by The agreement of all of this is certainly the idea behind every vacation, but when I massively drive through the wavy landscape towards the village of Salers in France Central, I wonder if I have ever felt so far away everything.
This is the attraction of the Kantal, the rural core country of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in which the massively central is embedded. If you continue east from Dordogne and Lot east, discover a country with volcanic tips, are called sources and greeted Auberges in one of the least populated departments in France. And as I learn, it ensures a refreshingly different goal for a spring road trip. The snow linger on these peaks until the beginning of April, but I am here at the beginning of May and the meadows are available in an exceptional representation of wildflowers such as Arnica, Narzissi, orchids and countless other species that thrive in this volcanic soil. The landscape is one of the richest biodiversity in Europe.
The flavors of this country crossing to the local variety of cheese, because on these meadows the moody Salmer cows and are then overturned for Saler traditional cheese (the cows only result in milk if their calves are present). The half -hard cheese will be accepted from the second century and is one of the rarest France, with fewer than 10 producers left.
I stop seeing the heartless view of the glacier. It weighs farmers
The villages here are Picture-Postcard Pretty-Anglards-dealer, Tiny Saint-Bonnet-dealer and Saler Self-a spacious series of gray stone buildings with cows that graze around them in the fields, drive the cow’s house with the breeze. Everything is calm, but for a few hikers who cut through the central place, although it has not leaded long before my hiking to the heart of action in Le P’tit Comptoir, a wine and cheese bar, in which the guests celebrate on huge boards from local charcuteria and cheese and quaff bottles with wine. Madame gives me a table and I put in a small plate and shifts a glass of wine until later, when I arrive my goal, Pailherols, an hour and a half away.
The route of the afternoon leads me over one of the most dizziness of the Cantal, Puy Mary, but first I stop just outside of salters to stand in the afternoon sun and enjoy the heartless view of the glacier valley. It weighs farms and hedges that are overlooked by rugged peaks on the horizon, the shadows of which gently crawl down and swallowed hamlets into their darkness. There are two under me on the hill BuronsSmall stone huts that are a local feature. They were built by cowherners who lived in them every summer during their cows, produced cheese and survived on the local specialty La TruffadeA uniform preparation of thread Rotten Cheese and cut potatoes – a hearty and persistent dish for those who work on this rough country.
From there, the route ends with the triangular form of Puy Mary, and the rust -colored slopes that were cast with the remains of the snow. The narrow street around it around it, with a steep drop to my right. It gives me palpitations, but the views are worth it; The route continues over other valleys and peaks, and my ankles are white from the careful steering, until I finally arrive at Pailherols shortly after dark.
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In winter, this village with 152 inhabitants is a cross-country ski hub, but in spring it brings the hikers and roadripers who check in the cozy exterior of the Montagnes and his sister hotel Chez Marie. The owners Vincent and Marie greet me like a long-lost friend, and soon I sit in the dining room with wooden beams, which is prepared for Marie’s menu of local, honey brewed pork and blond lentils from the municipality of Saint-Flut. “Just wait until you see the view in the morning,” says the Ebullient Vincent when he pours a glass of volcanic. “Your room looks at a small lake and it’s wonderful.”
The next morning is bright and sunny, and the view over the lake is indeed great, but the Vista is even better when I drive out of the village. I stopped in my tracks by looking huge meadows with yellow dandelion and kuhlippen. There is no cloud in the blue sky, and the only building that I can see for miles is a Buron; A relevant memory of when people were completely about summer transmission and cheese.
It is only half an hour to the charming city of Pierrefort, in which newly blooming Wisteria crashes over his Gray Stone-Houses Burons. The locals are so proud of these bulls (who say “Wear Eye Make -up” due to the white fur about their eyes) that in the early April Festival La Fête of the Terson’s animals are shown by the city and there are food, music and entertainment. The restaurant in the Hôtel du Midi has the best menu of the city thanks to chef Gilles Charbonnel, who heads the place with its two sisters. My dish made of delicate beef with artichokes and potatoes is excellent – filled and hearty, but with a casserole of the sophistication.
Food is not the only appeal from Chaudes-Aigues-hier you will also find the hottest sources in Europe
When Charbonnel is spoiled for his menus for his menus, Aurélien Gransagne, Koch in the Hôtel Sodade and Serge Vieira Restaurant, which has two Michelin stars, both in Chaues-Aigues, is for another 30 minutes south. However, the food is not the only attraction of this small town on the edge of the Aubrac plateau – Here you will also find the hottest feathers in Europe. Although the volcanic peaks are far behind me, their 11 m annual heir is still bubbling under the landscape and surfaces in 32 feathers in the city.
The easiest way to find are those at the Source du PA, which I discover on the main street that leads to the marketplace. On the side of the sidewalk, La Fontaine de la Place au beurre is a modest tap that dribbles water into a stone molrog in 65 ° C. I tree my fingers in the steaming water and remember that the Caled Thermo spa is only five minutes away for full immersion with its jets, pools and spa treatments.
My curiosity continues to get the lane up to find the other source, which spastes a sequence of 82 ° C (180 ° F) and a run -out in the wall into a drain, which pours a slightly sulfur.
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The closing time for the nearby Geothermia Museum for Geothermal energy energy and thermalism (therapeutic use of hot springs) is therefore approaching. Instead, I follow a path that explains about information boards of interest in the history of the city and the way it used to use this volcanic warmth. In the place Pierre Vialard I learn how the houses were built from 1332 so that they could use the geothermal heat and thus created one of the first central heating systems in Europe with about three miles of pipes from pine.
Before dinner I drive up the hill above the city to see it from the exceptional surroundings of the Serge Vieira restaurant, which was built around the destroyed tower of the Chateau de Coufour. The restaurant is closed until the end of May, but the view on the premises is worth the detour because the landscape really opens-with Chaues-Aigues in the valley below and the Kantallandschaft, which lives alive with lively white and pink flowers.
I go back to the Hotel Sodade, where I spend the night, and tasted the refined dishes of chef gransagne – steamed asparagus with mousse and poached egg, followed by tender pork, fennel puree and confit cartridge. When I discover a page of La Truffade I can’t resist on the menu to order it. Discover my chance – after seeing that Burons And the flowers of this curious volcanic landscape – a dish that has been served here for centuries.
The trip was provided by the Cantal Tourism; For more information, see Auvergne- Destination.com. Amuse Bouche: How to get through in France by Carolyn Boyd is published by profile (£ 18.99). To support the Guardian and the observer, order your copy at GuardianBookshop.com
