Le Puy en Velay

Le Puy-en-Velay (with lunch)

October 2007

Link to Maps of the Pilgrimage Roads of France

Bishops of le Puy (pronounced pwii) played an early adopter role in both the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and the First Crusade.

In 951 le Puy Bishop Godescalk was the first recorded "celebrity" to undertake the pilgrimage to Santiago. Upon his return he ordered the building of the Chapelle St-Michel-d'Aiguilhe (photo below) and le Puy became the assembly point for the via Podiensis road to Santiago de Compostela in NW Spain.

Unrelated to Bishop Godescalk but also in the 900s, Sigeric the Serious, Archbishop of Canterbury in the days of King Aethelred the Unready, left a list of his stopping off points on a pilgrimage to Rome along the via Francigena in 990.

On November 27 1095 the French Clunaic Pope Urban II preached the First Crusade to a huge medieval gathering in a field in Clermont (now Clermont-Ferrand), just to the north of le Puy. Families from the le Puy area were heavily involved in the crusade itself, and the Papal Legate to the crusade was Adhemar, the Bishop of le Puy.

Medieval pilgrims walking south into Le Puy from Clermont (now Clermont-Ferrand), Brioude, and La Chaise Dieu would have seen the sights of the Chapelle St-Michel-d'Aiguilhe on the left and the Cathedral de Notre Dame on the right, but the Notre Dame statue in the middle did not appear until the 1800s - before then there was a castle there.

Bishop Godescalk's Chapelle St-Michel-d'Aiguilhe - perched 82M (270 ft) in the sky and accessible to those in need via 268 steps. Sounds and looks high - but the Siena Torre del Mangia is higher still at 88M !

In medieval times the steep and long Rue des Tables (above left) up to the west end of the Cathedral was narrower, flanked by half timbered overhanging buildings, and filled with the tables of trinket and pilgrimage memento sellers. Another street, the Rue des Pélerins (above right), headed off to the south side of the cathedral steps and shared the passage of pilgrims setting off along the via Podiensis for the far distant Santiago de Compostela at the north western tip of Spain.

The eastern approach to the Cathedral (right) is even more vertically challenging. It is arguable whether the slog up the hill is worth it (but we will do a few photos sometime). Several people in the 1800s had a go at "improving" it with the result that what is there now, including the cloisters, is in our view a pretty ordinary unatmospheric cold place, despite the hyperbole of some tourist handouts and pilgrim blogs. Be aware also that the cloister (and the museum / bookshop) close for a long lunch break.

It's certainly worth coming down via the Rue des Tables, because at the bottom of the hill is a really friendly good fooded restaurant ......

Lunch at Le Petit Gourmand

Traditional French fish soup with croutons, mayonnaise and shredded cheese - always a safe choice and here outstanding.

The famous and very healthy le Puy green lentils recently became the first non-wine / cheese product to be given a DOC designation.

Despite the disappointment of the cathedral, and the fairly ordinary 4 storey apartment block nature of much of the town, central le Puy had a nice feel about it and was fun to wander. Le Puy is also easy to use as a base for some stunningly beautiful drives along its access roads (those to the east and west are in the top tier of beautiful roads we have driven in France). Below our central IBIS hotel there was an in house "Maitre Kanter" seafood restaurant which we graced for two excellent dinners. Across the restored parklet in front of the hotel was the old Verveine du Velay (digestivo) distillery.

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