During our four days in Aurillac we made only one longer hike on the plateau of Campuac, two shorter hikes in the nearby villages Vic- and Arpajon-sur-Cère, and then made a day trip to two old, idyllic villages Carlat and Mur-de-Barrez farther away.

The first hike from Campuac was very easy, nine kilometers in a little more than two hours with 180 meters of ascent and descent, but the scenery wasn’t particularly impressive.

The two hikes, or rather walks, around Aurillac, near Arpajon-sur-Cère and Vic-sur-Cère, were very easy but not very interesting, either.

Our stay in Aurillac was crowned by the visits to two interesting villages. The first one was Carlat, located at the foot of an impressive rock wall, “Rocher de Carlat.” There used to be powerful castle on the top of the rock, but in 1604 the king of  France ordered it to be demolished, because it was a center of intrigue, rebellion and resistance against the kings of France (from Wikipedia). Today there is no sign of the castle left, but there is a park with a climbing wall at the site. Because it was off-season the park and access to the statue of Notre Dame de Champs were closed.

Our second destination of the day was Mur-de-Barrez. We climbed very steep cobble stone streets to the ancient site of a castle that was demolished in 1620. What is left now is the foundations of the Eastern wall with round bottoms of two towers. The building in the picture on left (bottom row), Hotel de Mandilhac, was constructed in 768 by the treasurer of France in Montauban. From 1868 to the end of the 19th century a Christian school operated in the building. In 1962 the building changed ownership and the school operations continued until 2000. Currently the building is undergoing an extensive renovation: in the future it will be a multi-service center  hosting a mediateque, offices, associations, etc.

In the next post (Part IV) we’ll move to the Aubrac Plateau and Mende, visiting three interesting villages on our way: Estaing, Bozouls, and Aubrac.