The Road to Le Puy en Velay

Our journeys today, took us north west of Cairanne. We headed out on a busy autoroute and then the drive got interesting. This area is the north part of the Ardeche and the Ardeche we've come to know and love has nothing but switchback roads. Ditto today. Once we got up to the summit, however, the views were spectacular. No photo will ever accurately capture the views that for which only 3D will do justice.

We have read articles praising the beauties of Le Puy, but they always comment on the difficulty of getting there. I'd say, not difficult, but defintely not fast - once again SWITCHBACKS!! As we entered the volcanic region of the Auvergne, the stone houses had a unique quality, with a lot more black stone.

The volcanic outcroppings became more abundant as we approached Le Puy and low and behold, someone needed to build something religious on the top of it.

Before heading into Le Puy, we chose to make a stop in Le Chambon sur Lignon. I had read a book that featured this town prominently called Village of Secrets by Caroline Moorehead, that focused on the region's efforts to protect Jewish children during WW2. I was intrigued enough to want to see the lay of the land here. It is of course extremely rolling with conifer forests and coupled with the area's remoteness, provided excellent refuge for these children. There is a memorial here which was unfortunately closed.

From Le Chambon it was a short jump to the remarkably topographic city of Le Puy en Velay. In Canada, we know this city because of the lentils produced environs. But this is an extremely historic and beautiful city as we discovered after checking into the Dyke Hotel.

The UNESCO cathedral contained many noteworthy artifacts like the black Madonna as well as being the starting point for the pilgrimage for the walk to Santiago de Compostela, a mere 1600 km away in Spain.

It's a healthy walk up many stairs - that's our pilgrimage - to see the cathedral and the best views of the Statue of Notre Dame de France.

From a recommendation by our hotel, we selected The Distillerie for dinner this evening. We showed up at 7:00, but the place was hopping by 9:00. We shared two local specialities for main course, lentils de Puy with sausages and lardons and a tartuffe of potatoes and cheese. Both were excellent.

The table next to us featured a birthday celebration by the owners with a three tier seafood extravaganza - never seen anything quite like it.

Dessert was a verviene (the local liqueur) creme brûlée and a coffee surprise for Dawn.

This is a must see city and after dark it gets even more beautiful.