Goujounac

Goujounac
Location of
Country	France
Arrondissement	Cahors
Canton	Cazals
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	46126 /

Goujounac is a village and commune of the Lot department in southwestern France.

Geography

Goujounac is located in the Lot valley about 30km to the west of Cahors and 9km south of Cazals.

It makes up for one point in a quiet triangle of villages in the Lot, the others being Frayssinet-le-Gelat and the smaller Pomarede, both 3 km away.

Sights

Architecturally, Goujounac is very traditional in style and therefore akin to many of the villages in this corner of the Lot. Presenting pretty, well-preserved stone houses and barns along the main road with further reaches of the village also well maintained, the village has a number of simply preserved back streets to wander. The centre of the village is dominated by its ancient 12th century Romanesque church, evidence in itself that Goujounac has been a community for many years.

Demographics

Most of the village's 250 population are French, though there are Portuguese, British, Belgian and Dutch living here and in nearby areas now as well. The village is a quiet place in the evenings and it sees much passing trade during the day throughout the summer as it is situated on the D660 which runs north to south. Whilst the road occasionally becomes fairly busy during the peak tourist months, traffic never becomes sufficiently heavy to be considered a disturbance. As with many places around here, its population increases with the coming of summer and 'les grandes vacances', but its quiet charm never really succumbs at all. Situated 30km SE of Goujounac lies Cahors, the Lot's largest busy town. Closer to hand are the pleasantly sleepy market towns of Puy-l'eveque and Prayssac, both roughly 10km away are better positioned for daily foraging.

Facilities

Goujounac has two restaurants to offer, both serving excellent local cuisine.

'La Poule au Pot' [1] is a rustic farm restaurant on a hill on the fringe of village. Excellent locally sourced food, (particularly the confit de canard and the foie gras of course...) and house wine are plentiful, and there are occasional appearances by the restaurant's patron and village mayor, M. Jaques Roux.

The slightly more sophisiticated, but no less traditional 'Hostellerie de Goujounac', is a honeysuckle-covered village inn found right at the heart of the community on the main road, and is another excellent place to eat. Enjoying a recent new lease of life since early May 2008, the food there has been more than meeting expectations to date and has begun again to deserve its local reputation for tasty, good value local food set in a charming environment. The patron and his wife are Dutch, the Chef is French, and the waitress English. The pork and duck are recommended; crepes gratine au saumon excellent. The Hostellerie [2] also has 5 comfortable bedrooms at very reasonable rates to offer in the inn upstairs.

There is a swimming pool and a campsite with tennis courts at the top of the village, about 5 minutes walk from the centre. There has been no commercial centre to Goujounac since the village shop was forced to close a couple of years ago. Whilst pretty, quiet and a in a good location for exploring the area, there is little to do here during the daytime except to go for walks in the surrounding countryside.

There is a brief history of Goujounac available from the Mairie but nothing else published on line.