The chateau of Calmont d'olt

Perched on a volcanic peak, the chateau of Calmont d'Olt overhangs 530 m above the village of Espalion and the Lot valley.  It offers a panoramic view of the mountains of Aubrac.  It was about the year 1000 that the first Lords of Calmont became known.  From the 9th century, the chateau had a purely military purpose.
A second enclosure was built with eight towers.  It dominated the route from Rodez to Aubrac. 

Under the direction of a native of Saint-Côme d'Olt, Thierry Plume, The chateau became the object of several years of ambitious renovation.  Work, which was made from the rock of Sisyphe, in which each stone from the site was catalogued and arranged before it found its place.  And what a miracle when you find under the debris, a keystone of a vault that gives precious indications about the appearance of the chateau.  The members of the association Remparts also shape the stones with middle age tools.
To visit Calmont is to be plunged into the Middle Ages with key demonstrations.  When on a visit you can go to handling of bows, crossbows, swords and understand better the fabrication of a coat of mail that weighs 25 kg.  Games circuits with 12 tests of observation for children with the presentation of a diploma according to their ability, page, squire or perhaps knight of the chateau of Calmont.

The abbey of Bonneval

The abbey of Bonneval harboured for six centuries generations of monks that formed a domain that stretched to the Gard and Tarn regions.  This massive fortified structure is found at the end of a little road lurking at the bottom of a lost valley enclosed between Laguiole and Espalion.  The ramparts of the abbey and the fortification of their barns would preserve them against the bands of highwaymen devastating the Rouergue during the hundred-year war.
It was the bishop of Cahors, son of the Lord of Calmont d'Olt whose castle ruins dominate Espalion, to whom we owe the foundation of the Abbey Notre-Dame-de-Bonneval in 1147.  The place originally called Bonalde was eventually transformed into Bonneval over time.  

In 1875, in the great repentance movement which following the defeat in 1870, the nuns of the Notre-Dame-de-Maubec abbey in the Drome decided to reinstate it form its ruins.  
In 1878, the nuns created a chocolate business in order to finance their work.
The secret of fabrication was passed on by a chocolate maker from Limoges whose daughter had joined the Abbey.  126 years later, the nuns followed the rule of Saint-Benoît with the traditions and customs of the order of Cîteaux, in search of God.

« The chocolate Sisters » were always faithful to their job, maybe slightly fewer than before but always good and courageous to begin their day at 4am.  They were not older than 36 but the youngest was 24 years old.
If the inside of the Abbey is forbidden, in return, the sisters welcome you for the sale of their divine chocolates.  For those who are looking for meditation and serenity, the Abbey of Bonneval offers stays of 23 euros per day with only one obligation: to respect meal times.