Attractions and Places To See around Parnac - Top 20

Albas, nicknamed « Albas la Jolie », is a magnificent medieval fortified village nestled in the heart of the Lot valley, in the Occitanie region. Perched on a rocky spur about 20 kilometers downstream from Cahors, the village proudly overlooks the meanders of the Lot river and the famous Cahors vineyard.

Albas, nicknamed « Albas la Jolie », is a magnificent medieval fortified village nestled in the heart of the Lot valley, in the Occitanie region. Perched on a rocky spur about 20 kilometers downstream from Cahors, the village proudly overlooks the meanders of the Lot river and the famous Cahors vineyard.

Extremely abundant karst spring: groundwater from the extensive, water-bearing limestone karst system rises approx. 140m through a deep, almost vertical shaft back to the surface and emerges there as a strong spring. The fountain is the most important point of emergence in the Lot. Its catchment area is estimated at approximately 250 to over 300 km². The discharge reacts to precipitation: in dry periods it is around 2 m³/s, after heavy rainfall it can rise to over 50 m³/s. In Roman times, a place of worship for Divona, the Celtic water goddess. In the Middle Ages a mill, and since 1853 a fresh water well for the city of Cahors.

This railway bridge was built on the Montauban-Brive line, an axis declared of public interest because it corresponded to the shortest route between Toulouse and Paris. Built at an angle to the riverbed, it combines traditional techniques and implementations typical of industrial architecture. The structure was built between 1880 and 1883 by the engineers Jean LANTEREIS and Jean-Louis LACAZE, employed by the Fives-Lille company. It consists of 5 arches with an opening of 36 meters. The pillars decorated with pilasters are made of hewn Cantal granite. The industrially manufactured metal trusses were melted down in the Fourchambault workshops on behalf of the Orléans company and transported to the location by rail.

cozy town with a cozy café on the square under the plane trees

From the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD, the Fontaine des Chartreux was a center of worship of Divona, goddess of the waters in the Celtic tradition, as evidenced by the Roman coins found during archaeological explorations in 1989. In the Middle Ages, a mill used the waters of the spring: the spring was ceded to the Charterhouse of Cahors and was known thereafter by the name of this religious order. In the 19th century, some of the stones lining the pool were replaced by tombstones from the church of Notre Dame de la Daurade, destroyed in 1808. Since 1853, when the Cabazat pumping station (now Maison de l'Eau) was put into operation, this Vauclusian spring, whose depth of 137 meters acts as a real filtering system, supplies the town with drinking water. From 1926, electric pumps were installed in this building, right next to the Fontaine des Chartreux, and this is still the pumping station today. The water is pumped into reservoirs hollowed out of the cliffs and then through pipes laid under the

According to my research this bridge has nothing to do with Eiffel. The history of the Cahors railway bridge is intertwined with that of the Montauban-Brive line. Declared of public utility by the law of March 11, 1879, it was of capital importance because it was the shortest route between Toulouse and Paris. A first section between Montauban and Cahors led to the construction of several structures: bridges over the Tarn and Aveyron, viaducts and bridge over the Lot. The construction of the latter was entrusted to the Fives-Lille Company. The work, supervised by two civil engineers: Jean Lantereis and Jean-Pierre Lacaze, began in March 1880 and was completed in June 1883. Source: https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/IA46000096

Nice view of the center from the narrow bridge