WELCOME in pure AUVERGNE

The Auvergne region is an awesome expanse of landscapedominated by puys (volcanoes), attracting nature lovers in summer and winter sports fanatics when the peaks are snow-covered (see French Magazine issue 46 December 2006).

 

photo taken by Papaty, January 2007

 

Holiday Lettings in Mont-Dore

            

        rent this chalet, click here

 

            

           rent this house, click here

 

Fly to Clermont Ferrand with Air France, KLM, Alitalia... airport with Ryanair or the air company of your choice.
Car hire available at Limoges Airport or Clermont Ferrand with Air France, KLM, Alitalia... (www.lastminute.com).
www.map24.com (on the search engine Mont Dore, Puy-de-Dôme , France)

Clermont Ferrand is 47 km from Le Mont Dore

Situated in the central Auvergne Region, with its spectacular volcanic terrain, Clermont-Ferrand Airport is a very important hub, which offers a full range of convenient connections to cities such as; Angers, Biarritz, La Rochelle, Marseille, Montpellier, Poitiers and Toulouse.

By train, Paris (Gare de Lyon)- La Bourboule 6 hours 42 min (about 55 € one way) www.voyages-sncf.com .

www.sancy.com the amazing area where is set the chalet

more touristic information on Puy de Dome

more touristic information on Clermont Ferrand

www.vulcania.com the biggest hearthquake simulator in europe

Auvergne has the largest Nature Park in mainland France :  

 The Regional Nature Park of the Auvergne Volcanoes

Lac Pavin - a volcanic crater lake, 92 metres deep

The last volcanic eruption was some 5800 years ago The Auvergne mountains cover some 200 kilometres The Tronçais forest : with its ancient oaks, of more than 300   years old  

Volcanoes; high, wind-swept plateaus; deep gorges, dug by wild water; crater lakes; exceptional flora... In the Auvergne, nature is on show in all her beauty and diversity.

Lakes, rivers, rapids, thermal springs - water is ever present in Auvergne creating some curious natural phenomena…

Chaudes-Aigues, in Cantal, is the southernmost thermal spring in Auvergne with the hottest waters of any thermal spring in all Europe.

Here, thirty springs gush forth, one of which is the Par spring that can reach a temperature of 82°C. All year round, some of the water from the Par is used to supply public fountains throughout the town. The townspeople use it to wash dishes and clothes as well as for cleaning and cooking. In springtime, it is piped to the thermal spa centre during the period of hydrotherapy treatments. Out of season, the waters of the Par are used to provide home heating.

The Museum of Thermal Springs and Geothermal Science explains this surprising natural phenomenon

Fountains of petrification are another natural curiosity common in Auvergne: Saint-Nectaire, Clermont-Ferrand, Le Mont-Dore, Gimeaux, etc. In only a few weeks, these calcium carbonate rich springs coat any object left in them with a shiny translucid layer.

THE DORDOGNE VALLEY

 

From the moutain to the ocean… from Auvergne moutains to Gironde

As the saying goes : “He who does not know the source does not know the river”.

So, to know the Dordogne better, one should climb to Puy-de-Sancy, among the gentian flowers and the last snow on the slopes where winter attracts thousands of skiers at Super-Besse and Mont-Dore.

The Dore and the Dogne, sparkling torrents, flow from the last slopes before joining to cascade joyfully towards the Mont-Dore where Spring visitors come to take the waters. For water here cures, as in La Bourboule, a little further away.

No wonder, for it is the daughter of purity, of the union of snow and sky. It is the virtue of Puy-de-Dôme, a country of mountains and torrents, the wild and luminous country of the young Dordogne. Now the river gathers strength receiving waters flowing down from Lake Guéry and cuts its way into the gorges of Avèze, between their dark green bushy slopes. This fierce and proud landscape widens downstream to the reservoir on the Bord dam. Nearby, the castle of Val, with its round towers topped by grey tiles, rises out of an islet, lost in an ocean, prisoner of the mountains.

To know this country, these valleys, these mountains,, is to go back to the Source of Time, a life unspoiled by man ; or as Julien Gracq would have said “to know that the rivers are the witnesses of a time when water was created and waited the arrival of Man.

Mont-Dore

  

Belle Epoque architecture, villas and former luxury hotels.

The neo-Byzantine thermal baths, part of which is an historical monument. Inside are the remains of the Roman Baths and also late 19th-century paintings and frescoes. Roof structure designed by Gustave Eiffel.

Gallo-roman remains in the mnunicipal park

Funicular railway from Le Mont Dore to the Plateau du Capucin. Built in 1898, this cable railway climbs the mountain at a speed of 1 m/second (2.2 mph). It is the oldest electric funicular railway in France (the machinery is listed as an historical monument).

        

                                                                                                                 overview of Mont Dore taken by Papaty January 2007

La Bourboule

Belle Epoque architecture : the façade of the Boulangerie Rozier, a listed historical monument ; the caryatids ont the Hôtel de Ville ; plus a number of villas and former luxury hotels built in the Belle Epoque style. Visit the néo-Byzantine Grands Thermes.

LOCAL GASTRONOMY

Cheeses

5 AOC cheeses (a distinction awarded to only the highest quality cheeses). Saint-nectaire, Bleu, Cantal, Fourme d'Ambert and Salers.
Saint-nectaire : the area's very best cheese, produced in the heart of the Sancy and as far away as the Cantal. Made from unpasteurised milk, this is an uncooked pressed cheese with a mould-ripened rind. Its characterised flavour, with a hint of hazelnut, comes from the quality and variety of grasses on which the cows graze in the summer pastures. Saint-nectaire is a round, flat cheese 21 cm in diameter. It has a place at every course, in soup, soufflés, salads and truffade (a sauteed galette with bacon, garlic and saint-nectaire). It is produced both in dairies (saint-nectaire laitier) and on farms (saint-nectaire fermier).
Others cheeses can be surprised you, like Lavaur, Gaperon, Fourme de Rochefort, or Cabecou…

Cured meats

Firm, pink in colour and dry, Auvergne ham is seasoned with dry salt and dried over a long period at altitude, where the air is purer. The pure pork saucisson sec and saucisse sèche are prepared by extensive drying and curing. Made with veal and mutton, tripoux are served with a delicious broth of jelly and seasoning. Tripoux farcis are distinguished from tripoux roulés by their stuffing of ham and smoked bacon.