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Published: July 14th 2008
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Today we woke up to sunshine and blue skies and so we decided to drive east to the next region called le Puy de Dome. This region is known for the many volcanoes in the western part of the region. Puy de Dome itself is an inactive volcano which tourists can visit by 'navette'(shuttle bus) to the top during July in August. Between 2500 and 5000 visitors a day come in the summer and the parking lot at the top has spaces for 150 cars so they use the shuttles. Approaching the area from the west is beautiful. The volcanoes themselves become evident almost as soon as you cross into the region. The panoramas are stunning and continue to be so until you leave the region! Of course, the panoramas are breath-taking in Creuse, too, but you already know that! The navette ride up to the top of the Puy de Dome was a bit nerve-wracking for me (J'ai peur de vide! I have a fear of heights. lol) but I made sure to sit on the inside side of the bus on the way down and I was reading my brochure so I didn't have to look out! At the
top we were treated to amazing views of the many volcanoes (all dormant, of course) and we could see for miles and miles (kilometres and kilometres!). I am including a photo or two of some totally crazy people who were paragliding around the dome! After we left the Puy de Dome we drove back west through many small villages. When we passed through a village called Pontgibaud, we saw an old chateau and we decided to explore it. It was a chateau called Chateau de Dauphin and instead of meaning the heir apparent to the French throne (le dauphin = the prince) it was named because the man who owned it had a dolphin on his coat of arms! Dauphin = dolphin, too lol The chateau is made of volcanic stones and so they are black with a kind of red mortar. It looks very different than the stone chateaux in the Creuse (or any other) region! The chateau still belongs to the same family it did back in the 18th century and it is still inhabited by this family. We were able to go inside and see some excellent history! We continued the drive home and arrived back around
6 pm so we had another 7 hour day of just exploring! At about 7 we decided to try the little auberge in Crocq - Auberge St-Eloi - for dinner and we were not disappointed! Mom and I both had grilled Limousin beef with pomme de terre (potatoes made into like little potato pancakes) and courgette (zucchini with rosemary in it....very good!). My meal was the menu du maison and it also included a salad with chevre chaud (goat cheese fried), the main plate, a selection of cheeses and dessert (Crème brulée). We shared a bottle of rosé wine as mom has become quite fond of rosé! Now we are home and as soon as I am done this entry I am hitting the sack....happy and in my paradise!
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