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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 16, 2017 20:59:37 GMT
Vézelay is a town well known to many tourists who come to Burgundy, but I have always known it just as a spectacular sight off to the left when I am on the A6 autoroute going south. Since it is a hilltop village, you can't miss it even if you don't see the signs asking you to look in that direction. Friends of mine had a house nearby, but I had still never seen the village itself until a week ago. Like Le Puy-en-Velay, it is also one of the famous starting points of the Compostella trail in France. And like many other "tourist villages" in France, you know you are there when you see all of the signs saying "pay parking 7/7" because it is all well and good to draw people into places like this (Gordes and Les Baux-de-Provence come to mind as examples), there is just no way to provide enough parking for the arriving mobs. The only way to winnow them down is to make them pay, at which point quite a few of them will decide not to stop at all. In Vézelay, I saw that the machines were charging 2 euros for an hour or 4 euros for 4 hours, so I decided that 4 euros was within my budget, even though I did not know how long I would stay. Frankly, I was quite lucky to find a parking space in a convenient area, so I left my car and began the climb. The climb is because all visitor parking is in the lower village but everything you want to see is in the upper village on a relatively steep incline that lasts for about 800 metres.
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This is what's on the main crossroad before you have to walk upwards.
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And now the walk uphill begins. There are a few side streets, but most of them are dead ends because of the hill.
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The only motor vehicles allowed are those owned by the locals, but you end up kind of wishing that their vehicles were banned as well since they hinder proper photography.
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Here is one of the side alleys.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 16, 2017 21:05:26 GMT
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Post by amboseli on Sept 16, 2017 21:35:38 GMT
Never been there - must have passed dozens of times going south - but it looks nice. More pics to come, I hope. 4 euros to park half a day isn't bad at all ...
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 16, 2017 21:36:04 GMT
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Post by bjd on Sept 17, 2017 6:04:34 GMT
Thanks for this. I know we stopped in Vézelay many years ago while driving from Besançon to Mayenne in summer but I have absolutely no memory of it. Although I don't think we had to pay for parking because we probably wouldn't have stopped for long with a full car and small children.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 17, 2017 7:04:16 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 17, 2017 11:32:35 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 17, 2017 16:29:43 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 17, 2017 16:48:09 GMT
This is so beautiful -- it seems like an enchanted place. In fact, your comment about wisteria pulling the place down made me imagine that what would happen instead is that it would be encased by the wisteria and forgotten, to be discovered by a wayfarer centuries later. The cathedral and its carvings are a real marvel. It doesn't seem that Viollet-le-Duc could be faulted on this restoration. I looked it up and it appears the cloister is his work, but needed to replace one that had completely disappeared. Absolutely gorgeous views of the countryside. I love the feeling of Autumn in the pictures, and the leaf-covered stone stairs followed by the brooding art photo are particular delights. How appropriate that you paused and took pictures of the mullein, an important plant in the middle ages. www.witchipedia.com/herb:mullein
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Post by htmb on Sept 23, 2017 13:25:00 GMT
Now that I finally have full internet access back I can finally see your photos. Very nice report, Kerouac. This looks like a little town I would enjoy exploring.
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Post by tod2 on Oct 26, 2017 7:16:51 GMT
Doing some catching up, and thanks to Bixa pointing this thread out on FB, here I am admiring your lovely photos! This kind of ancient town is just up my alley. It is perfect for a good poke around the buildings that people are still living and working in to this very day.
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Post by lugg on Oct 28, 2017 17:52:24 GMT
This looks such a lovely place and so typically French. I was trying to work out whether. The photo of the bees is fascinating is that a structure they've built from scratch or ... ?
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 28, 2017 17:57:59 GMT
Although I had never seen a hive that looked like that before, they must have built it because you can see the honeycombs on the inner parts.
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Post by lugg on Oct 28, 2017 19:53:12 GMT
thanks K2 - guess you got my drift sorry should have checked my post but yes that is what I was thinking however ... such an unusual structure
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Post by ClareG on Dec 8, 2017 3:57:32 GMT
I'm glad you found the little Orthodox church: that's said to be one of the oldest buildings in Vézelay. It is open on weekdays for Matins in the morning and Vespers in the evening, and on Sunday mornings of course, but otherwise closed as no-one lives on the premises to keep it secure.
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Post by breeze on Dec 8, 2017 13:43:37 GMT
Were you there early in the day, kerouac? When we were there the walk uphill was already crowded. We saw a lot of men in berets, which took me aback because we only see a few berets each trip now, and only in very rural areas or worn ironically. Eventually we grasped that these were men on pilgrimage, wearing the beret and a neck scarf. Their berets were wider than the usual--I assume from the southwest of France?
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