Destination: Le Puy-en-Velay, France

Nestled in the lush, rolling hills of the Loire, le Puy-en-Velay (also simply known as “le Puy”), is a small city which boasts a lot of gorgeous views and historic sites, especially those pertaining to pilgrimages which date back to the medieval ages. Considering that I’d been living in the area for over a year, and the fact that I hadn’t visited, I knew that I had to check out le Puy as soon as I came back to France at the end of this summer.

That said, I took the train on Saturday morning in the beginning of September. The train ride took about 75-80 minutes, and I found the ride over to be surprisingly picturesque. Besides the sweeping Loire river, the train passed along the green hill-side that curved in and out along the river, which made for lovely views after another at each turn. For some reason, the views reminded me of those in Switzerland, even though it is a completely different country!

Weather was extremely good that weekend, let alone for the entire month of September. Call it an “Indian summer,” but it was really warm each day, hovering somewhere between 27 to 30°C (84 to 90°F) with cloudless, blue skies. It was rather a new experience for me, even after living in France for nearly four years: while it’s true that I’ve experienced sunshine before, I hadn’t experience it for a long period of time (thanks to the brutal winters before). The change was refreshing, and it put me in good spirits during and after my visit.

Upon arriving at le Puy’s station, I hopped off the train and headed straight to the historic part of town. The city itself is quite hilly, so it was a matter of working out my glutes while hiking up the cobblestone streets to the Old Town. It’d been a while since I’d last walked extensively for travel, but it was much desired!

I reached the historic part of town, where I was greeted by the Virgin Mary statue, a towering figure at the top of one of le Puy’s hills. Built back in the latter half of the 19th century, the statue was constructed from 200 or so leftover cannons from the Siege of Sebastopol during the Crimean Wars of the 1850’s. I even saw a few unused cannons lying at the foot of the statue, which goes to show how history continues to show itself today.

As le Puy is actually a tourist draw for the region, there was an admission fee to access the Virgin Mary statue, which was about 4€. There were plenty of stairs to surmount on the way up, and you can bet that I was already sweating once I made it to the top (warm weather that day didn’t help, either). In any case, the red rooftop views from the summit were rewarding, and I could see the landscape stretching for miles and miles onward. I even entered the Virgin Mary statue itself, taking the narrow staircase to the top, and then a ladder to its crown, which also had views (albeit a bit hazy from the uncleaned glass) of the city.

Following the Virgin Mary statue, I descended the hill and I made my way to the Rocher Saint-Michel d’Aiguilhe, a chapel on a rock that’s actually located in the town over called Aiguilhe. However, since le Puy is such a small place, reaching its neighboring town wasn’t a problem on-foot.

After about a 15-minute walk, I reached the base of the chapel and headed up to the entrance, where I paid another admission fee (3,50€) to access the interior. It was then a matter of taking more stairs to the top, and I soon reached the chapel. To be honest, the interior isn’t very impressive, as much of the religious paintings on the wall are faded– at the same time, though, I thought that the faded images gave it even more of a historic depth to it, as the chapel is, after all, from the 10th century.

I exited the chapel, making my way down to its base. Next thing to do was to head away from le Puy in order to find the best viewpoints to capture the entire city. Whenever I travel, I’m obsessed with taking photos of views, and I would do anything (hike, climb, crawl…) just for that opportunity. I knew that le Puy had fantastic views, but I’d been unsure just where to find them. That led me to wander an hour or so northwest towards the residential neighborhood, close to the hiking trails of the region. The views ended up being decent enough, although it wouldn’t be until later that afternoon that I would find the best views somewhere else (and closer to town!).

After meandering, I made my way back to le Puy where I ended up getting a quick sandwich for lunch near the cathédrale du Puy. I enjoyed my meal outside on the picturesque Place des Tables, which was bustling at mid-day with visitors and locals alike. There were also advertisements all over for the fête du Roi de l’Oiseau, a well-known Renaissance fair that’s held every year in September– I ended up going to it the following week with a friend, and I can say that it was absolutely packed! We didn’t actually see much of it, since we were busy exploring the city itself, but I did get a souvenir cup before we left that day.

I checked out the cathedral after lunch. Situated at the highest point in the Old Town, the cathedral is quite distinctive in its patterned, striped architecture, made from white sandstone and volcanic rock. Definitely a different style that I’m used to seeing from other French cathedrals, as many of them have been Gothic. In any case, I headed up the 60 or so steps to the cathedral, where I checked out its interior for a bit before heading out.

Last stop of the day was at the Sanctuaire Saint-Joseph, which is actually located in the neighboring town of Espaly-Saint-Marcel. Likewise with the Saint-Michel d’Aiguilhe chapel, it wasn’t a far walk from le Puy, perhaps no more than 20 minutes. Compared with the bustling, crowded streets of the Old Town, the walk over was much quieter and peaceful, as I passed through residential streets next to a track-and-field stadium.

There were very few people at the sanctuary once I reached it. I suppose not many people know of this place, but I found it to be such an underrated gem. Not only did I get the best views of le Puy from it, but also its grotto chapel was nothing like I’d seen before. If you visit le Puy, you have to go to the sanctuaire Saint-Joseph!

From there, it was a matter of heading back to le Puy and eventually catching the late-afternoon train back to my city. It’d been a long day of walking all over, but I was glad to have seen a gem in the region I’m living in France. I enjoyed it so much that I returned the following weekend, again with a friend for the Renaissance festival. Visiting le Puy has since inspired me to check out other small, but beautiful places in this area, and I hope to do so soon.