Rambles, no rumblings Auvergne

Volcanic landscapes, towns from Romans, Middle Ages invite strolling and exploring

CLERMONT-FERRAND, France — rom the top of the Puy-de-Dome, a 5,500-foot extinct volcano in the center of France, several smaller volcanoes circling it resemble bowls of velvety, bright green English pea soup.

In the millenniums since the last eruption of these volcanoes, layers of grass have covered the craters, along with trees and plants in several of them. Most are as smooth as soup bowls.

Writer George Sand described Auvergne as “one of the loveliest spots on earth … a soil cut up with deep ravines, crossed in every way by lofty walls of lava, and furrowed by numerous torrents.” That’s only half the story. Auvergne is also a land of green valleys, gently flowing rivers, nature wild and tame, and remarkable remnants of centuries past.

Eighty volcanoes sleep in the area around Clermont-Ferrand, a city famed for its black cathedral and the Michelin tires manufactured here. There’s no connection between the tires and the cathedral; the spires are black from the volcanic rock used to build them. Many of the houses in the old town are similarly black.

Auvergne and its volcanoes are part of the mountain range called the Massif Central, which runs down the middle of the nation. Auvergne once had its own language, and 50 years ago, “Les Chansons d’Auvergne,” the songs of Auvergne, were popular in the clubs and cabarets of Paris. But times and tastes change, and both the songs and the language are only echoes of times gone by.

What you hear on top of the beautiful Puy-de-Dome is the whistle of the wind. The Romans built a temple to Mercury, the god of the wind, on the mountain, and the ruins survive, although the artifacts found there are on display in the Bargoin Museum of Archaeology in Clermont. You hear the gentle lowing of the snow-white cows, the rustle of forests and the bubble and gurgle of small streams.

You see pastoral, rolling, mountainous landscapes and valleys dotted with lovely stone villages, magnificent 12th-century Romanesque churches, ruins of medieval castles, and elegant manor houses transformed into hotels and bed-and-breakfast accommodations. What you don’t see are hordes of tourists, for Auvergne remains low-key and relatively undiscovered. Auvergne is a region of France ideal for hiking, walking, strolling or just taking life easy.

CLERMONT-FERRAND

An hour’s flight from Paris, Clermont-Ferrand is the logical starting point for a visit to Auvergne; it dates from Roman times. Nearby is the plateau where the Gauls under Vercingetorix defeated Julius Caesar’s invading army. A grand statue of the young chieftain of the Auverni on horseback graces Clermont-Ferrand’s Place du Jaude.

During the Middle Ages, Clermont and Montferrand were separate cities, divided by economic and political rivalry: The old town of Clermont was controlled by the bishop, and less than a mile away, the town of Montferrand was under the control of the counts of Auvergne. The towns were united administratively during the reign of Louis XIII but did not become one city until the 19th century.

Clermont-Ferrand is not one of the nation’s jewels, but it projects a certain provincial charm: an interesting old city; 50 fountains splashing over lava stone throughout the town, including the ornate 16th-century Fontaine d’Amboise with its arched Gothic buttresses and Italiante decoration; several good museums; the imposing black cathedral with its remnants of medieval frescoes, and the splendid Romanesque basilica of Notre-Dame-du-Port.

In all likelihood, it was from the pulpit of the basilica that Pope Urban II preached the sermon inspiring the First Crusade.

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