PERHAPS YOU KNEW that the Pope is looked after by four virgins. But do you know their names? Carmela, Emanuela, Loredana and Cristina.
This is the gospel according to an Italian newspaper. If any facts are incorrect, please contact the Corriere della Sera. I’m learning Italian, and I spent a lovely but long train journey from Nice to Toulouse, in southwestern France, with this newspaper.
The trip was to visit one of my oldest friends, holidaying in the quintessential Quercynois village of Puylaroque.
Less well known than its northern Dordogne neighbour, Quercy covers the Lot department and part of Tarn et Garonne. This is la France profonde – rolling hills, green valleys, mixed woodland, fields of sunflowers, distinctive architecture, old stone houses with barns and dovecotes (right), orchards of plums and greengages, walnuts, truffles, every edible part of the duck (and probably the inedible parts), relaxed restaurants and charming BBs.
Puylaroque is in Quercy Blanc, so called because chalky limestone plateaux from ancient lakes and marshes give a whitish colour to the soil.
We stayed in a self-catering gite at Les Chimères and dined out each evening – at the local l’Oustal du Quercy hotel; Hôtel la Renaissance, in Caylus; and Le Saint Mamet d’Eux, at Septfonds.
In Albi, Toulouse Lautrec’s home town, we visited the medieval red-brick Sainte Cécile cathedral, built along the Tarn river.
Near the late-13th-century St Projet castle, where Reine Margot took refuge, we dined at Grange du Cros in Saillac – a real barn in the countryside, says the menu, so don’t be surprised by the odd owl or wood mouse.
I didn’t see either and would have asked for my money back if the lapin au citron et aux olives hadn’t been so delicious.
These are ancient towns and villages; the Romans arrived here, on foot, in 50 BC.
For more information visit www.puylaroque.com, and www.aux-chimeres.com
Do you know of a hidden gem? E-mail us at go@irishtimes.com