La Romieu

La Romieu takes its name from the Gascon l'Arroumiu, meaning "the pilgrim" -- fitting for a village that owes its existence to the Camino. According to tradition, a German pilgrim named Albert founded a hermitage here at the end of the 11th century, and a village grew around it under the protection of the Viscount of Lomagne.

The reason to linger is the Collegiate Church of Saint-Pierre, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1998 and one of the finest examples of Southern Gothic architecture on the Via Podiensis. Cardinal Arnaud d'Aux, born here in 1265 and elevated to cardinal by Pope Clement V in 1312, financed its construction between roughly 1312 and 1321. Two towers mark the skyline -- one octagonal, one square -- and the cloister features carved capitals worth studying. There's a small entrance fee for the cloister and towers.

Then there are the cats. Everywhere. Stone and bronze felines perch on walls, facades, and benches throughout the village -- at least twenty of them, sculpted by Maurice Serreau in the early 1990s to bring the local legend of Angeline back to life. The story goes that during the 1338 famine, starving villagers ate all their cats. An orphan girl named Angeline hid two in her attic, and when crops returned and rats overran the catless village, her hidden feline colony saved the day. The legend says that as she aged, Angeline grew to resemble a cat herself.