Brive La Gaillarde

From the Paris train station (think its Gare d' Austerlitz) we started to take the Eurail for Brive La Gaillarde, which from my research seems to be the nearest train stop to our main destination Rocamadour.

It took me quite a while trying to determine how to get to that mountain region. i learned there was a local train station but transport is unreliable and few so just to be sure I decided to stop at Brive and take a taxi to Roc.

I tried reserving a cab from our hotel in Paris since from past travel reviews it seems one has to always pre-book. Fortunately though we were assured that it will not be a problem during that time.


Bebeth and I wanted to leave our luggage at the Brive station so we can take a look around the city.

Unfortunately, the left luggage section was down at the basement without benefit of a lift nor an escalator. We wanted to preserve our energy for the weeks to come so opted to just take photos around the train station area.

We already reserved our seats here for our train to Lourdes.

Brive which owes its nickname La Caillarde – the bold - to the courage displayed by its citizens on the many occasions when it was besieged, is an active town in the Correze alluvial plain, in the middle of the rich Brive basin, where market gardening and orchards prosper.

Located at the crossroads of Bas-Limousin (Lower Limousin), Perigord and the Quercy causses (limestone plateaux), the town Is an important railway junction with a thriving book fair has taken place annually in the Georges Brassens hall since 1982.

Brive is an excellent example of concentric urban expansion, with the old quarter St Martins Collegiate Church as its centre.