www.clermont-ferrand.fr.  Nicknamed the ville noire for the black volcanic rock with which much of it is built, Clermont-Ferrand was once two towns. Urban II launched the First Crusade from the church town of Clermont in 1095; the dukes of Auvergne founded Montferrand, its secular rival, in the 12thC.

The two had long since merged by 1889 when the Michelin brothers Eduard and Andre, who ran a rubber factory here, developed the first commercial rubber tyre. The giant Michelin company is still based here and produces, besides tyres, the maps recommended for French regions on this website.

  Under siege from its smoggy industrial outskirts, Clermont is a surprisingly pleasant place, and a natural base for expeditions into the bizarrely beautiful volcanic hinterland. The centre of town is place Jaude edged by shops and cafés and surveyed by a statue of the Gaullish chieftan Vercingetorix, who allegedly defeated Julius Caesar at nearby Gergovie. The Old Town lies to the north, around place Saint-Pierre with a lively Tuesday to Saturday market, and rue des Gras, home of the Musée du Ranquet. an eclectic small museum.

At the top of the street, the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame bears its massive Gothic bulk lightly, supported on astonishingly slender volcanic rock pillars – similar to the granite constructions found in northern France. Built more than a century earlier, the Basilique de Notre-Dame-du-Port, off rue du Port, is more typical of the region. Ignore the dreadful belfry, and the mottled yellow-grey stone church is pure Auvergnat Romanesque, its interior decorated with marvellous carved capitals: crusaders in chain-mail, priests in voluminous robes, Eve in an Eden full of pineapples. A short walk away on place de la Poteme, the Fontaine d’Amboise is an indulgent profusion of Renaissance carving.

South of the city centre, the Jardin Lecoq provides a lush green breathing space across the street from the archaeological and natural history museums, the Museé Bargoin and Museé Lecoq. The sedate spa suburb of Royat fies out to the west of town.

See also Highspots of the Auvergne.