The little town of Rocamadour (pop. 631), one of France's most unusual places of pilgrimage, lies in an extremely picturesque situation, clinging to the rock face above a gorge on the Alzou (which is frequently dry) in the Causse de Gramat in Quercy. In the Middle Ages pilgrims flocked here to honor the Black Virgin of Roc-Amadour (12th C.). Above the town is its 12th C. castle, which is reached on a steep flight of steps with the Stations of the Cross. It is not known with certainty who St Amadour was - perhaps a hermit named Zacchaeus from Jericho. The great shrine of Rocamadour is the Chapelle Miraculeuse with the Black Virgin.
Fifteen km/9mi northeast of Rocamadour is the Gouffre de Padirac, a huge swallowhole and underground cave system which was first explored by the famous French speleologist E. A. Martel and is now the most visited cave in France (boat trip on an underground river).
