It’s been about a month since I’ve checked in, so I have a lot to catch up on! As promised here is my post on my trip to the puy de Dôme.
I found some cool information in a brochure from the welcome center. The puy de Dôme is a a volcano which is part of The Chaîne des Puy. The chain of volcanoes is the youngest string of volcanoes in mainland France. There are 80 volcanoes that stretch out over nearly 20 miles. The puy de Dôme is the highest volcano of the range at an altitude of 4,806 feet.
I planned the trip with my friend Itzel from Mexico and Allissa. We set out late morning on a Saturday and planned to make it a day trip. As advised by other exchange students that had already visited, we packed our lunch and plenty of snacks. We took the train to Clermont-Ferrand and a bus from the train station to the site called the Panoramique du Dômes. This is the visitor welcome center.
There are two ways to get to the top of the puy de Dôme, by foot or by train. We had already decided to hike, so we headed for the trail. Here was the view from the start of the trail:
We had to walk through a bit of forest to get to the foot of the volcano. It was so quiet and peaceful. It was forecasted to rain that day, but fortunately we didn’t see any of it. The temperature wasn’t ideal for hiking though. It was too cool to go without a sweater, but the hike made it to where it was too warm to keep the sweater on. I decided it would be best to leave it on, so I wouldn’t get sick.
About halfway through we ran into a cute little cafe. It was closed but we decided to stop and eat the lunch we packed right outside.
While we were there we saw a pack of dogs with no apparent owner. We also ran into this little guy (not so little). He posed for a few pictures then ran off.
We saw a lot of interesting things along the trail. There were a lot of checkpoints with information on the history of the area. We also saw a monument. If I remember correctly it was dedicated to the people of the Auvergne region that had died for liberty.
We continued along the trail and it began to get really steep. I thought I was physically prepared for the hike, but boy was I wrong. I’m pretty sure it was a mix of how steep the trail was with the height, but I was running out of breath so easily.
Here are more pictures of the hike:
We finally reached the top of the volcano. The view was magnificent! It was very cold at the top, but it was incredible to see how small everything looked. There was a museum, restaurant, and small boutique, a viewing platform and an observatory.
My favorite was the temple of Mercury. It was built in the 2nd century to the glory of Mercury, the god of travelers, merchants and thieves. It was an important place of worship for the Gallo-Romans. It was discovered in 1872 when the Observatory was built. There has been some restoration done to it recently.
The temple:
While we were at the summit, a huge cloud passed by us. It literally dropped the temperature in seconds. I had never been “in” a cloud before. It felt like rain that was just suspended in the air. Definitely a cool experience. Here are pictures of the cloud approaching!
We took a few pictures at the top and walked around for a bit. We had to catch the next bus back to the city so we wouldn’t miss the train back to Vichy so we took the views in one last time and started to head back. Going back down would seem like it was easier, but it was much harder on our ankles. It turned out it was only easier on the breathing. Here are some pictures of the view at the top:
We made it back just in time for the bus. I’m so glad we didn’t wait until the last minute because it left five minutes early! I snapped some pictures from the bus on the way back to the train station.
I definitely enjoyed the hike with my friends. The beauty of nature is so astounding!! I feel like this time in my life has made me realize the immensity of this world. There is so much out there for us to see and experience! I can only hope to motivate someone to step outside, and experience it for themselves. It is truly rewarding.
Well, I had my two week break at the end of October. I had the AMAZING opportunity to travel to some beautiful places with my husband and with my mom and sister. I will be posting on that later! I also have some pretty cool trips planned in the near future. Time is flying by so quickly! I feel like I will be flying back before I know it.
I miss everyone so much! I will be sending postcards out soon. Thank you for reading. 🙂
XOXO- Karen
Karen to France 2015 