After staying the night in Millau, Sophie and I drove to the nearby village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. We were familiar with Roquefort cheese but didn’t realize it gets its name from this little village in the department of Aveyron. In fact, this is the only place in the world Roquefort cheese is produced owing to the uniqueness of the cliff-side caves it is aged in. These limestone caves have lots of little fissures (called fleurines) that create a unique environment with constant temperature and humidity that fosters the growth of Penicillium roqueforti – the mold responsible for the cheese’s distinctive blue veins. This natural aging process is crucial in developing the complex flavors and creamy texture that Roquefort is known for. On top of being delicious, Roquefort also has quite a few health benefits!
The production of Roquefort cheese can be traced back over a thousand years to the Middle Ages. Legend has it that a young shepherd forgot his meal of bread and cheese in a cave where he had sought refuge from a storm. When he returned weeks later, he discovered that the bread had turned moldy, but the cheese inside was deliciously transformed. Roquefort was born!
There are seven manufacturers of Roquefort – each with its own network of caves, its exclusive strain of Penicillium roqueforti, and its milk contracts with local sheep breeders. The raw milk comes from a specific breed of sheep called Lacaune, and is aged from 3 to 5 months in the caves. The different manufacturers are clustered along the north face of the cliffs that constrain the village, each having their own caves that are up to eleven stories deep. All have one or more fleurines. Like large rock organs, these mossy-walled tunnels constantly play with the air. The fleurines bring freshness and humidity to the cheese.
We first drove to the biggest and most well-known manufacturer, Société. This is usually the Roquefort brand you will find in the US. The parking lot there was full of antique European sports cars – Jaguars, Lotus, Alpha Romeo and more. It was cool to see the cars – but as it turns out, they were visiting the caves there and the tour was filled for the morning.
This was a blessing in disguise, as we walked down the road and discovered a five-generation, family-run company who has been winning awards for their Roquefort since the 19th century, named Gabriel Coulet. We visited a cave behind their store front where we learned a lot about how the cheese was made. When we finished, they gave us a generous sampling of seven different cheeses they produce. We frankly liked them all, but settled on three to buy and bring back to Sophie’s parents in an ice-packed bag to enjoy together. In France, cheese is served towards the end of the meal – often with a green salad – and before dessert.
From Roquefort-sur-Soulzon we continued through the countryside on more very windy French roads. We were making our way back towards the Lot department via a southern route that passed through the Tarn department. We stopped briefly in a town called Brassac-sur-Agout to get some information on the area. The town featured an interesting bridge from the 12th century and two medieval castles facing each other on either side of the river: one Catholic and one Protestant. Must have been interesting times on that bridge given the hundreds of years of religious wars.
Our final destination was a unique granite rock region called The Sidobre. There were many interesting things to see there that revolved around these rocks. First, there were many quarries – historic and still active that produced granite slabs, columns, benches, etc. We stopped at a nice museum that showed how quarrying and cutting the granite has changed over the years (from hammers and chisels to giant saws and robot polishers).
Near this museum was a trail that featured 16 reproductions of unique menhir statues that were recently discovered in the area. Menhirs are large stones ancient civilizations put upright presumably for some sort of worship or funeral purposes. They are quite common around France and Europe, but these were unique because they had been engraved on both sides to represent human figures. You could make out faces, belts and legs – and tell which ones were male vs female. They were likely produced towards the end of the Neolithic era (2500 BC or earlier), but little is known about them.
After the museum, we continued driving towards several nearby natural rock curiosities that had been formed over the millennia. One was a precariously balanced rock that weighed over 800 tons called the Peyro Clabado. We hiked to reach others that looked like a goose and an elephant – and further away, a huge stack of three rocks they called the three cheeses (so French!). It was a really pretty area to explore with lots of forests and steep hills.
It was a great final stop on our overnight trip. We exited the wooded area of The Sidobre to start our return trip to Luzech. The landscape kept changing and we continued through the countryside on some very iconic French roads lined with old plane trees.
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