Le Puy-en-Velay

Le Puy is built across old volcanic plugs, and two of them carry buildings. Saint-Michel d'Aiguilhe stands on a needle of basalt with two hundred and sixty-eight steps cut into the rock; the chapel at the top was consecrated in the tenth century and is small enough that thirty people fill it, with a carved doorway showing clear Islamic influence and faded painting inside. The second rock carries a large iron statue with a ladder up through it. Between them the cathedral rises straight out of the street, its staircase climbing into the nave, built in striped bands of black volcanic stone and pale sandstone. The cathedral and the Hotel-Dieu, the old pilgrims' hospital, are components of the Santiago routes World Heritage listing.

History

Le Puy was a major bishopric in early medieval France, its founding wrapped in legend: a martyrology of 858 tells of a priest named George sent with Saint Front to convert Gaul, later said to have founded the church of the town called Vetula, as a document of 1004 named it. The Gallic town of Ruessium took the name Saint-Paulien from one of its legendary bishops, and a Bishop Evodius attended the Council of Valence in 374; tradition says he raised an altar to the Virgin on the pinnacle of Mont Anis, which became the site of the cathedral and a starting point of the pilgrim road to Santiago de Compostela, some 1600 km away. Le Puy was the most popular pilgrimage destination in France in the Middle Ages, and Charlemagne came twice, in 772 and 800; in the early 1180s local peasants led by a carpenter named Durandus formed the sworn association of the Capuciati against the power of the lords (Wikipedia, Le Puy-en-Velay).

Highlights

• Saint-Michel d'Aiguilhe - a chapel on a basalt needle, up 268 steps.
• The cathedral staircase - steps that climb from the street into the nave.
• The cloister - striped arches and a painted cornice beside the cathedral.
• The Rocher Corneille - an iron statue with a ladder inside and the town below.

When to go

May to October is the working season; the Velay plateau sits high and winter is cold, wet and long, with reduced opening hours. Mornings suit the climbs, which are exposed and heat up fast. In mid-September the town fills for a Renaissance festival and beds go early. Walkers set off westwards year round, mostly in spring.

Good to know

Everything worth seeing involves steps, and there are a great many of them; the chapel climb defeats anyone with bad knees and there is no alternative route up. Le Puy is a long, slow journey from anywhere by train. Several sites charge separately and the total adds up. Kitchens close early and Sunday shuts the town down almost entirely.

Nearby

The Loire gorges north, the Mezenc volcanic uplands east and the lentil fields of the Velay plateau.