May 13 - Murat, Brioude, Le Puy en Velay

 Breakfast at the chateau/manor house was in the formal dining room.  Wish I had brought my phone/camera down.   It felt like eating in the 17th century!   We loaded up and got on our way.   It will be a busy day.

The weather was cool and pleasant and partly sunny.   We crossed our fingers and asked our car's navigation aid to find us a way to Murat.  I think our aid(e) and Jim are related!    They want us to see a very picturesque route!   We climbed and climbed and climbed.

This was just part way up the mountain ridge.   We saw many small medieval farms & villages along the way.

We finally reached the town of Murat, a fortified town and major hub in the middle ages, which encouraged trade.   It is surrounded by volcanic mountains.   We lucked out and arrived during their market day!

Market stalls were located at several levels including in front of a church.

This church is .. Notre-Dame des Oliviers, was consecrated in 1383.

Here's a pic that also shows a statue on the volcanic peak.

On to Brioude.    We thought that we had seen the last of the tiny mountainous roads.   Wishful thinking!    What a winding, very small, climbing road we took.    Our car was groaning, as were we.   Here's some pics.

That's the town of Massiac, another middles ages town we couldn't stop at due to time constraints.    Here's some of the switchbacks we encountered.  Yikes!  AND, most of the route was OK to go 80-km/hr!

We finally made it to Brioude about 1:30pm.   Looked around the medieval city center before looking for a lunch spot.  The village was started in the 300's.     

Then we came upon the .. Basilique Saint-Julien.

Its construction started around the year 500 to celebrate the martyrdom of a converted roman soldier (Julian) who was beheaded and buried at the site in 304.

We were ready for lunch.    Carol, this pic is for you. (ham & salad)

Thankfully, the next part of the trip were on 'regular' 2-lane roads!   On to .. le Puy en Velay.    This rather large town is steeped in history!   We arrived late in the afternoon and were needing ice cream.  We walked down narrow medieval streets looking for refreshment.

We found a store that was besieged by locals on a Friday afternoon.  Take a peek at these creations!    Yummmmmy!

We walked around a bit more before going to our lodging.

This is the town hall, completed in 1766.    (Ukranian flag)

We didn't expect a 15th century building with an apartment.   The hosts live on the 2nd floor and escorted us up this year-1560 wooden staircase to the 4th floor!   Yikes!    The stairs and supports were massive.   Very interesting.   

Jan just finished a load of laundry in the washing machine.   There is no dryer, so she's got 'em hanging everywhere!

Another adventurous day!!    Many interesting sights, smells, and tastes.   AND, another market to browse.   On to Lyon on Saturday.  We didn't get a lot of time to explore .. le Puy en Velay, so here's a panoramic photo from Wikipedia.

See you in Lyon!