Vulcania > Issoire

AUVERGNE-RHÔNE ALPES REGION

Departments: Ain, Allier, Ardèche, Cantal, Drôme, Isère, Loire, Haute-Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, Rhône, Métropole de Lyon, Savoie, Haute-Savoie.
Population: 8 million
Prefecture: Lyon
Area: 69,711 km2
Specialities: Beaujolais, Côtes du Rhône and Savoie wines, Lyon specialities (quenelles, cervelles de canut, saucisson.), potée auvergnate, Savoyard specialities (raclette, fondue, tartiflettes, diots, crozets), cheeses (beaufort, reblochon, cantal, bleu d'Auvergne, Salers, saint-Nectaire...), green lentil of Le Puy, waters (Evian, Thonon, Volvic) verbena, chartreuse.
Sports clubs: Olympique Lyonnais, AS Saint-Etienne, Clermont Foot 63, Grenoble Foot 38 (football). ASM Clermont, Lyon OU, FC Grenoble, Stade Aurillacois, US Oyonnax (rugby union), ASVEL Villeurbanne (basketball), Chambéry (handball), Brûleurs de loup Grenoble, Pionniers de Chamonix (ice hockey)
Competitions: women's football world cup, ski competitions (critérium de la Première neige in Val d'Isère), Tour de France passes, Critérium du Dauphiné.
Economy: (8e European region) high-tech industries, automotive (Berliet), metallurgy, rubber, plastics, chemicals, electronics, food processing, textiles, digital, banks, universities, administrations, viticulture. tyres (Michelin). Design. New technologies (Inovallée) Winter and summer tourism. 
Festivals: Fête des Lumières in Lyon, Nuits de Fourvière in Lyon, quais du polar in Lyon, biennale du design in Saint-Etienne, classical music festival in La Chaise-Dieu
Tourist sites: old Lyon and Croix-Rousse, Puy-en-Velay cathedral, Lake Annecy, Chambéry castle, winter sports in Isère, Savoie and Haute-Savoie, Cantal, thermal resorts, Auvergne volcanoes. Caverne du Pont d'Arc. Castle of Grignan. Bastille of Grenoble. Vulcania. Parc des Oiseaux.
Websites and social networks: www.auvergnerhonealpes.fr

ORCINES

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was born in Orcines, at the Château de Sarcenat, in 1881. A plaque in the church of Orcines recalls that he was baptised there. The tomb of the Michelin family, who owned the Bosse estate, is in the Orcines cemetery.

LAQUEUILLE

The village is known for its cheese, Bleu de Laqueuille, the first bleu d’Auvergne, created in 1854.

LE-MONT-D'OR

Located at the source of the Dordogne, at the foot of the Puy de Sancy, Mont-Dore owes its reputation to the purity of its air, its thermal waters and the quality and modernity of its ski area. The name Mont-Dore comes from the Celtic word Dur or Dor, which means fast stream, torrent. The Saint-Pardoux church pays tribute to the thermal vocation of Mont-Dore: legend attributes to Saint-Pardoux many miraculous cures of paralytics with the help of the springs and explains the presence of his cult in Mont-Dore from the 8th century. The originality of this church lies in the modernity and quality of its interior decoration, developed on the theme of water: the choir decorated by Jean Olin, whose walls painted in blue and decorated with ceramics with modern motifs evoke the biblical theme of living water. The Baths, in neo-Byzantine style, are partly listed as historical monuments. They contain remains of Roman baths, as well as frescoes from the end of the 19th century. The frameworks are by Gustave Eiffel. Throughout the resort, the old palaces also evoke, as in La Bourboule, the golden age of thermal spas. But Le Mont-Dore has also taken advantage of its other natural asset, the mountain: its cable car was built in 1936 by aviator Dieudonné Costes, who made the first non-stop air link between Paris and New York in 1930. The lift made Le Mont-Dore the third largest French winter sports resort in terms of facilities at the time. This first cable car was followed in 1962 by a second, which doubled the transport capacity. Today, the cable car is one of the most popular in the summer. After a dizzying ascent (over 450 metres in four minutes), the climb continues for about twenty minutes via a wooden staircase to the 1,886 m Puy de Sancy, the highest peak in Auvergne. Along the way, landscape reading and orientation tables present the volcanoes and the local fauna and flora.  

Le Mont-Dore thermal baths
Construction: 1817 to 1823 (architect: Louis-Charles Ledru).
History: the construction of the thermal baths of Mont-Dore, from 1817 to 1823, was entrusted to architect Louis-Charles Ledru. In neo-Byzantine style, they were enlarged and modernised in 1890 by Emile Camut. While he retained Ledru's choice of exterior and the original appearance of the buildings, simply adding two corner pavilions and an extra floor to the main façade, he completely redesigned the interior.
Characteristics: the interior decoration includes multiple references to Roman and Byzantine architecture and to Romanesque art from Auvergne. They are considered to be the largest in Europe. The hall of the Springs (whose metal framework is due to Gustave Eiffel) and the hall on the first floor are the two wonders to visit. Painter Roger Forissier painted a mural there in 1975, which was inaugurated by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
Special features: every February, the SAFE (Salon d'Art Fantastique Européen – European Fantastic Art Festival) is held within its walls, where internationally renowned painters inspired by Salvador Dali exhibit.
Listed as: Historical Monument since 1986. Roman remains listed in 1989.   

Capucin Funicular
Built: 1898
Characteristics: a real cable railway climbs up the side of the valley at one metre per second. It is the oldest electric funicular in France and its machinery is listed as a historical monument. During the ten-minute climb (250 metres difference in height), the view rises over the Dordogne valley and the Grande Cascade. Following in the footsteps of the artists who came to take the waters during Belle Époque, the descent from the Salon du Capucin via the Chemin des Artistes is very easy to continue the journey back in time.
History: In 1894, a public works contractor from Perrier, Jean Giraudon, obtained a 70-year concession from the municipality of Mont-Dore for a "local interest railway with funicular and electric traction". He took on all the risks, the concession being "without subsidy or guarantee of interest", and he had to pay the municipality a fee for the first ten years of operation.
Listed as: Historical Monument since 1984.

CHAMBON-SUR-LAC

The commune of Chambon-sur-Lac is situated, as its name suggests, on the banks of Lake Chambon, which is of volcanic origin. The village is in the heart of the Chaudefour Valley National Nature Reserve, managed by the Auvergne Volcanoes Regional Nature Park and the Auvergne Mountains National Forestry Office. Its church, Saint-Etienne, has been a listed building since 1925.  

Funeral chapel of Chambon-sur-Lac
Construction: 10th century.
Style: Romanesque.
History: it is likely that it was built by local lords for their burial grounds. For a long time it was wrongly called a baptistery because of a bronze baptismal font that was discovered near its walls.
Characteristics: the chapel, covered with roofing stones and built of ashlar, consists of a rotunda preceded by a straight bay to the west. It has an interesting decoration very similar to that of the major churches of Lower-Auvergne such as the church of Saint-Austremoine in Issoire or the church of Saint-Nectaire. The rotunda is crowned by a widely overhanging cornice supported by modillions with sculpted chips of plant, human or animal decoration (mermaid-fish, character sticking out his tongue, griffins drinking from the same cup, eagles with spread wings...).
Listed as: Historical Monument since 1862.

BESSE-ET-SAINT-ANASTAISE

A free town since the 13th century, Besse has since become an important commercial centre. The historic centre of Besse presents a great architectural unity. This unity comes from the numerous old buildings but also from the almost exclusive use of Besse stone. This stone, often compared to Volvic stone, is also a trachyandesite. It has a more rustic appearance than Volvic stone and has more pronounced colour nuances. The commune, whose Saint-André church has been listed since 1886, gave its name to the ski resort of Super-Besse, which was set up on its territory in 1961, and which hosted the Tour de France four times between 1978 and 2011. 

Nicolas Bourbaki
One of the most famous natives of Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise is in fact fictional: an imaginary mathematician, under whose name a group of French-speaking mathematicians, formed in 1935 in Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise at the instigation of André Weil, began to write and publish mathematical texts in the late 1930s. The group became an association, the Association of Nicolas Bourbaki collaborators, on 30 August 1952. Its composition evolved with a constant renewal of generations. The surname Bourbaki was the name borrowed by Raoul Husson in 1923 during a hoax, when he was a third-year student at the École normale supérieure. In order to present the proof of a so-called Bourbaki theorem, he had taken on the appearance of a bearded mathematician, called Professor Holmgren, to give a false lecture, deliberately incomprehensible and with subtly false reasoning. The group, which wrote several key treatises, was most influential in the 1960s and 1970s, when Nicolas Bourbaki won five Fields Medals, the world's highest award for mathematics.  

Belfry of Besse
Construction: 15th century
Style: medieval.
History: the belfry and gateway probably date from the 15th century and were remodelled in the 16th century. Then in ruins, it was rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century.
Characteristics: it consists of a town gate and an adjoining belfry. The gate, the last of the three existing town gates, gave access to Besse via a steeply sloping road and preceded a barbican. Built on a square plan, the gate was accompanied by two other wooden gates to reinforce the defence at this point. The adjoining belfry consists of a massive square tower on top of which an octagonal tower is built, ending in a bell tower. Inside, a spiral staircase leads to several rooms, including the former lodgings and guardrooms.
Listed as: Historical Monument since 1905.

ARDES

Former fief of the Mercoeur family, one of whose members, Saint-Odilon, became abbot of Cluny in the 11th century. All that remains of this family is a tower, the Mercœur finger, which overlooks the town. Ardes prospered thanks to sheep farming and tanning before undergoing a massive exodus of its inhabitants in the 19th century. The town also exploits its water spring, marketed until 2011 by Danone under the Arvie brand. Production resumed since 2012 under the name Ardesy. The Romanesque church of Saint-Dizaint has been a listed monument since 1920. 

Auvergne Animal Park
The Cézallier Wildlife and Leisure Park was created by Maurice Blanc in 1984, in Ardes. On the mountainside, it enjoys a privileged view of the Auvergne relief. Since its takeover in 2012, the park has tripled its attendance (110,000 visitors) and has made the protection of endangered species its raison d'être. The park financially supports the Play for Nature fund, which protects endangered species, and more than 75 pc of the animals hosted are endangered species participating in a European breeding programme, such as takins or gorals, two species that are little known to the general public.

TOURZEL-RONZIERES

Notre-Dame Church
Construction: 12th, 13th and 15th centuries.
Style: Romanesque.
History: the first oratory to be built on the Ronzières plateau was dedicated to saint Beaudime who, according to legend, rid the region of a monster that was desolating it. He had dedicated a fountain to the Virgin, which became a place of pilgrimage. As the location of the fountain was not suitable for a shrine, a baptistery was built at the foot of the hill, which later became the parish church before being abandoned for the church of Notre-Dame in the 18th century. This church was built in the Romanesque period on the site of the chapel dedicated to saint Beaudime and retains Romanesque parts amidst the Gothic additions. The building had a pyramidal bell tower which was destroyed around 1813 or 1814 and replaced at that time by the present bell tower.
Listed as: Historical Monument since 1962.

The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, stretching from central France to the Swiss-Italian border, combines historic cities and vast natural beauty. Amongst green national parks you can find dormant volcanoes and mountain ranges ideal for hiking and sports.   Make the most of a rest day in Clermont-Ferrand. This interesting city offers impressive attractions and architecture, not yet overrun by tourists. Take in the majestic Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption or visit one of the museums to learn about art and local industry. This is also the birthplace of the Michelin brothers, so expect fine cuisine!   Wine connoisseurs cannot miss out Beaujolais, a chance to sample the local produce among vineyards and beautiful villages. Santé!

Top 5 things to see and do:

1. Wander round Clermont-Ferrand's city centre
2. Hike up Puy-de-Dôme for epic views
3. Tour the wine-making region of Beaujolais
4. Appreciate the region's history 
5. Dine in the birthplace of the Michelin brothers

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