Jeannine & Roger's French Cheese Odyssey

Le Puy-en-Velay - 23rd June

The town of Le Puy has two large pillars of rock, plus some other smaller rock formations, adorned with various religious statues and buildings of great spiritual significance.

Today we stayed in Le Puy to visit some of the religious attractions that draw in the Camino Pilgrims to take this route to Spain.

We are in the lower end of the old city so visiting anything of significance means a hike up steep streets and steps made from rounded or rough cut stones; they sure do make the pilgrims suffer!

Our first visit was to the Camino Museum - we did the art gallery and garden visit for free and skipped the one that showed the history for a not-small charge. I think I have read enough about the walk, but in saying that I’m currently reading a book by two walkers who give a hilarious account of doing the Camino on a budget, often paying for services in kind.

The photo below is one of the old fortified city gates, with pilgrim, and religious feature in the background.

The next visit was to the Romanesque cathedral of Notre-Dame du Puy. It is a large church with steps climbing steeply to one entrance, another entrance went out to a courtyard that over-looked the city. There were cloisters nearby, but again they wanted a fee for something you can see for free elsewhere.

Our last major visit was to the Statue of Notre-Dame de France, a giant red Madonna and Child on a tall pillar of rock. The volcanic pinnacle is all that remains of the crater of a volcano, the rest has either naturally eroded or was quarried in the Middle Ages to build fortresses and houses.

The Madonna statue was built in 19th century from the cast iron of 213 guns seized from the enemy at the Battle of Sebastopol and kindly donated by Napoleon III. You can walk up a skinny spiral staircase inside the statue and look out of various viewpoints.

This next photo is not just about the bishop but also to show you modern pilgrims. Both young men in the background had on ironed business shirts, they carried their packs up the steps and sat on the bench and played with their phones - I thought only my mother took her iron on holiday.

Below are some shots of the city from the Statue, one showing another pinnacle with the Chapel of Saint Michal d’Aiguilhe, plus a couple more of the 360 degree view of the city. The header photo is the view of the Shrine of St Joseph

Today’s reward for climbing the rock, 2 beers (one Scottish, one French) for a total of 8 euros, far more acceptable. [Ed: Climbing rocks, my new favourite past-time...]

Cheese Experience No.63 - Fourme d’Ambert. This is a semi-hard blue cheese. One of France's oldest cheeses, it dates from as far back as Roman times. It is formed into a narrow cylindrical shape and is only produced by 4 local farms. We bought this cheese from the cheese factory on Wednesday after a short discussion with the ‘no English” lady about whether we wanted cheese made from pasteurised or raw milk; finally I understood some French.

The last photo is Roger’s penance, having to walk steep Roman roads with 30 non-stop chattering little children and also the annoyance that the French haven’t discovered 'Wet and Forget' yet.