisteria. But this was not to be the sole purpose of our visit, for our friend D. likes to work with stone and wood, and is interested in this medium. He had a treat in store for us. We strolled through the pretty village streets until we came to a charming church constructed in the Roman period , with a typical round apse. But what made this church even more memorable were two sculptures. Both modelled in wood, one was in the form of Christ on the crucifix and occupied the whole of the back wall. The second was a Pieta, depicting Mary bearing the body of Christ. Both of these sculptures, as you will see from my photographs, are unique, and not at all like the usual forms one can see in a church. But who had created them?

The answer to our question was soon answered as we left the church to explore the courtyard outside, for here we saw a large number of bronze statues on show by the same sculptor. Much admired by our friend D., his name is Ossip Zadkine , and although I confess I had never heard of him until now, he is considered to be one of the foremost exponents of cubist sculpture. Born in Russia in 1888, he came to Europe at the age of 19 where he studied sculpture in the North of England, and then Paris. His work is amazing. I particularly liked this enormous bronze of a musician.

But the largest sculpture in that courtyard stopped me in my tracks. Entitled 'La Prisonnière,' it depicts one prisoner as three anguished figures enclosed within a large metal cage. Executed between 1941-1945 it was created by Ossin Zadkine, a Russian Jew, when he was in exile in America. It had a powerful salience then, and sadly, I feel that it has similar salience today.

Adjacent to the church courtyard lay a small museum dedicated to Zadkine's work . This holds yet more statues, big and small, in both wood and bronze. Below are two of my favourites.

And so, after three nights our brief stay in The Lot Valley was over. We not only left with memories of a beautiful and tranquil region, and a happy sojourn with friends, but also with knowledge of a new sculptor. Zadkine's erstwhile home in Paris has now become a museum to showcase his work, and so this discovery could be the start of a new journey. As they say ' it's never too late to learn.'