See www.france-voyage.com. An historic pilgrim rendezvous on the Route Saint-Jacques to Santiago de Compostela, Le Puy unfurls across a fertile valley interrupted by a clutch of irregular volcanic outcrops called puys. Not to be outdone by the wonders of nature, the locals have topped these heights with creations of their own, such as the Romanesque chapel of Saint-Michel-d’Aiguilhe (closed Nov to mid-Feb except Christmas to New Year), to the north of town. Perched on the 80 m-high Rocher d’Aiguilhe, it is a stiff 268-step climb, but the chapel, with its carved portal, mosaics, murals and cunning architecture, is worth the effort, as are the views.

Le Puy’s old town scales two lesser puys in a cat’s cradle of narrow contour-hugging streets bisected by perpendicular rue des Tables. A monumental flight of steps takes over where the street ends, leading into the cavernous maw of the Cathédrale de Notre-Dame beneath a Byzantine arrangement of striped stonework. The Romanesque church is a show-stopper, by turns ornate and severe. Wrapped in the volcanic stone gloom there are capitals and frescoes, a Black Virgin behind a cloud of censers, and ecclesiastical treasures on display in the sacristy. Take a turn around the beautiful cloister and the quiet lanes behind the cathedral, then muster up the strength for an assault on the Rocher Corneille, another puy, which Notre-Dame-de-France, struck in gun-metal captured during the Crimean War.