Arrondissement du Puy

After meeting the group formally and learning a bit about one another, we headed out for a tour of the town, led by Janet, a lovely English woman who married a French man and has lived in France for many years. Janet provided us with some of the history of the Way of St James (Jacques in French). Interestingly the Way of St James is the oldest pilgrimage trail, but it was lost during the religious wars of the 15th & 16th centuries, and was only rediscovered in the 1970’s. About 30,000 people from all over the world do some of or all of this pilgrimage trail each year. Interesting fact, the first record of someone doing this pilgrimage was Bishop Gottschalk. We know some Gottschalks in Melbourne, and will need to check if they are descendants.

We left the hotel and wandered through this very picturesque town (known for the quality of its Puy lentils) heading towards the Cathédrale Notre-Dame du Puy. This Cathedral was built on a volcanic mountain and looks down on the city of Le Puy-en-Velay, as does the Rocher Corneille et Statue Notre-Dame de France.En savoir plus